SNN105872 - Proposed Processing Plant, Elton Estate, Northamptonshire

The assessment site contains cropmarks (recorded on the Northamptonshire Sites and Monuments Record) that have been interpreted as prehistoric trackways, boundaries and enclosure. These features may prove to be part of a prehistoric landscape of some significance. Its possible that they may be related to Neolithic activity, which is evidenced in the area by a burial cairn containing at least five different individuals, or to a number of other cropmark features that have been interpreted as Bronze Age ring ditches and barrow. Due to its proximity to the contemporary settlement of Durobrivae it is likely that the population of this area became heavily Romanised. This Roman cultural influence appears to give way to a fairly dominant Saxon presence that can be seen to link right through to today’s settlement patterns of the modern era. A possible Saxon settlement is listed by the Northamptonshire SMR within the assessment site. It would appear that during the medieval and post-medieval periods the area of the assessment site has been used for agricultural purposes, possibly cereal cultivation and remained undeveloped until the construction of the A605 bypass which forms the south-eastern boundary of the site.