Monument record 753 - Possible Settlement, Undated

A subcircular ditched enclosure and a curvilinear ditched enclosure of uncertain date is visible on historic aerial photographs as earthworks and was mapped both as part of the Northants NMP and Historic England’s North Buckinghamshire Aerial Investigation and Mapping project. However, archaeological investigation undertaken in the late 1990s did not find any archaeological remains, suggesting they were destroyed when the golf course was created.

{1} The proposed development will impinge on the site of the two enclosures. Previous landscaping of the golfcourse has removed a large proportion of the oval enclosure. The geophysical survey located no further evidence for either of the enclosures. It is uncertain whether the enclosure ditches survive or were removed during the construction of the golf course.

{2} No evidence of any archaeological remains was found, confirming the results of the earlier geophysical survey. While it is possible that the shallow stripping of the car park may mean that the cropmarks survive in situ, the results from elsewhere suggest that all remains of the settlement were destroyed during the construction of the golf course.

{3-9} A subcircular ditched enclosure and a curvilinear ditched enclosure of uncertain date is visible on historic aerial photographs as earthworks and was mapped as part of Historic England’s North Buckinghamshire Aerial Investigation and Mapping project. Located within Silverstone Golf Course immediately south of Whittlebury Hall Hotel and centred at SP 68719 42770, the 1814 Ordnance Surveyors drawing shows that this area was within woodland of the former medieval hunting forest of Whittlewood at that time. By 1885 this woodland has been thinned and on aerial photographs taken in 1944, the area resembles an open common or heath-type landscape. A subcircular ditched enclosure centred at SP 68724 42825 is up to 7.5 metres wide and encloses an internal area about 36 x 33 metres at its widest points. Centred some 95 metres to the S of this are fragments of a probable curvilinear ditched enclosure with 2 opposing arcs of ditch up to 9 metres wide, flanked on the inside of each arc curve by earthwork banks up to 6 metres wide, suggesting an internal area around 57 metres wide NW-SE. Aerial photographs taken in 2019 show that the hotel’s large car park is now constructed at the location and no evidence of the features is visible.

<1> MASTERS P.; MAULL A., 1998, Archaeological Evaluation at West Park Farm, Whittlebury, Northamptonshire: Stage 1, (unchecked) (Report). SNN63026.

<2> ATKINS R., 1998, Archaeological Watching Brief at West Park Farm, Whittlebury, Northamptonshire, (checked) (Report). SNN39563.

<3> Ordnance Survey Map (Scale/date), 1:2,500/1885 (Map). SNN112944.

<4> Ordnance Survey Map (Scale/date), 2"/1814 (Map). SNN112944.

<5> Vertical Aerial Photograph, US-7PH-GP-LOC201 PORT 13055 06-MAR-1944 (Aerial Photograph(s)). SNN112695.

<6> Royal Air Force, Vertical Aerial Photography, RAF-106G-UK-1380 RP 3318 09-APR-1946 (Photographs). SNN104890.

<7> Royal Air Force, Vertical Aerial Photography, RAF-106G-UK-1380 RP 3320 09-APR-1946 (Photographs). SNN104890.

<8> Royal Air Force, Vertical Aerial Photography, RAF-CPE-UK-1929 FS 2203 16-JAN-1947 (Photographs). SNN104890.

<9> Vertical Aerial Photograph, Next Perspectives APGB Imagery 14-SEP-2019 SP6842 (Aerial Photograph(s)). SNN112695.

Record last edited

Aug 9 2024 9:55AM