Hertfordshire Archaeological Trust unpublished report series

A desk-based study, supported by a programme of fieldwalking was undertaken to assess the archaeological impact of the proposed widening of the A1 (M) between junctions 6-8. New and known sites and features highlighted in the study included: find sites of prehistoric (including palaeolithic) artefacts; a possible ring-ditch; areas of Romano-British occupation and industrial activity; a Romano-British villa; a Roman road; a Romano-British cemetery site; the possible location of a cemetery of unknown date; an undated enclosure; a medieval moated site; medieval field systems; and a deserted medieval village. [AIP]

An evaluation, comprising geophysical survey and the excavation of twenty trenches, was undertaken on land proposed for development situated less than 200 metres from a known Romano-Celtic temple, and close to routes of two supposed Roman roads. A number of archaeological features were revealed, mainly in the southern part of the site, but due to the lack of associated finds it was not possible to establish a definite date. [AIP]

An excavation was undertaken in advance of the first phase of the construction of a new access route to the factory. Pre-Roman activity tentatively identified comprised two large ditches on a similar alignment to Ermine Street, the fills of which were sealed by the earliest road construction. A number of residual struck flint flakes and a Bronze Age barbed and tanged arrowhead were found in several Roman features, but no positive evidence of prehistoric occupation was discovered. The earliest Roman activity was the construction of Ermine Street, built shortly after the Roman invasion of AD43. Several early finds included a brooch of a style common during pre-conquest Britain. The road was not as substantial as seen in earlier excavations, and no large road-side ditches had been excavated. The road had been widened and re-surfaced by the time of the late 1st-2nd century, the camber increased and narrow drains inserted either side of the road. A small timber structure in the north-east corner of the site was constructed during this phase, located 10 metres from the eastern side of the road. A small pond to the eastern side of the road produced evidence for a variety of industrial and domestic activities carried out in the vicinity of the site during the 1st and 2nd century, and the presence of iron slag suggested that this feature may have been used as a smelting pond. By the 2nd to 3rd century the road had started to fall into disrepair, although the large quantities of finds recovered from a well to the west of the street, and the presence of two rubbish pits suggested increasing intensity of settlement during this period. By the 3rd-4th century the only evidence for structural evidence of occupation on the site was a large 'veranda-style' timber structure, and the demise of the Roman settlement was marked by a large accumulation of material sealing earlier Roman levels and covering Ermine Street. [AIP]

An evaluation was carried out within the grounds of a football club, at the proposed site of a new car park and access road for an adjacent factory complex. Remains of the Roman town of Ware had been preserved beneath factory buildings. Previous excavations had recorded Mesolithic flint scatters and substantial Roman remains, including burials, buildings associated with Ermine Street and parts of the road itself. During the 1995 evaluation, pottery dating from the Late Bronze Age/Early Iron Age and from the 1st-2nd century AD was recovered. Roman pits, ditches and structural remains were recorded, and two inhumations were found. Several features contained large numbers of complete limb bones and skulls from animals such as cattle. It was concluded that the features revealed probably represented the sites of backplots to workshops and dwellings on Ermine Street. [AIP]

Five trial trenches were excavated across the site as part of an archaeological evaluation prior to proposed development of the site. These were designed to investigate the areas immediately north and south of the alignment of Roman Stane Street which ran east-west across the assessment area and to investigate any ground disturbance associated with the former railway embankment which occupied the southernmost part of the assessment area. The evaluation reflected the findings of the desk-based assessment with the Roman road being located in trenches 2 and 4. Archaeological features representing settlement activity of almost certain Roman date were located along the northern edge of the road, post-dating at least some phases of the road construction. The archaeological remains had been truncated by the levelling of the former railway and modern activity. [Au(adp)]