The Gosbecks site has a complex history of use stretching from the pre-Roman Iron Age through to the C4 AD. Only limited excavation has taken place, mainly in the central area but the archaeology has been identified and interpreted on the basis of an excellent series of aerial photographs, further data being provided by stray and excavated finds. In the C1 or C2 BC the site was enclosed by the Heath Farm Dyke; as it expanded in the decades before the conquest further dykes were constructed, the most westerely being the Grymes Dykre. The site thus enclosed had a central settlement area surrounded by field systems to which it was linked by a complex network of trackways. An early feature of the site was a religious sanctuary. This pre-Roman settlement has been interpreted as the civitas capital, or tribal centre, of the native Belgic Trinovantes. More specifically it has been seen as the major royal site of Cunobelin, the tribal leader who is recorded as having led local opposition to the Roman conquest. <1> Gosbecks pre-Roman and Roman settlement area including the area of extensive cropmarks enclosed by the curving dykes following the Gosbecks contours. This complex field system and roads are visible on numerous APs. <3> Plot of cropmarks. <4> <5> Other refs <6><7>

Site Assessment = The complexity, nature and extent of the archaeological remains at Gosbecks make it a unique site. It was a major settlement and religious site for the native Trinovantes tribe during the Iron Age. Many of the cropmark features visible over the area have been interpreted as dating from this period and confirm the view of a major defended settlement site. Under Roman influence a small town with major public buildings arranged on a gridded street plan developed at Gosbecks. All these buildings are considered rare in themselves and taken together they provide a unique example in Britain of the type of small unwalled town well known from Gaul. <1> In 1954 most of the scheduled area was under arable but not deep plough and

AP <7>