Colchester Archaeological Trust

CAT Report 1288: summary

Archaeological evaluation at Wickham Hall, Hadham Road, Bishop’s Stortford, Hertfordshire CM23 1JG: June 2018
by Mark Baister (with contributions from Stephen Benfield, Emma Holloway)

Date report completed: July 2018
Location: Wickham Hall, Hadham Road, Bishop’s Stortford, Hertfordshire CM23 1JG
Map reference(s): TL 47452 22985
File size: kb
Project type: Evaluation
Significance of the results:
Keywords:

Summary. An archaeological evaluation (four trial-trenches) was carried out at Wickham Hall, Hadham Road, Bishop’s Stortford, Hertfordshire in advance of the erection of a new office building and café/restaurant, with associated parking.

Little evidence was found that relates to the historical 16th/17th century farmstead, which could date back as far as 1487. The only discovery that may have been associated with it was a backfilled pond, that occupied the majority of one of the trenches. There were, however, multiple Roman features uncovered, with most dating from the late 3rd/4th century. These were largely pits and ditches, including two ditches that may form the corner of an enclosure. A large Roman feature was tentatively identified as a quarry pit and was cut through by several later Roman features. A single Bronze Age/Iron Age ditch indicates the possibility of earlier activity on the site.