A Slice of Rural Essex: Recent Archaeological Discoveries from the A120 Between Stansted Airport and Braintree

The upgrading of the A120 between Stansted Airport and Braintree allowed the unique opportunity to examine a slice of landscape crossing the clay plateau of Essex; a geology which has received little attention in the past. A diverse pattern of human history was revealed including earlier prehistoric flint knapping, later prehistoric ritual activity, a Roman farmstead with accompanying cemetery, a middle Saxon hall, medieval settlement, pottery production and a windmill. This report is the product of a joint venture between Oxford Archaeology and Wessex Archaeology and has been designed to provide the reader with an accessible interpretation of the findings with supporting factual data.

Table of Contents

Introduction (Jane Timby); The first settlers: Prehistoric activity (Andrew Powell, with Edward Biddulph); Finds summaries; Conquest and change? The Roman period (Edward Biddulph, with Grace Perpetua Jones and Dan Stansbie); Finds summaries; What happened to the Saxons? (Alan Hardy); Lords or peasants? The medieval and post-medieval evidence (Alan Hardy); Finds summaries; Continuity and discontinuity (Jane Timby and Wendy Carruthers); Bibliography; Index.

DR. RICHARD BROWN was one of Canada’s foremost experts on seagoing birds and worked for many years as a marine biologist with the Canadian Wildlife Service in Halifax.