The archaeological sites: Rainham sites
Moor Hall Farm and Great Arnold's Field
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These two sites are separated by Launders Lane as it winds down towards the old London Road, the A13. They lie close to the edge of the Thames marshes on a gravel spur about 6–8m above sea level, higher than much of Rainham parish.
This area was once used for stock raising, arable and market gardening. In 1974 Mr Vellacott of Moor Hall Farm sold the last dairy herd in the area, cattle rustling being one of the reasons, and concentrated on growing cereals, potatoes and vegetables. Parts of Moor Hall Farm were then affected by deep ploughing for the first time, increasing the rate of damage to the archaeological remains. Ploughing and the growing of cereals meant that in drier summers these sites produced splendid cropmarks alerting archaeologists to their existence.
Sand and gravel extraction finally reached the area in 1963 (Great Arnold's Field) and in 1977 to supply the construction of the M25 (Moor Hall Farm), prompting the archaeological excavations.
The earliest finds from Moor Hall Farm were fragments of Early Palaeolithic handaxes that had come from the Thames gravels. Mesolithic microlithic flint implements and a flint adze were also found during the excavations, although there was no evidence for occupation at this period.
Great Arnold's Field was, however, the site of a Neolithic ritual monument. The remains of this consisted of a large ring ditch about 15m (50ft) in diameter. Pottery and flint implements were put in the ditches. A settlement with similar finds was excavated about 1.6 km (half a mile) to the south-west at Brookway.
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About 2000 years later, people using Beaker pottery settled at Moor Hall Farm and reused the site at Great Arnold's Field by digging a pit near the centre of the ring ditch.
The next clearly identifiable period is the Late Bronze Age, represented by a group of pits with special deposits on the crest of the hill at the Moor Hall Farm site. The best preserved of these contained a selection of pots and crudely worked flint.
After a gap of about 500 years Middle Iron Age people settled in a small village or large farm on the crest of the hill. They lived in round houses. Later in the Iron Age people started on the construction of the triple-ditched enclosure that dominated the higher ground at Moor Hall Farm. This site afforded a view towards modern Wennington and the Thames marshes. By the end of the Late Iron Age the enclosure was complete, measuring about 80m across and with an east-facing entrance. Although there were traces of 'ramparts' between some of the ditches, none were found on the inside. Similar enclosures have been found at Orsett Cock and Gun Hill near Tilbury. This site was not evidently designed with defensive considerations paramount.
(see image Reconstruction model of the Late Iron Age triple-ditched enclosure found at Moor Hall Farm)
A well that was found here contained more than 1000 freshly broken pots. This assemblage may represent the termination rite or final 'farewell celebrations' that took place when the site was abandoned.
During the Roman period the site became divided up into fields, some of which extended into Great Arnold's Field. A late Roman farm or settlement was built alongside Launders Lane in the 3rd–4th centuries. This had at least one oven, a building and several wells and pits.
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Some centuries later the area was mentioned in the Domesday survey as Launders Manor. An early medieval farmstead, dating to the 12th century was excavated in 1963 in Great Arnold's Field. This could be the site of the missing manor.