SNN112219 - Apex Park, Daventry, Northamptonshire: Archaeological Evaluation Report

Oxford Archaeology (OA) was commissioned by Prologis UK Limited with RPS Heritage as their archaeological advisor and overall project manager to undertake trial trenching for Apex Park Phase 4 at Daventry, Northamptonshire. The work was undertaken in advance of the submission of a planning application for commercial development at the site. The evaluation was designed to target and confirm the results of a geophysical survey and previous targeted trial trenching whilst also providing coverage of the entire area to assess for the presence or absence of archaeological remains within the development. This included the excavation of deep trenches and trial pits to establish the impact of 20th-century landfill operations recorded across the northern part of the site. The current phase comprised the excavation of 72 trenches and was carried out between July and August 2019. This confirmed the presence of a continuous-circuit ditched feature identified by the geophysical survey. This is probably an early Bronze Age ring-ditch, although convincing dating evidence was lacking. The evaluation also recorded a previously identified linear ditch to the south of the ring-ditch. Convincing dating evidence was similarly lacking, although this may be a contemporary feature of the early Bronze Age landscape. In addition, an undated cremation burial and a pit containing a charcoal-rich fill and fragments of burnt clay were recorded to the east of the ring-ditch. Three further ditches were identified of which one produced scraps of early Bronze Age pottery and corresponded to a curving feature identified by the geophysical survey. The evaluation also confirmed the presence of a medieval or post-medieval agricultural system of furrows aligned northeast-southwest. This is likely to have truncated the upper horizons of the earlier archaeological features. The northern part of the development area had previously been utilised as a landfill site. The evaluation established the partial survival of relatively undisturbed buried land surfaces below part of the landfill deposits along with areas of truncation. This confirmed the southern extent of the area impacted by the landfill operations.