SNN110451 - Land off Northampton Road, Chapel Brampton: Archaeological Field Evaluation, November 2014

Mulberry Developments Ltd is submitting a planning application to Daventry District Council for the development of land off Northampton Road, Chapel Brampton, Northamptonshire. Following advice from the County Archaeological Advisor that there was insufficient information to assess the potential archaeological impact of the development, CgMs Consulting Ltd commissioned a geophysical survey by Stratascan in October 2013, before commissioning Albion Archaeology to carry out a programme of trial trenching in November 2014. The potential development area comprises a roughly rectangular piece of arable land to the west of Northampton Road, on the southern edge of the village of Chapel Brampton, Northamptonshire. It measures c. 2.5 ha and is centred on NGR SP 729 662, at a height of c.90–100m OD, on ground that rises to the west. The underlying geology is Northampton Sand, constituting a mixture of degraded ironstone and sandstone. Seven trenches were excavated in order to test anomalies identified by the geophysical survey, as well as the supposedly blank areas. The trenching confirmed the results of the geophysical survey, with the Iron Age enclosure defined by a pair of large ditches, which contained a possible roundhouse and other settlement-related features. A linear feature also crossed the eastern half of the site on a WNW–ESE alignment; this was either a repeatedly re-cut ditched boundary of uncertain date, or more likely a hollow-way, with traces of associated flanking ditches. This would appear to roughly correlate with a boundary shown on the 1758 ‘Isted’ Estate Map. The Iron Age remains have local to regional significance, and are able to shed light on aspects of Iron Age landscape development and morphology, whereas the possible hollowway has local significance. Areas outside of the Iron Age enclosure and away from the possible hollow-way hold only low potential for the presence of archaeological remains.