Site Event/Activity record ECC3954 - Archaeological trial-trenched evaluation on land at Mersea Island Holiday Park, East Mersea, 2017

Location

Location Land at Mersea Island Holiday Park, Fen Lane, East Mersea, CO5 8UB
Grid reference Centred TM 06372 14479 (184m by 221m)
Map sheet TM01SE
County ESSEX
Civil Parish EAST MERSEA, COLCHESTER, ESSEX

Technique(s)

Organisation

Archaeology South-East

Date

February to March 2017

Map

Description

A trial-trenched evaluation was undertaken by Archaeology South-East (commissioned by Chris Butler Archaeological Services) in February to March 2017 across an area of c.3ha., part of a pre-determination evaluation relating to CBC application 162442 for an extension to holiday park.<1> This work followed a desk-based assessment and a geophysical survey.<2><3> Archaeological features were recorded in 23 of 28 trenches (each measuring 30 x 2.0m in size, equating to a 5% sample), mostly concentrated in the western half of the site and along the southern periphery. Many of the irregular linear cropmarks/geophysical anomalies plotted across the site were established to be wholly geological in origin. Some archaeological remains found were not previously detected as either cropmarks or geophysical anomalies. Evidence of Bronze Age and earlier prehistoric land use comprised three small pits, one of Early Neolithic date. Three substantial ring-ditches (containing Iron Age pottery within the ditch fills) are almost certainly Early/Middle Bronze Age barrow remains that were subsequently re-used in the Early/Middle Iron Age (which suggests activity of this period within the site). Roman ditches found in the north-west, and possibly in the west, of the site may indicate the presence of a rectilinear field system of apparent later Roman date. A single pit (probably a shallow Sunken Featured Building) in the north-west attests to Early/Middle Saxon activity. Possible medieval agricultural land use is hinted by two ditches in the west of the site that have the potential to predate the remains of a 1650 mapped field boundary. A number of post-medieval ditches are recorded on historic mapping from 1650 to the 19th/20th centuries.

Sources/Archives (3)

  • <1> Evaluation Report: King, Samara. 2017. Archaeological Evaluation Land East of Mersea Island Holiday Park, Fen Lane, East Mersea, Colchester, Essex. ASE Report 2017156.
  • <2> Desk-based Assessment: Chapman, Emma and Russell, Caroline. 2016. An Archaeological Desk Based Assessment for Land at Mersea Island Holiday Park, Colchester, Essex, CO5 8UA.
  • <3> Geophysical Report: Davies, Rebecca. 2017. Stratascan Geophysical Survey Report. Mersea Island Holiday Park, Essex.

Related Monuments/Buildings (0)

Record last edited

Jun 8 2017 9:58AM

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