SNN117008 - LAND OFF CALDECOTT ROAD CHELVESTON, NORTHAMPTONSHIRE: AN ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVALUATION

From the 26th of August to the 3rd of September 2025, an archaeological evaluation was undertaken by Pre-Construct Archaeology Ltd on land off Caldecott Road, Chelveston, Northamptonshire. The work, which was commissioned by Wykes Engineering Ltd through Tetra Tech, their archaeological consultant, was carried out to inform planning proposals to North Northamptonshire Council for the construction of a new access road and roundabout for Chelveston Renewable Energy Park and Energy Innovation Park. The archaeological evaluation comprised 21no. 30m and 8no. 50m trenches at 1.8m wide. The evaluation confirmed the presence of an area of settlement activity in the field at the western end of the site, in the form of an enclosure system belonging to a farmstead, that was previously identified from cropmarks and was recorded by a subsequent geophysical survey. The farmstead extends to the south and west beyond the proposed development area. Pottery recovered from the ditches has been dated to the later Roman period, specifically to the mid-2nd to 4th centuries AD. Medieval or post-medieval agricultural furrows and a headland, the remains of an open field system, was also identified in the western part of the site. There were no significant archaeological finds or features in the eastern part of the site, other than a post-medieval field boundary ditch that is shown on the 1901 Ordnance Survey map of the area. Modern land drains were also recorded in trenches across the site.