Colchester Archaeological Trust

CAT Report 1315: summary

Archaeological strip, map and excavate on land east of Tilkey Road, Coggeshall, Essex, C06 1NQ: June 2018
by Laura Pooley (with contributions from Stephen Benfield, Lisa Gray, Alec Wade, Adam Wightman, Sarah Carter, Ben Holloway)

Date report completed: September 2018
Location: Land east of Tilkey Road, Coggeshall, Essex, C06 1NQ
Map reference(s): TL 84908 23426
File size: kb
Project type: Strip, map and excavate
Significance of the results:
Keywords:

Summary. Archaeological strip, map and excavate was carried out on land east of Tilkey Road, Coggeshall, Braintree, Essex during groundworks for a new housing development. The development site is located in close proximity to a number of kilns which reportedly existed here during the medieval and post-medieval periods, and within an area of cropmarks. Current work followed on from archaeological evaluation in February 2018 which revealed a small number of Late Bronze Age/Early Iron Age, Middle Iron Age and later features.

Excavation revealed a significant Middle Iron Age settlement/farmstead consisting of three roundhouses and one four-post structure, with some activity (possibly focussed to the north of the site) beginning in the Late Bronze Age/Early Iron Age. The four-post structure likely functioned as a granary indicating that cereal crops or legumes were being grown on or near to the site. Faunal remains suggest that cattle and sheep/goat were being kept, fragments of possible loomweight indicates activities like weaving, and the pottery is probably from a domestic assemblage.

A medieval ditch, dated to c 11th to 12th centuries, was also excavated.