ENN110315 - HS2: North Lower Thorpe, 2018 (Metal detecting survey)

{1} The metal detector survey was undertaken on land located north-west of Lower Thorpe, Northamptonshire, to assess the archaeological potential of the Site to contain metal artefacts of archaeological significance, particularly those related to the 1469 Battle of Edgcote, which took place nearby. The south-eastern corner of the registered battlefield is located approximately 200m to the north-west of the survey area. The Site comprises a single land parcel, measuring c. 1.38ha within the eastern part of an arable field. It is surrounded by arable fields on all sides except to the south where it is bounded by a disused railway line. The metal detector survey was required to investigate land identified for the construction of a habitat mitigation site as part of the HS2 Phase 1 Area Enabling Works package (CR01069) – Culworth Grounds Farm ecological habitat mitigation site comprising dry grassland, woodland and scrub planting and ponds suitable for great crested newts, reptiles and bat roosts. There are no known heritage assets within the Site, however it does lie on the southern margins of the registered battlefield of Edgcote, where an important and decisive engagement in the Wars of the Roses was fought on the 26th July 1469. The Site is unlikely to have seen the centre of the action but is likely to have formed part of the wider battlefield landscape. A small assemblage of metal objects was recovered, all dating to the post-medieval and modern periods. No finds relating to the Battle of Edgcote were identified.