| Title: |
Archaeological Test Pit Excavations in Writtle, Essex in 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014 |
| Series: |
Access Cambridge Archaeology unpublished report series
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| Downloads: |
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accessca1-282111_1.pdf (4 MB)
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Download
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| Licence Type: |
ADS Terms of Use and Access
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| DOI |
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| Publication Type: |
Report (in Series)
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| Abstract: |
Two day test pit excavations were undertaken in the village of Writtle in south Essex for six years between 2009 and 2014. In that time a total of 63 1m2 archaeological test pits were excavated by 200 local secondary school children as part of the Higher Education Field Academy (HEFA) programme run by Access Cambridge Archaeology (ACA) out of the Department of Archaeology and Anthropology at the University of Cambridge. The test pitting in Writtle revealed a range of activity dating from the later prehistoric period through to the modern day, both supporting what has already been found through the parish as well as providing new evidence. It also showed that earlier phases of occupation in Writtle are still present under the modern village; the small nature of the test pits allows excavation in otherwise inaccessible places for normal methods of commercial archaeological investigation. Both later prehistoric and Romano-British activity was found through the village as a continuation of settlements recorded on the HER alongside the Rivers Wid and Can, as well as further east in modern Chelmsford. Writtle developed during the Late Anglo Saxon period as a royal estate and continued to thrive through the medieval period with the construction of a royal hunting lodge on the site of Writtle University College. The village appears not to have been greatly affected by the Black Death and other upheavals during the 14th century, although the creation of the medieval town of Chelmsford with its new crossing over the river shifted the focus of settlement away from Writtle to the new town. The test pit data has also demonstrated how the settlement shifts over time from a dispersed settlement during the medieval with polyfocal cores to a more nucleated settlement during the post medieval and forming the layout of the village that can still |
| Author: |
C Collins
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| Publisher: |
Access Cambridge Archaeology
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| Other Person/Org: |
Historic England (OASIS Reviewer)
Essex County Council Historic Environment (OASIS Reviewer)
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| Year of Publication: |
2017
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| Locations: |
| Site: |
Writtle Big Dig |
| County: |
Essex |
| District: |
Chelmsford |
| Parish: |
WRITTLE |
| Country: |
England |
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Grid Reference: 545871, 251874 (Easting, Northing)
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| Subjects / Periods: |
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| Identifiers: |
| OASIS Id: |
accessca1-282111 |
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| Note: |
A4, printed double sided, 182 pages, comb bound
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| Source: |
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| Created Date: |
30 Apr 2020 |
