Stowmarket, Suffolk
Detailed topographic and geophysical surveys were undertaken by ASC in advance of a proposed water main over nearly 30 hectares near Stowmarket, in the Gipping valley in Suffolk. The survey areas included the Baylham barrow cemetery and part of Combretovium Roman settlement, which is a designated Scheduled Ancient Monument.
On the former, the survey defined the location of part of a large ring ditch previously identified from crop marks. Other magnetic anomalies indicating the presence of a trackway and possible enclosure or field system ditches were identified in the vicinity of the ring ditch. A smaller ring ditch, which had also been identified from cropmarks in the southern part of the survey area, was not substantiated by the magnetometer survey, although short sections of two parallel ditches, which may define a trackway or small enclosure, were evident near its suggested location. A number of magnetic anomalies defining the location of superimposed palaeochannels were also identified at the southeast of the survey area.
Within the scheduled area, the topographic survey characterised the natural topography and defined earthworks resulting from recent agricultural activity. The magnetometer survey located a boundary/enclosure ditch, settlement/funerary activity and a possible flanking ditch of a Roman road at the southeast corner of the survey area. Evidence for settlement, a trackway and field system was identified to the southwest. Other possible archaeological anomalies were located, spread across the southern half of the survey area.
