SNN110642 - Ecton Brook Playing Fields, Great Billing Way, Northampton: Archaeological Field Investigation, 2016

Planning permission (N/2015/1249) was granted by Northampton Borough Council for a housing development at Ecton Brook Playing Fields, off Great Billing Way, Northampton. A condition was attached to the planning permission requiring a programme of archaeological work be carried out in accordance with a written scheme of investigation. The works comprised trial trench evaluation followed by ‘strip, map and sample’ investigation. The trial trench evaluation was undertaken on 28th September 2016. A total of five trenches, measuring between 25–50m long by 1.8m wide, were opened so as to investigate the archaeological potential of the proposed housing plots. The subsequent ‘strip, map and sample’ excavation was carried out on 10th November 2016. It comprised stripping of the subsoil within the confines of the proposed access road and stretched over an area c. 10m by 11m around features revealed in Trench 2 during the trial trenching. The only archaeological features revealed within the proposed development area (PDA) PDA were in the form of modern wheel ruts that were likely associated with the construction of the nearby Ecton Brook Primary School. The absence of any other features suggests that the PDA may be some distance away from any earlier settlement focus. In addition, none of the archaeological remains recorded in the Northamptonshire HER continued into the PDA. However, the scarce presence of Roman artefacts within the subsoil may indicate at least some level of activity datable to the Roman period in the vicinity of the site. The remains identified within the site are of negligible significance and have no potential to address regional archaeological research agenda. The findings of the field investigation also suggest that the development of the site will have no significant archaeological impact.