Colchester Archaeological Trust

CAT Report 1458: summary

Archaeological monitoring and excavation at Brightlingsea Quarry, Moverons Lane, Brightlingsea, Essex: December 2017 - January 2018
by Mark Baister (with contributions from Stephen Benfield, Adam Wightman, Laura Pooley, Lisa Gray)

Date report completed: August 2019
Location: Brightlingsea Quarry, Moverons Lane, Brightlingsea, Essex
Map reference(s): TM 0734 1806 (centre)
File size: kb
Project type: Monitoring and excavation
Significance of the results:
Keywords:

Summary. An excavation at Brightlingsea Quarry prior to mineral extraction revealed further evidence of a substantial multi-period site, first exposed in excavations in 2013-2015 (CAT Report 1097). The smaller-scale excavations detailed in this report uncovered evidence for intermittent occupation near or on the site from the Late Neolithic to the Early-Middle Anglo-Saxon period.

The results from this excavation support the conclusions and interpretations formed in the previous phase of work, and showed a continuation of the previously uncovered mid-Roman trackway and the Middle Bronze Age field system. Additionally, and most prominently, this excavation showed a continuation of the Early to Middle Anglo-Saxon settlement in the form of a Grubenhaus with an associated pit complex.

As previously, the evidence uncovered during this excavation suggests that any more work on the ridge overlooking the Colne estuary is very likely to reveal more multi-period archaeology, including settlement evidence.