SNN111395 - DIRFT III, Ridge and Furrow Survey, Northamptonshire: Geoarchaeological and Archaeological Investigation

During March and April 2016, Cotswold Archaeology carried out a geoarchaeological investigation of the medieval/early post-medieval ridge and furrow earthworks and later field boundaries at the site of Daventry International Rail Freight Terminal (DIRFT III), Northamptonshire. The investigation was commissioned by Prologis UK Ltd as part of a wider programme of heritage mitigation, as required by Requirement 15 of the Development Consent Order issued by the Secretary of State. Five hand-dug test pits and twenty-one machine-excavated trenches of varying dimensions were excavated across the northern half of the site. The trenches were targeted on remnant ridge and furrow and other earthwork features shown on a LiDAR survey of the site, with the aim of investigating the development of the medieval agricultural landscape from its inception to its eventual conversion to pasture in the later medieval and post-medieval periods. On the floodplain, a buried soil horizon was encountered beneath the mineralised medieval ploughsoil. This deposit had some of the characteristics of a Boreal soil (i.e. Mesolithic/Neolithic), but pollen analysis suggests that it was probably a cultivated soil. The soil horizon overlay a variety of vegetation features (tree throw hollows etc.), suggesting that the floodplain supported some degree of tree cover prior to clearance for agricultural use. There was no suitable organic material for radiocarbon dating, so the age of the buried soil is uncertain. However, small ditches were also identified beneath the buried soil, probably forming part of an agricultural ditch system of Late Iron Age or Roman date. It is therefore probable that the buried soil horizon dates to the first millennium AD. Investigation of the medieval ridge and furrow earthworks identified some changes to its organisation during its period of active use, but dating these changes was constrained by the lack of dateable artefactual material and the homogeneity of the subsoil that formed the earthwork features.