magnetometry survey at Gosbecks

Last week, Dr Tim Dennis undertook a magnetometry survey on behalf of the Trust, on some land at Gosbecks. Gosbecks is the area on the west side of Colchester, and it includes the Gosbecks archaeological site, which is of national importance and a Scheduled Ancient Monument. Tim was assisted by Trust excavator Pauline and together they completed the survey.

The Gosbecks archaeological site includes the Gosbecks Archaeological Park. The site is so important that the Trust has been commissioned to conduct a number of archaeological fieldwork projects there over the years. There were also some investigations on the site before the Trust’s projects – in fact, antiquarians were first alerted to the area’s archaeological potential in 1842, when a farmer discovered some Roman remains. Aerial photo.s and archaeological evidence confirmed the importance of the site. In 1945, Mr Albert Beales, an agricultural worker, ploughed up a Roman bronze statuette of Mercury here. (This is a famous artefact which is now on display in Colchester Castle Museum.) One of our largest projects at Gosbecks was the excavation of three sites which we conducted in 1995 and 1996, ahead of development which consisted of road construction and new housing on part of the northern area of Gosbecks Farm. This development included the release of an area of land from agricultural use to become the Gosbecks Archaeological Park, which was opened to the public in 1995. CAT Report 127 is our report on the excavation of these three sites.

From CAT Report 127 (written by Trust archaeologist Steve Benfield):
‘… The excavations followed from the results of two evaluations by the Trust… The 1995 excavations took place on two sites which would be affected by the construction of the road Cunobelin Way. On Site A we investigated a section of the Roman road; on Site B we investigated part of a larger area of Late Iron Age and early Roman settlement at the western end of Cunobelin Way, near Maldon Road. Work on the western area was completed in 1996 on Site C, prior to construction of the final phase of house building…
>  The archaeology of the Gosbecks area in the Late Iron Age and Roman periods is well known. Knowledge of the area is based on an extensive aerial photographic record supported by some small excavations (concentrated on the major Roman monuments), which together have enabled a relatively detailed plan of the area to be pieced together. Much of the area is covered by the remains of field systems bounded by a number of substantial earthwork dykes to the south and west. At the heart of Gosbecks is a large Late Iron Age enclosure, and just to the east of this are the remains of an extensive Roman religious complex. Known structures here include a Romano-Celtic temple set within a large portico, other walled enclosures, and a theatre which survives as a slight earthwork. The course of a Roman road can be traced from the colonia as far as the east side of this complex. To the west is the site of a Roman fort which is known only from aerial photographs, as are several ring-ditches to the east of this area which are presumably of Bronze Age date…
>  The three sites (A, B, C) covered in this report were within the scheduled area on the northern edges of the main concentration of cropmarks, and they were visible as cropmark sites… On Site A, the excavation of the Roman road demonstrated the presence of four ditches in two pairs forming a central carriageway which was approximately 7m wide, with narrower tracks approximately 2m wide on each side of the central carriageway. None of the road surface itself survived… The earliest features were part of a large ditched enclosure and several smaller ditches of Late Iron Age-early Roman date. Some small pits or post-holes and three ovens were associated with these features.
>  In the early Roman period, a series of rectilinear ditched enclosures was established, bounded by a large ditch, and part of the enclosed area was occupied by a large number of substantial pits. The finds from these features were predominantly of Neronian date, and a small number of military objects was recovered. Some of the finds suggest possible ritual activity. There were two, possibly three, timber buildings which are probably all of Late Iron Age- early Roman date. A few finds of Flavian to 2nd- to early 3rd-century date from some of the features indicate continued activity, but at a much reduced level. At some point in or after the early 2nd century, a wooden water- main was laid across the area and a ditched track or droveway was constructed which connected to the large boundary ditch. A number of Roman burials, both cremations and inhumations, were focused around the large boundary ditch. One of the cremation burials was located in a small square ditched enclosure and may be pre- Flavian, while another probable cremation burial may date to the 4th century. The inhumation burials had all been provided with coffins and there were a few pottery grave goods, although almost no bone survived. All the inhumation burials lay beyond the large boundary ditch, and all but one were aligned along it. Although the burials are not well dated, one is of the mid 3rd-4th century, and all probably date from the late Roman period. Identifiable post-Roman activity was limited to a few post-medieval features, mostly ditches …’

Our survey last week was undertaken on land adjacent to Gosbecks Road.

With many thanks to Dr Tim Dennis.

All the Trust’s reports on our fieldwork projects are published online at http://cat.essex.ac.uk

The image is a plan of part of the Gosbecks archaeological site (from CAT Report 127). If you visit the Archaeological Park, you can see the sites of the Romano-British temple and Roman theatre marked on the grass with white lines.

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