An archaeological evaluation at Dry Street, Basildon, Essex: May-June 2006

An evaluation of a 20 hectare parcel of land west of Basildon College has uncovered evidence of multi-period occupation. Sporadic activity in the Neolithic and Bronze Age was evidenced by occasional finds of pottery and flints. In the Iron Age, the landscape was parcelled up by the creation of a ditched system of rectilinear fields which continued in use and was adapted in the Roman period. The site was also occupied in the early Anglo-Saxon period, possibly using the existing Roman field system. No buildings were found, but the finds suggest domestic occupation here throughout the Iron Age, Roman and Anglo-Saxon periods. There is evidence of weaving in both the Iron Age and Anglo-Saxon periods, when the local economy must have included an element of pastoral farming.