SNN110857 - Main Site, Northampton Waterside, Northamptonshire: Archaeological Evaluation, 2013

An archaeological evaluation was undertaken by Cotswold Archaeology in December 2013 immediately south west of an extant electricity sub-station on the Main Site of the proposed University of Northampton Waterside Campus, Northampton Waterside, Northamptonshire. Three trenches were excavated. Evidence of modern (19th/20th century) ground disturbance and raising, probably relating to the deposit of waste material from the nearby power station, was identified in all of the excavated trenches. Modern concrete foundations in the east of Trench 2 mark the boundary between deep dumps of modern material to the west, and shallower waste dumping to the east (in Trench 3), beneath which modern buried topsoil and subsoils horizons survived from a depth of 0.56m. These soil horizons sealed a layer of darker, disturbed material at 1.1m depth, containing modern nails and wire fragments, which sealed the natural alluvium. This disturbed layer suggests modern truncation had removed any earlier soil horizons which might have preserved evidence of the Battle of Northampton, which is believed to have occurred near to this location.