SNN110537 - Wakerley Quarry Access Road, Northamptonshire: Archaeological Geophysical Survey, 2016

A geophysical survey has been undertaken as part of an archaeological field evaluation of the proposed route of a new access road to Wakerley Quarry in eastern Northamptonshire. The survey was commissioned on behalf of the client (Mick George Ltd). Fieldwork for the survey was done on 1-4 November 2016. This is a site where minor or superficial soil disturbances give rise to distinct magnetic anomalies, and so any reasonably intact archaeological features should be detectable, but it is difficult to identify any findings which could be archaeologically relevant. The magnetic anomalies appear mainly to represent a combination of cultivation effects, minor natural erosion channels, drains, pipes and ferrous debris. The one possible exception to these conclusions is a small and ill-defined possible circular feature. This is of a size which could (perhaps) represent a hut circle, but it is irregular and isolated, and there are no other interpretable features nearby of a kind which would be expected at an ancient settlement site. There is also an indication of metal-working debris in the topsoil in fields 10 and 11. This could suggest the presence in the vicinity of former metal-working features, although the results suggest that such features lie outside of the area of survey and that the slag residues have been dispersed by ploughing.