TVAS South Update: Roman Road Investigated

Proposed housing development on 1.6ha of land near Uckfield Road in Ringmer, East Sussex, prompted archaeological evaluation as the Desk-Based Assessment had indicated that the site was located in an area of high archaeological potential. In addition, further geophysical surveys of the wider area indicated that that the Roman road from Arlington to Barcombe may have travelled through the site of investigation.

Our team at Brighton-based TVAS South undertook the field evaluation and cut a total of 14 trenches at both random and targeted locations. Many of the trenches were noted to be sterile and contained nothing of archaeological interest, while a number of linear features were found to be clustered on the south-western corner of the site. Post excavation analysis of the pottery recovered from the grouping of features suggest that they are medieval in date. They have been characterised as elements of a small settlement or farmstead.

Trench 4 was one of the few targeted trenches of the evaluation. It was placed, with reference to the results obtained by geophysical survey, to expose the area at which the proposed trajectory of the Roman road was thought to intersect the area of investigation. The surviving elements of the Roman road were found to be represented by small and medium sized flint nodules distributed along a natural geological band rich in iron pan and manganese inclusions. The deposit was heavily truncated by plough damage and no finds were recovered.