#ThrowbackThursday NGAUE, Colchester

This week, for #ThrowbackThursday we are discussing the Northern Growth Area Urban Extension site (NGAUE) in north Colchester.

In September-December 2011, we conducted an evaluation by geophysical survey, fieldwalking and trial-trenching in for proposed development

This area is interesting as previous discoveries of large amounts of medieval pottery in Mile End and Great Horkesley have evidenced that a series of separate pottery kilns were in operation here, collectively known as the ‘Mile End’ pottery industry’. Despite previous excavation in 1973, these kilns have not been found, but two potential kiln sites have been identified at NGAUE

We conducted a fieldwalking survey on all available ploughed areas and medieval pottery was identified as well as a scatter of Roman brick and tile. The geophysical survey conducted also highlighted a number of anomalies, but none of them were of the strength and intensity likely to be a kiln site.

In addition to the fieldwalking and geophysical survey, we carried out a trial-trenching evaluation consisting of 237 trenches to investigate areas of interest. Through investigating a scatter of Roman brick/tile identified by the fieldwalking, rows of post-medieval bricks set in clay, burnt debris and layers of broken tiles were revealed. This is thought to be part of a structure adjacent to a post-medieval kiln

Also identified on the site was a prehistoric ditch which may be part of an Iron Age ring-ditch of the type commonly found surrounding timber structures, a pit containing fragments from sixteen smashed Roman pots mixed in with cremated human bone (possibly a Roman cremation), and a ditch which contained over 1kg of Late Iron Age or early Roman pottery

To learn more about this site, please check out CAT Report 627 at http://cat.essex.ac.uk/