CROFT AMBREY, AYMESTREY ... - English Heritage

contrast, having targeted the mound, Stanford's plan (1974, 137) indicates that a
considerable part of the floor of a stance situated beneath it was excavated and
demonstrated that there had been successive phases of activity. Like the other platforms it
was cut into the south facing slope and the quarried material was placed downhill as an
apron. This, a circular, or rather D-shaped level platform (Stanford called it a terrace)
8.8m by 6.7m, stood proud of the surrounding area and on which a structure stood.
Stanford considered it to be an open building, but although only two certain postholes
were uncovered, it could equally be described as marking the floor of a hut, its floor
protected from weathering, with what appears to be an eroded crescentic drip gully to
the north of it. Assuming the entrance to have been at the front of the terrace, it faced
southeast and set against the back of the structure was an irregular deposit of red clay,
presumably derived from the Old Red Sandstone and which covered an area some 3m by
3m. Within this, but restricted to the eastern half, among an area with evidence of a series
of fires, were 27 stake holes forming no easily discerned pattern, while a series of three
pits lay across the front of the terrace. The whole area, including the gully, was covered to
a greater or lesser extent with a layer of charcoal and it may be that at some stage the
building caught fire. Much of it was found on the southern part of the platform and on the
natural ground surface in front of the apron, which led Stanford to suggest that it had
been swept there. Within the charcoal were flecks of cremated bone and fragments of
perished animal bone along with an Iron Age brooch, four Romano-British brooches, and
Romano-British potsherds.
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