SNN116407 - Archaeological Field Evaluation: Gaultney Farm, Desborough

Border Archaeology (BA) Ltd was instructed by Gaultney Solar Park Ltd to carry out a programme of archaeological field evaluation of farmland at Gaultney Farm Pipewell Lane Desborough, Northamptonshire prior to its proposed conversion to a solar park. The development area lies roughly 150m northeast of the outskirts of Desborough and is bordered by Pipewell Road to the north and Gaultney wood to the south. The overall site covered an area of approximately 47.3ha, an area comprising four fields under arable cultivation. Fifty trenches each measuring 30m x 2m were opened across the four fields representing a two per cent sample of the development area. These were located so as to target features and anomalies identified by a previous programme of geophysical survey. The site slopes from northeast to southwest, with an approximate AOD of 138m at the northeast compared to an approximate AOD of 115m at the southwest. Gentle undulations were visible within the landscape representing the silted remains of natural combes. Natural geology varied extensively across the area: the upper northeast and northwest area (Fields 2, 3 & 4) comprised firm sandy clay with very frequent inclusions of chalk and flint fragments whilst the centre and north of Field 1 comprised loose sand which changed to ironstone in the west and southwest and clayey sand in the southeast. No archaeology was present in Fields 2 and 4; the stratigraphy comprising topsoil and subsoil deposit with hill-wash visible in the lower lying trenches. A large ditch was encountered in Field 3 in Trenches 7 and 9. No dating evidence was recovered but the size and profile of the feature would suggest it functioned as a boundary ditch. Evidence for prehistoric activity was represented by 10 worked flints, all of which were residual (Appendix 2). Excavation of nine trenches In Field 1 revealed significant remains of a moderately sized, 1st century AD (early Romano-British) settlement enclosure, which appears to have post-dated a small late Iron Age settlement. Possible agricultural activity of the 3 rd and 4th centuries AD (late Romano-British period) was recorded in Trenches 47 and 49 Ironstone quarries of 19th –century date were encountered in the trenches excavated along the eastern and southern boundary of Field 1