Land at Bay Farm, Worlington, Suffolk

Between 10h and 12th June 2013, Oxford Archaeology East carried out an archaeological evaluation on Land at Bay Farm, Worlington, Suffolk. This took the form of fifty three 50m x 2m trenches across the proposed development area. No archaeological features were found in the trenches although depressions and pits left by the roots of former trees (tree boles) were observed in most trenches across the site, the majority were devoid of artefacts although one yielded two abraded sherds of early Roman pottery. A series of linear features of geological, probably periglacial, origin were identified on the rising ground in the north eastern part of the site. Two modern sheep burials were identified relating to the sites previous use as a sheep field. The metal detecting survey undertaken found a scattering of modern detritus. No further artefacts were recovered from these features or from the subsoil and topsoil extending across the site.
A detailed magnetometer survey of the site was carried out by Britannia Archaeology Ltd in advance of the excavation. This survey was found to provide an accurate prediction of the below ground features encountered on site during the excavation, although the interpretation of the features found has been refined and altered by the trial trench evaluation. The linear anomalies in the north eastern area of the site were thought to be evidence for ridge and furrow cultivation but on investigation were found to be of natural origin. Anomalies at the southern end of the site thought to be ditches were found to be modern and contained pipes.
Despite the proximity of prehistoric (probably Bronze Age) barrows (funerary monuments) the evaluation of the site has demonstrated that no archaeological deposits or artefacts of significance are present on this site.