Hertfordshire Archaeol 2

[TL 3824 approx.] Mechanical excavation in advance of road construction proved a quite unexpected density of occupation over a wide area. Few features could be fully excavated, apart from some cremation burials with gravegoods (glass, samian, boot-nails, metal fittings, brooches and a caduceus). Ermine Street crossed a wide area of pre-Roman occupation, but did not attract roadside settlement until 2nd century. In one trench an occupation layer over 4 ft thick lay under hillwash. Appended are details of potters' stamps, British coins of AD 0-25 (with Colchester and Kent connections), Roman coins and cremations.

SP 995082. The flint curtain wall had been built on top of an earth bank which sealed possible traces of a marking-out bank. A rounded front was added to the curtain to form a D-shaped tower rising almost from the edge of the moat, with mortared flints piled against the face to protect it from erosion. Pottery from a pit inside the tower is dated c 1250; the tail of the bank was later cut away and the curtain underpinned and repaired. D F Renn writes (pp 72-4) on a crossbow stave found in the moat nearby c 1930. D F R

TL 260009. The site at 2-8 High Street, though it failed to reveal early occupation, provided a large, closely-dated group in a brick well which had been partly demolished and filled in mid-17th century. The well was wide and shallow, perhaps for industrial (?brick-making) rather than domestic use. The local wares in the group provide the most useful addition to knowledge, though the London and Continental pottery - tin-glazed wares, stonewares of Bellarmine type and so on - are also interesting. The date range is assessed at 1650-60 and the presence of vessels for food and drink, with clay pipes, suggests the nearby New Inn of 1658 as the source. The 18th-19th century ceramics range from local red coarse wares to transfer-printed white leadglazed earthenware. Appended is an interim report on the Woodside (Hatfield) pottery workshop and kiln of mid-17th century.