ENN105986 - Land east of Northampton Road, 2008 (DBA)

A desk-based assessment and walkover survey was carried out to accompany an application for a business park. The application site comprises pasture and cultivated land. It was formerly part of Brackley's Old Town open field until it was enclosed c.1829. Ridge and furrow earthworks are preserved in the north-western field. A map prepared in 1830 shows the position of strips and furlongs within the open field, and divisions between some of these were used as boundaries for later enclosed fields. The map indicates that the irregular boundary between the cultivated land and meadowland may have lain within the application site, and existing lengths of hedges containing ash trees in these positions may be of pre-Enclosure date. Until the walkover, when a single flint implement of Late Neolithic or Bronze Age date was found, no archaeological artefacts were known from the site. North-west of the A43 roundabout, Iron Age pottery was found in the fills of graves and other features, and an undated (probably late prehistoric) rectangular enclosure with internal features is known from cropmarks to the east of the application site. The local presence of occupation and funerary features raises the potential for unknown prehistoric remains within the application site. No Roman remains are known in the close vicinity. The proposed development will affect the ridge and furrow earthworks and any surviving below-ground archaeological remains. These would be the subject of a mitigation strategy agreed with the planning authority, comprising preservation in situ and preservation by record, as appropriate. [inf from OASIS form]