SNN110011 - Land at Springfields, Towcester, Northamptonshire: Archaeological Evaluation

In January 2015, Cotswold Archaeology carried out an archaeological evaluation of a plot of disused land adjacent to the South Northamptonshire Council offices at Springfields, Towcester. The evaluation, which was commissioned by Lovell Partnerships Ltd, was carried out in order to fulfill a condition attached to the planning consent for residential development of the site. A series of test pits in the Council office car park had also been proposed in the programme of archaeological evaluation, but in the light of the initial evaluation results and following discussions with Lesley-Ann Mather, Northamptonshire County Council's Archaeological advisor, this was dropped from the trenching scheme. The evaluaiton comprised the excavation of seven 30m trial trenches in an area of recently cleared scrubland to the south-west of the council offices. A modern ditch was identified in the central part of the site; this appears to demarcate the south-western edge of a stand of trees that formerly occupied the north-eastern edge of the site, prior to recent felling and clearance. The ditch probably dates to the 1970s, when the area was landscaped following the construction of the council offices. The ridge and furrow earhtworks shown on historic aerial photographs of the site were no longer evident and appear to have been levelled around the time the council offices were built.