Essex County Council Planning Department Field Archaeology Group
Project supervisor: Mark Germany
The Roman farmstead in the field immediately to the west of Great Holts Farm, Boreham was discovered in October 1991 during the investigation of a complex of cropmarks threatened by the expansion of a large gravel quarry. A large concentration of tile in the centre of the area of cropmarks suggested that the landscape was, at least in part, Roman in origin. A geophysical survey produced further evidence of archaeological features and a rescue excavation was planned with funding from English Heritage, Essex County Council and the quarry company, St Albans Sand and Gravel Ltd. The excavation was carried out in two stages. The first covered 4.3 hectares and took place between November 1992 and June 1993. The second covered 3.5 hectares and took place between September and November 1994.
Aims
The aims of the excavation were set out in the initial project design and were reviewed at various stages during the course of the excavation and post-excavation stages. The general objectives, as originally conceived, were as follows:
These specific aims were set within a context of three sets of objectives; national, regional and local
National objectives
The investigation of the farmstead was to be undertaken in order to counteract the bias towards the richer villa settlements by providing a relatively complete example of a more characteristic non-villa settlement. It was seen as an opportunity to investigate the organisation and practice of an important, but neglected, component of the Roman rural economy and to reduce the reliance on sites such as Barton Court Farm, Orton Hall Farm and Bradley Hill.
Regional objectives
In regional terms the investigation of the farmstead was seen as an important opportunity to offset the general lack of archaeological research on the foci of Roman rural settlements in conjunction with their adjacent and associated landscapes. Earlier work had concentrated either on the landscape but not the settlement (Chignal St. James) or in the villa but not the landscape (Rivenhall). With the exception of the Roman farmstead at Mucking no projects in the region had investigated both a settlement focus and the surrounding landscape.
Local objectives
In local terms the project was designed to prevent the loss without record of the greater part of the farmstead and landscape around Great Holts Farm and to contribute to the context of the ongoing investigations at Boreham Airfield and Bulls Lodge Dairy. In addition it was seen as a useful opportunity to explore the pattern of land division in the Chelmsford / Boreham area and to obtain a useful body of evidence on the economy of the rural hinterland of Chelmsford.
Prehistoric activity
The earliest material found on the site was of Late Neolithic date. Numerous sherds of pottery were discovered in the north-west corner of the site, 40m north of a complete flint axe head.
Two ring ditches appeared to be the remains of Bronze Age barrows. One of these contained a narrow slot for a retaining timber wall while the other was surrounded with a ring of postholes.
Late Bronze Age activity was represented by a quantity of sherds of pottery associated with a small hearth and a number of pits and postholes. Six small pits in the north-western part of the site each contained the remains of a single pot, each one of a different type and size. One of the pits also contained a loom weight.
An early Iron Age building, represented by seventeen postholes, was discovered in the south-west corner of the site. Fragments of daub and sherds of Darmsden-Linton type pottery were retrieved from the upper fills.
The site was apparently unoccupied during the Middle and Late Iron Age. No features could be dated to these periods and the few sherds of Late Iron Age pottery from the site were discovered in later deposits.
Early Roman activity
The Roman farmstead was laid out on undeveloped ground in the second half of the first century AD. A large compound 106m square was subdivided into one half and two quarters by a series of ditches. This central compound was surrounded by two types of field. The first was represented by two 'squat' rectangular fields measuring 106m long by 53m wide. The second type of field consisted of two or more long, thin, parallel strips each 40m wide and over 100m long. No second century buildings were identified but the volume of finds suggests that there was settlement in the immediate area.
Late Roman occupation
The farmstead was expanded in the early fourth century. The central compound was extended south-westwards by 32m and a new set of paddocks of similar width were added down the north-eastern side. A new droveway or trackway, 8m wide, was also laid out and the complex of long thin fields was moved northwards to compensate for it. To the south a large rectangular field measuring 132m by 264 m laid out together with a new enclosure.
These changes in the division of the land were paralleled by changes in the arrangement of the buildings and the size of the central compound. The principal later third century building consisted of two parallel rows of six postholes forming a rectangle 6m wide by 18m long. This building was replaced by a more elaborate set of buildings when the compound was extended in the early fourth century.
The central feature of the compound was an aisled building 15m wide and 27m long with a covered walkway down the south-eastern side. The external walls were supported on posts and the large open nave and roof were supported on two rows of internal posts. The south-western end was divided into two or three rooms with an additional room in the south-east corner. Three large pits were associated with these rooms, one of which contained two lead water pies and the iron corner braces from a large wooden box.
A wood lined well, 1.5m square and 6m deep, cut the foundation trench of the south-eastern wall and appeared to have been constructed as an integral part of the building. It contained a large amount of waterlogged material, including part of the lining.
At the eastern end of the building the bath suite consisted of two rooms with walls set on sills made of mortar, tile fragments and flint nodules. The frigidarium was linked to the main building by an entranceway 2.25m wide and contained a small sunken bath in the north-western corner. The caldarium contained the remains of an 'L' shaped hypocaust and a small sunken bath in the north-eastern corner. A small recess behind the furnace in the adjacent praefurnium may have contained a steam tank, or, alternatively, an earlier bath.
The walls of the praefurnium were defined by four postholes and two slots. The furnace, situated at the south-western end of the praefurnium, was constructed from bricks and opus signinum and was fired through a small stoke hole on its north-eastern side. This furnace was connected to the hypocaust by a large flue made of bricks and mortar. It contained a large amount of ash and charcoal and had been intensively scorched to the west of the mouth of the furnace.
The supply of water to the bath may have involved the use of a large pit or cistern (measuring 4m by 2m) which lay to the north of the praefurnium. A tile-lined drain ran from the north-eastern corner of the bath suite to a nearby pond and was presumably intended to remove water from the bath after use.
A series of postholes cut into the sub-floor of the hypocaust appeared to represent a phase of modification to the original bath suite.
Two additional buildings were discovered in the compound. The first, located in the south-eastern corner, consisted of two rows of four postholes forming a rectangle 12m long by 5.3m wide. Large quantities of tegulae and imbrices suggested that it had been tiled.
The second building was situated to the east of the pond. It measured over 8m long and 6m wide and consisted of two parallel rows of postholes either side of a large central depression. The depression, 0.2m deep, contained a large assemblage of early to mid-fourth century pottery.
Latest Roman activity
Large quantities of very late Roman pottery (370AD or later) and occasional late fourth or early fifth century coins were found during the course of the excavations. The majority of this material came from ponds and ditches, suggesting that these features continued in use after the abandonment of the farmstead.
Cremations
Fifteen cremations were located during the course of the excavation. The majority of these were clustered together in three small groups. All but one had been badly disturbed and truncated by ploughing and few contained any finds. The first group, five small unurned cremations, were located close to the early Iron Age building but could not be dated. The second group consisted of two unurned cremations which cut the top fill of a late Roman field ditch. One of these contained a group of hobnails and the second, sherds of fourth century pottery. The third group, four cremations, was located along the southern edge of the trackway or field ditch. One of these, the best preserved found on the site, contained the remnants of a second century box burial.
The Saxon period
The evidence for occupation during the Saxon period was poor. A number of features were identified cutting the later Roman features, but the only datable finds, several sherds of Saxon pottery and a 'Romano-Saxon' bone pottery stamp came from the bath suite which appears to have been extensively robbed during this or a later period.
Medieval occupation
The remains of a medieval building were discovered in the north-eastern corner of the site. It appears to have been a rectangular, three bay building supported on two parallel lines of posts. There was some evidence for a central passageway running across the width of the building.
Post-medieval land division
There was a correlation between the post-medieval and Roman field ditches which seemed too close to be co-incidental. Post-medieval ditches preserved the size and shape of the Roman fields to the north of the Roman compound and the Roman ditches which ran up the north-eastern side of the site were closely paralleled by modern boundaries. It is possible that this represents some form of continuity of cultivation, possibly involving the use of an old earthwork or hedge.
The work so far carried out on the site at Great Holts Farm has contributed considerably to a number of the objectives outlined above. As work continues on the finds from the site and on other sites in the area, the value of the site will continue to increase. On the basis of a revised assessment of the potential of the site the overall objectives of the project were themselves revised. These objectives focused both upon the site itself and upon its regional context. They can be summarised as:
These objectives are to be used to structure the scope and methodologies employed in future work on the archive from Great Holts Farm.
