SNN111829 - Farndish Road, Irchester, Northamptonshire: Archaeological Geophysical Survey, November 2018

AOC Archaeology Group was commissioned by Atkins for M Scott Properties Ltd and The Trustees of the Saxby Trust to undertake an archaeological geophysical gradiometer survey. The purpose of the survey was to investigate the potential for buried archaeological remains on a proposed site off Farndish Road, to the south of Irchester, Northamptonshire (centred at SP 92735 65227). A total of 3.9 hectares were surveyed and the results of the survey have identified the following. A number of discrete trends of a possible archaeological origin have been identified across the entire dataset. The results cannot be classed as being definitively archaeological, and cannot be correlated to existing HER data; however, it is likely that some of the trends are archaeological as they are located within a zone of Roman activity surrounding the town. In the north of the dataset, a possible enclosure is visible adjacent to a collection of fractured trends which could indicate an area of archaeological activity. These trends are also surrounded by a zone of enhanced magnetism which could relate to the possible archaeological activity, or alternatively could be agricultural or natural in origin. Bands of linear and curvilinear anomalies cross the dataset from north to south and east to west and could relate to a fractured former field system or field boundaries. Ploughing trends of both modern and ridge and furrow regimes are visible across the entire dataset showing the area has been historically farmed. A large possible modern service cuts across the centre of the dataset and truncates some of the features identified through the survey.