ENN110830 - Land off Harborough Road, 2022 (Trial trench)

A total of 44 trenches were excavated across the 11.2ha site. The evaluation did not identify any significant archaeological remains, with only features relating to the past agricultural use of the site being recorded. Linear anomalies with the characteristic shape/ pattern of ridge and furrow were identified by a preceding geophysical survey and the trenching showed a strong correlation between these anomalies and the subsurface remains of infilled furrows across much of the site. A ditch recorded in trenches 40 and 41 appears to correspond in part with the line of a field boundary depicted on the 1741-77 Plan of the Parish of Desborough but removed by the time of the 1885 1st Edition Ordnance Survey map. The north-central part of the site was crossed by a series of broadly east-west orientated linear anomalies, the two strongest of which seemingly formed an elongated triangular enclosure. The northern anomaly was shown to correspond with a ditch running through trenches 10, 12 and 17, with artefactual material of Post-medieval/ Early Modern date recovered from ditch 1703, in trench 17. The southern anomaly again corresponded with a ditch seen running through trenches 13, 16, 17 and 18, although no corresponding feature was seen in trench 14, and a drainage function is suggested. While neither of the ditches/ boundaries is depicted on historic maps of the site, a Post-medieval/ Early Modern date is conjectured for both ditches, which are also visible as cropmarks on aerial photographs of the site. The virtual absence of artefactual material suggests the site was situated at such a distance from any areas of settlement as to have not had domestic waste incorporated into the fields via agricultural manuring. Collectively, the results of the trenching and preceding geophysical survey suggest that the site area has always functioned as farmland. Information from OASIS online form.