Time Team - Alfoldean, Slinfold, West Sussex - Archaeological Evaluation and Assessment of Results

Wessex Archaeology

The evaluation comprised an extensive geophysical survey and six trenches. The geophysical survey successfully plotted the outline of the bank and ditch enclosure surrounding the mansio complex, some of the mansio walls, and elements of the strip settlement including field systems, trackways, pits and areas of possible industrial activity. Ditches and trackways were largely aligned on Stane Street, and the focus of the settlement appeared to lie on the eastern side of the Roman road.

Trenching augmented these results with more detail of some of the rooms within the mansio, their construction and later robbing, enabling the definition of this site as a classic courtyard mansio. A trench was also excavated across the bank and ditches of the enclosure on the southern side.

To the south of the enclosure one trench investigated a roughly curving geophysical anomaly which originally appeared to represent part of a roundhouse (presumed to be prehistoric) with central hearth, but which on excavation was seen to be part of a Romano-British enclosure ditch. A second trench, towards the southern limit of the surveyed area, revealed two intercutting pits filled with domestic debris.

No evidence for Iron Age activity on the site was recovered, and the mansio and surrounding enclosure appear to have been constructed some time in the later 1st century AD. The focus of activity on the Site was from the later 1st century into the 3rd century AD, with sporadic later activity, broadly confirming the results of previous fieldwork on the Site. The end date of the mansio complex, however, remains unclear. Post-Roman agricultural practices were seen to have had a significant impact on the underlying archaeology, with plough scars and land drains recorded in several of the excavated trenches.