Final Report: Archaeological Evaluation and Excavation on Land off Campfield Road, Shoeburyness, Southend-on-Sea, Essex

One initial excavation area (Area 1, March and June 2024), totalling 1,745sq m, was positioned to investigate the remains identified by an initial trial-trench evaluation. Further evaluation trenches, investigated alongside the Area 1 works. These trenches (Trenches 11 and 14) identified remains that formed the basis of Area 2, which was investigated in September 2024 during which time Trench 15 was the final archaeological intervention made on site. Late Iron Age/early Roman funerary activity is represented by a single cremation pit in the southeast of Area 1, whilst a background scatter of contemporary material. Middle Saxon period was represented by a high density of features representing the remains of activity immediately adjacent to settlement, utilising the natural drainage qualitied of a nearby palaeochannel/inlet. The finds and environmental assemblages suggest that the site was located within a local agrarian economy, with animal husbandry and cereal cultivation being supplemented by coastal and estuarine resources. A small pottery assemblage was recovered and is assigned AD 700-900 date range. A low density of broadly dated, high medieval (AD 1066-1540) remains were restricted to Area 1. A low density of ditches and rubbish pits would seem to represent a continued use of the area close to the palaeochannel/inlet for rubbish disposal.