Progress Power Project, Eye Airfield, Eye, Suffolk: Post-Excavation Assessment and Updated Project Design

Between September 2017 and March 2018 Oxford Archaeology East (OA East) carried out two separate phases of excavation at land at Eye Airfield Industrial Estate, near Yaxley in Suffolk. The locations of each excavation area were based on the results of previous stages of evaluation (conducted by OA East in June 2017). Areas 2A and 2B (totalling 0.451ha) were located immediately due north of Castleton Way and immediately due east of the A140 roadway. Excavation was undertaken between 25th September – 22nd October 2017. Following this, Area 3 (totalling 1.53ha) was stripped and excavated between 6th November 2017 and 20th March 2018, located in the north of the development area and immediately to the east of the old runway.
The excavations revealed remains spanning the Bronze Age through to the post-medieval period. Phase 1 represented Bronze Age activity, which included the remnants of a burnt flint mound, encountered in the south-east corner of Area 3. The principal features associated with this burnt mound included a large pond and a series of pits cut within the silting horizons of the pond. In addition, a spread of burnt flint was identified, first observed in the topsoil, but also recovered as residual material in Romano-British features. The pond itself had evidently infilled slowly, the water level gradually rising, with pits located further inside and down the bank of the pond itself when the water table had been lower. Pollen evidence showed that the pond had been open when the surrounding land had been open grassland, and not secluded woodland.
Phase 2 represented initial occupation (Latest Iron Age and Early Romano-British) and was restricted to the western half of Area 3. Four roundhouse eaves drip gullies were uncovered alongside smaller structures, indicated by smaller ring-gullies and postholes.
There was an increase in activity during Phase 3 (Early – Mid Romano-British). In Area 2B, three identifiable enclosure systems were discovered alongside a north to south running track/droveway. In Area 3, the roundhouses were replaced by enclosures and track/droveways alongside structures and numerous pits and postholes. Seven identifiable enclosures were identified, which all shared similar orientations, whilst a track/droveway crossed Area 3 in a broadly east to west orientation. Four identifiable groups of post and stake holes were also encountered, indicating the presence of structures. Additionally, two large spreads of dumped domestic waste were located towards the middle of the area, as well as a myriad of small and large pits. The ceramic evidence suggests a peak in the Mid-Roman period, after which the level of activity appears to decline somewhat after the later 2nd century AD, continuing to a lesser degree into the 3rd century AD.
Areas 2A and 3 both contained rectilinear enclosures dating to Phase 4 (Mid – Late Romano-British), although compared to the previous phase there was a decrease in activity on site. In Area 2A, a series of enclosures was formed for the first time. In Area 3, a rectilinear ditch system was formed, truncating smaller enclosures and structures from Phase 3.
Phase 5 represented field systems and small-scale pitting activities dating to the medieval and post-medieval periods. Area 2B contained a very large north to south orientated ditch and a smaller east to west ditch. In Area 3, the same north to south aligned ditch systems were apparent, with one very large ditch effectively separating Area 3 into two unequal parts. Instances of early and high medieval pottery in most of the contexts containing post-Roman ceramics may suggest that the wares were in use at this site in the same phase of activity, perhaps indicating that activity was most intensive in the 12th-13th centuries.