SNN109745 - Mile Oak Farm, Towcester, Northamptonshire: Heritage Statement

In November 2013 Cotswold Archaeology was commissioned by Pegasus Planning Group to carry out a Heritage Statement for land at Mile Oak Farm, Towcester, Northamptonshire. The Heritage Statement supports a planning application for a solar park within the site and an associated access track. The objective of this Heritage Statement is to identify heritage assets within both the proposed development site and its immediate environs and to ascertain the impact of the proposed development on the significance of any heritage assets that might be present. The assessment was informed by a programme of geophysical survey. There are no designated heritage assets within the site or on the route of the access track, nor any non-designated heritage assets recorded on the Northamptonshire HER or English Heritage Archives. Potential non-physical effects upon designated heritage assets in the wider site vicinity have also been assessed, and development would not harm the significance of any such assets through changes to their setting. Development would thus not lead to substantial harm or total loss of significance to any designated heritage assets and would thus not be contrary paragraph 132 of the NPPF. The geophysical survey identified a number of magnetic anomalies within the site characteristic of archaeological remains. In the northern corner of the site a curving ditch is suggestive of a small prehistoric settlement enclosure. It is located at one of the highest points in the site, a location favoured for settlement by prehistoric communities. Anomalies, possibly representing pits, were recorded within the curving ditch, although no anomalies characteristic of structures such as roundhouses are observable. If the feature does comprise a prehistoric or Roman enclosure the associated remains would be of archaeological interest and would comprise a heritage asset as defined by NPPF. The significance of such enclosures varies widely. Below-ground remains could potentially yield information about prehistoric settlement in the region, contributing to objectives set out in the East Midlands Research Agenda Research Objective 4C of the, 'Characterise the Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age settlement resource and investigate intra-regional variability' (Alien et al 2012, 82). The English Heritage publication 'Settlement Sites to 1500' (EH 2013) notes a number of factors that contribute to significance, including period; rarity and representation; documentation; group value; survival and condition; diversity; archaeological potential; and landscape placement. Thus evaluation of significance on a case by case basis is required, The same publication notes that some later rehistoric settlement sites in the East Midlands, such as Iron Age farmsteads, are relatively common (EH 2013, 16). The form of the enclosure is consistent with a farmstead of this date, a number of which have been excavated in the East Midlands region. Anomalies indicative of field enclosure boundaries were identified in the eastern area of the site, which would therefore suggest, potentially, associated field enclosures of the same period. The geophysical survey results do not provide evidence for remains of potential national significance within the site, and the results do not preclude use of the site for a solar park, particularly as solar park developments involve a very low level of physical impact upon the ground (typically less than 1 % of the site area). Appropriate mitigation measures will be required to manage the identified resource appropriately, which will be agreed in consultation with the Archaeological Officer, Northamptonshire County Council.