Essex Archaeology and History

An examination of the distribution of find spots of Iron Age coinage across Essex and surrounding counties, which reappraises previous work in light of new discoveries and interprets the distribution with regard to territory, boundary and areas of cultural unity.

Archaeological excavations, carried out in advance of large-scale gravel extraction in 2002, at Frogs Hall Borrow Pit, Takeley, revealed multi-period remains dating to the Early Iron Age, Roman and medieval period.

The kitchen at Little Braxted Hall is a grade II* timber-framed building dated by dendrochronology to AD 1398-1410. It was later adopted to use as a dovecote. This article describes the timber-framed building, reports on an excavation within it which found evidence for an earlier building, presumably a kitchen to judge from the pottery and fish bones, and considers the kitchen as a building type in the context of current research.

The annual report, prepared at the request of the Advisory Committee for Archaeology in Essex, comprising summaries of archaeological fieldwork carried out during the year. Grid references of the sites and locations of the archives are provided with each summary. The sites mentioned are: Beckton Sewage Works; Birch Airfield compost site; Birch, Hanson Aggregates quarry, Roundbush Corner, Maldon Road (northern extension and western extension); Black Notley, Great Notley Business Park; Bocking, Friars Lane malting; Boreham, Bulls Lodge Quarry; Bradwell Quarrey area 2.3; Braintree, 93-105 High Street; Broomfield Hospital East Wing; Chelmsford, Clarendon House, 2-5 Parkway; Chelmsford, Legg Street car park; Chelmsford, 145-145a Moulsham Street; Chelmer Village Way, Chelmer village, Essex; Chipping Ongar, 73-81 High Street; Colchester, Balkerne Gardens, Mercury Flats; Colchester, 83-88 East Hill (Belgrave Palace); Colchester High School, 17 Wellesley Road; Colchester Royal Grammar School, 8 Lexden Road; Colchester, County High School for Girls, Norman Way; Colchester, East Mill, East Street; Colchester New Garrison and Urban Village redevelopment; Colchester, Abbey Field, Attenuation Pond site; Colchester Abbey Field sports pitches, Circular Road North; Colchester, Roman Circus site; Colchester, Garrison Urban Village Area C2, Napier Road; Colchester, New Garrison soil strip/watching brief Phase 1; Colchester, Musket Club, Homefield Road; Colchester, Lexden Grange, 127 Lexden Road; Colchester, St Helena School, Sheepen Road; Colchester, Sixth Form College, North Hill, Colchester, Fingringhoe Ballast Quarry; Cressing, Dovehouse Field, Cressing Temple; Dagenham, Beam Washlands; East Tilbury, Tilbury Fort bastion staircase; East Tilbury and Linford Essex; Finchingfield, Kell Field, Petches Yew Farm; Fyfield, Fyfield Hall Barns; Great Dunmow, Haolmans Yard, New Street; Great Dunmow, New Police Station, Smiths Farm; Hadstock, east of St Botolph's Church; Halstead, Flood Alleviation Scheme; Heybridge, Oak Tree Meadow; Highwood, Fithlers Hall; Layer-de-Haye, land adjacent to water treatment works; Maldon, New Trees, Wellington Road; Mistley, No. 1 Maltings, Mistley Quay; Nevendon, landnorth of A127; Rayleigh, 20 Hockley Road; Rayne, The Commons; Rayne, Haverings Farm, The Street; Rochford, land north of Market Square; Rochford, Southern Airport Transport Interchange; Romford, Weald View, Paternoster Row, Noak Hill; Romford, 80 North Street; Saffron Walden, 63A Castle Street; Saffron Walden, United Reform Church/Salvation Army Hall, Abbey Lane; Shoeburyness Hotel, 1 High Street, Shoeburyness, Essex; Shurgard Site, Oriental Road, Silvertown E16; Stanford Rivers, Murrells Farm Barns, London Road; Stansted Airport, Echo Cul-de-sac; Stansted airport, BSP, land off Coopers End Road, Coopers End Roundabout, Thremhall Avenue; Stansted Airport, South Gare Area 1A; Stanway, All Saints Church, Colchester Zoo; Takeley, Brookside, The Street; Takeley, Priors Green; Takeley, Thremhall Priory; Waltham Abbey, 30 Sun Street; West Mersea, 16 Coast Road; West Mersea, 20 Yorick Road; Witham, 32a Avenue Road; Witham, NEACC complex phase 1, Spinks Lane; Witham, 80-84 Newland Street; Woodham Ferrers, Edwins Hall; Great Hallingbury, Woodside Green Mission Hall.

The buildings described have been recorded either through private research or through the course of planning development control work, usually according to the provisions of Planning Policy Guidance notes 15 and 16.

Traces of a medieval farmstead, occupied from the 12th to the 14th centuries, were found by excavation, immediately to the north of the A120 in Takeley.