SNN108354 - Land West of High Street and Land Adjoining Irchester Sports Association, Irchester: Archaeological Assessment

This archaeological assessment, commissioned in accordance with Planning Policy Statement 5: Planning for the Historic Environment, has confirmed that the Land west of High Street (housing development area) and Land adjoining Irchester Sports Association (sport development area) does not contain any designated heritage assets, where there would be a presumption in favour of their physical preservation and against development. Potential wider impact, upon the settings of the one Scheduled Monument and 13 Listed Buildings in the wider study area, have been considered in this assessment and, in doing so, it concludes that they would not be adversely affected by development of the form proposed. Undesignated heritage assets are recorded within the two land parcels comprising Roman findspots and a possible cropmark enclosure identified on aerial photographs. In the wider study area, there is evidence for Late Neolithic/ Bronze Age, iron Age and Roman activity is recorded in the surrounding area, where known prehistoric assets are concentrated on higher ground to the north of Irchester, where they overlook watercourses draining into the River Nene, and Romano-British ones focus on the walled town and its associated road network. Accordingly two phases of archaeological field evaluation have been completed to augment the review of desktop sources. In the first instance, a detailed magnetometer survey was undertaken across the two land parcels. This revealed anomalies typical of post-medieval and later quarrying and agricultural activity, especially in the housing development site, and the southern arm of a rectangular enclosure in the sports pitch site. A subsequent trial trench evaluation confirmed the archaeological 'interest' of the site, identifying a Late Iron Age/ Roman rectangular enclosure in the area proposed for sports pitches. The function of the enclosure remains unknown, as no structural or settlement-related features were identified, possibly due to truncation. Away from this enclosure, the trenching confirmed that the majority of the anomalies identified by magnetic survey relate to post-medieval and later quarrying and agricultural management of the land and are of little or no archaeological significance. Based on the available evidence, it is considered that the Late Iron Age/Roman enclosure in the sports pitch is of no more than 'local significance', especially in view of the extent to which preservation has been adversely affected by ploughing.