SNN112644 - Land Adjacent to 11 Baker’s Lane, The Garden, Shutlanger, Towcester, Northamptonshire: Archaeological Evaluation Report

In June 2021, two evaluation trenches were excavated in a large residential garden (0.29 ha) on the north side of Baker’s Lane in the village of Shutlanger, Northamptonshire. The purpose of the investigation was to determine whether or not significant buried archaeological remains might be affected by proposed development. The site was deemed to have potential for buried archaeology pertaining to Shutlanger’s medieval settlement. The evaluation would allow the planning authority’s archaeological advisor to decide whether a form of mitigation would be required. The trenches, each 20 m by 2 m, were positioned to provide a representative sample (c. 4.8 %) of the areas to be affected by the proposed development. From at least the late Victorian period through to the mid 20th century, the site was a small enclosed field belonging to Poplars Farm, a mixed stock farm. The farmyard, cow houses and milking sheds bordered the west side of the field and provided access for cattle herds throughout the period. In the latter part of the 20th century the land was landscaped to form a residential garden. The stratigraphy of the evaluation trenches largely reflected these two aspects of land-use and ground disturbance. In one of the trenches a stone-lined drain was revealed, which may have been associated with the adjacent post-medieval farmstead. Other than this, there were no earlier features of archaeological significance and, likewise, no artefacts.