Colchester Archaeological Trust

CAT Report 1658: summary

Archaeological excavation on land southwest of Horsley Cross Roundabout, Clacton Road, Tendring, Essex, CO11 2PH January-March 2021
by Laura Pooley (with contributions from Lisa Gray, Dr Matthew Loughton, Alec Wade and Adam Wightman)

Date report completed: July 2021
Location: Horsley Cross Roundabout, Clacton Road, Tendring, Essex, CO11 2PH
Map reference(s): TM 12219 27153 (centre)
File size: 17047 kb
Project type: Excavation
Significance of the results:
Keywords: Horsley Cross Roundabout, Clacton Road, Tendring

Summary. An archaeological excavation was carried out on land south-west of Horsley Cross roundabout, Clacton Road, Tendring, Essex in advance of the construction of an industrial park. Previous archaeological evaluation on the site had revealed evidence of early to middle Roman settlement activity along with some earlier prehistoric remains. Archaeological excavation revealed a small assemblage of worked flint dating from the Mesolithic/Early Neolithic to the Bronze Age with four possible contemporary pits. A further 11 pits produced prehistoric pottery, this material dated to the Bronze Age, Early Bronze Age, Late Bronze Age, Late Bronze Age to Early Iron Age, and Early Iron Age. A circular arrangement of prehistoric and undated pits, c 20m in diameter, could possibly have been dug around a levelled mound. Dating from the Roman conquest and probably continuing into the early 3rd century, the next phase of activity on the development site centred around an irregular field system of ditches, a possible trackway and a scattering of pits. Pottery from the site comprised of mainly locallyproduced coarsewares with the only other finds of note being fragments of briquetage and quernstones (both puddingstone and lava quern). This likely represents domestic waste from a nearby settlement or farmstead. A field boundary ditch, large erosion hollow and pit were of post-medieval/modern date.