Colchester Archaeological Trust

CAT Report 1478: summary

Archaeological monitoring on land at Fiveways Fruit Farm, Dyers Road, Stanway, Essex: September 2018 – July 2021
by Dr Elliott Hicks (with contributions from Dr Matthew Loughton, Laura Pooley, Adam Wightman and Lisa Gray)

Date report completed: December 2021
Location: Fiveways Fruit Farm, Dyers Road, Stanway, Essex
Map reference(s):
File size: 10018 kb
Project type: Monitoring
Significance of the results:
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Summary. Archaeological monitoring was undertaken on land at Fiveways Fruit Farm, Dyers Road, Stanway, Colchester, Essex from September 2018 to July 2021 prior to the development of the site for mineral extraction. The site lies in an area of high archaeological significance some 500m northwest of the Gosbecks complex, the focus of the Iron Age oppidum of Camulodunum and later site of several major Roman public and other buildings including a Romano-Celtic and a theatre. Approximately 400m to the south was a series of five enclosures, consisting of an Iron Age farmstead and four Late Iron Age high-status funerary enclosures. In 2015, excavations immediately to the south of the site uncovered the remains of two interlinked Middle Iron Age farmsteads as well as evidence of limited Neolithic, Bronze Age, and Early Iron Age occupation.

Further Middle Iron Age remains were found during the present investigation, including a ditch which linked the two farmsteads uncovered during the 2015 excavations around which were a number of pits and tree-throws containing pottery, loomweight fragments and heat-affected stone and possibly indicates the presence of a further enclosure in the vicinity. Evidence of Roman occupation was also encountered within this part of the site. An isolated Late Bronze Age pit and worked flints of Mesolithic, Neolithic and Bronze Age date evidenced a presence at the site during these earlier periods too. There were no features dating to the medieval or postmedieval periods and only a limited quantity of modern remains, which were most likely the product of agricultural or horticultural activity.