Layer de la Haye WTW Enhancement, Layer de la Haye, Essex - Post-excavation Assessment

Wessex Archaeology

Wessex Archaeology was commissioned to conduct a strip, map and sample excavation adjacent to Layer de la Haye Water Treatment Works as part of a programme of archaeological mitigation prior to submission of a planning application to improve the existing facilities. The excavation, centred on NGR 596482 219805.

The trial trench evaluation highlighted two foci of archaeological interest within the proposed red line boundary for the site. The foci were located in the north-west corner in the vicinity of a previously recorded crop mark and the south-west corner of Area C, this excavation was located on the eastern
and central portion of Area C.

This excavation only revealed six small pits whereby four of them were sampled for environmental assessment. The features sampled were identified as the truncated remains of charcoal production pits variously (and poorly) dated between the Iron Age, Romano-British and medieval periods.