Monument record 27/0/7 - Possible Medieval Hollow Way (Morphed Aerial Archaeology Interpretation)

Earthwork: Good quality photography. Trial trench excavation identified a shallow bank and ditch. No firm dating evidence was recovered.

{2} In the northern half of the field there is a very complex pattern of linear and curvilinear anomalies. Many of these are straight, and form a loosely rectilinear arrangement with axes aligned roughly east-west and north-south. The remainder are more sinuous, and less coherently arranged. It is likely that each group represents a different phase of archaeological features; one superimposed on the other. Most probably, the rectilinear anomalies represent a set of ditches defining house and garden plots, or small paddocks, and the sinuous anomalies represent a later pattern of ditches or sunken trackways.
Some od the sinuous anomalies are particularly intense. Such intensity often indicates the presence of magnetically enhanced materials such as slag, ironstone or ceramics. These could be present as waste material, used to backfill ditches, or as metalling on the surface of tracks.

{3} Trial trench excavation undertaken in 2018 in advance of proposals for an extension to th church burial ground. A trench over the earthwork identified a bank and shallow ditch, although no firm dating evidence was found.

<1> Northamptonshire SMR Collection of Aerial Photographs, Used with NMR & CUCAP collections (Photographs). SNN104822.

<2> Walford, J., 2013, Archaeological Geophysical Survey of the Village Land, Chacombe, Northamptonshire December 2012, p.4 (checked) (Report). SNN108595.

<3> Wass, S, 2018, Report on Archaeological Investigations Regarding Berry Close, Chacombe, Northamptonshire (Report). SNN111998.

Record last edited

Sep 23 2022 2:50PM