Lion Link Scheme Phase 1 Converter Station Site, Suffolk

Between 13th January 2025 and 5th March 2025, Stantec and Oxford Archaeology undertook a first phase of archaeological evaluation (Phase1) of the Lion Link Scheme, Suffolk. This entailed the excavation of 226 trial trenches across two fields in Saxmundham. The area lay immediately adjacent to areas previously evaluated as part of the Sea Link Scheme. Evidence of prehistoric activity was restricted to small quantities of Early Neolithic and Middle Bronze Age pottery and worked flint from pits, tree throws and ditches in the eastern part of the investigated area. Pottery dated to the Iron Age was recovered from three pits and one ditch in one trench in the north of Area B, suggesting localised activity during this period. Very limited evidence of Romano-British activity was recovered from the site, with a very small quantity of residual Romano-British pottery recovered from later features. The majority of the archaeological remains were of medieval date and related to a series of rectilinear enclosures associated with an extensive trackway which had been identified by geophysical survey. Trenching of the enclosures and associated trackway ditches confirmed the results of the geophysical survey and produced finds and environmental remains typical of medieval rural settlements in the region, and comparable to those recovered during the Phase 1 Sea Link trenching, which also targeted elements of this extensive complex of medieval remains. Limited excavation was undertaken of a system of post-medieval field boundaries shown on historic mapping of the area.