A timber trackway off Coopers Beach
In December 2016 oysterman Daniel French spotted worked oak timbers exposed on the mud several hundred metres off Coopers Beach, East Mersea. CITiZAN volunteers and archaeologists recorded the remains and recovered three closely laid planks in January 2017 before further tidal erosion could destroy them.
The planks had square-cut sockets near their ends and rested on a raft of oak and hazel brushwood. Radiocarbon dating and tree-ring analysis place construction probably in the second half of the tenth century BC, during the Late Bronze Age. Two other individual timbers were recorded nearby; they were not all part of the three-plank section that was conserved.
Historic England analysed the timbers and brushwood before conservation. The three preserved planks are held by Mersea Museum, while the surrounding intertidal site remains vulnerable to erosion.
Bronze Age pottery beneath Yorick Road
A February 2020 trial trench at 5 Yorick Road, West Mersea, revealed a ditch with 18 sherds of Middle Bronze Age pottery weighing 228 grams and a smaller quantity of baked clay. Two urn rims were identified, including one with fingertip impressions and small holes made before firing. Further excavation in March found postholes containing Roman material and a Roman-period ditch; many other features could not be dated.
Burial mounds beneath East Mersea fields
Trial trenches at the holiday park site on Fen Lane in February and March 2017 found three large ring ditches interpreted as the remains of Early or Middle Bronze Age burial mounds. Iron Age pottery in their ditch fills shows later activity at the same location. The work also found an Early Neolithic pit, Roman field ditches and possible early Saxon building remains.
Most of the Fen Lane remains were below ground and were recorded during archaeological work ahead of development.
Yorick Road excavation, 2020 · East Mersea archaeological evaluation, 2017
Historic England: Coopers Beach trackway dating and conservation report
Colchester Heritage Explorer: March 2020 Yorick Road excavation