SNN110983 - Land north of Niort Way, Upper Redhill, Wellingborough, Northamptonshire (Phase 1a): Archaeological Evaluation

In April 2015, Cotswold Archaeology carried out an archaeological evaluation of land north of Niort Way, Upper Redhill, Wellingborough, Northamptonshire. Cropmarks thought to be associated with the shrunken medieval village of Great Harrowden are visible to the immediate north of the evaluation site. A geophysical survey of the evaluation site itself recorded potential ditched enclosures and associated pit-features, as well as evidence for ridge and furrow cultivation and former field boundaries. The evaluation recorded a small number of ditches and a post-medieval/modern wall. One of the ditches yielded two fragments of post-medieval tile, but the remainder were undated artefactually. Two parallel ditches were in the approximate location of a former field boundary depicted on late 19th-century mapping. Almost all of the archaeological features recorded by the evaluation had been detected by the geophysical survey. The evaluation demonstrated that the remainder of the sampled geophysical anomalies did not correspond to below-ground archaeological features, having been caused either by natural clay patches/bands in the geological substrate, postmedieval/ modern land drains or near-surface variations in ground composition. The evaluation found no evidence that medieval Great Harrowden extended southwards into the evaluation site. The presence of ridge and furrow throughout the site indicates that the site formed part of the open fields surrounding the medieval settlement.