SNN117081 - LAND SOUTH OF BRINGTON ROAD, LONG BUCKBY, NORTHAMPTONSHIRE: Archaeological evaluation report

During early spring 2026, an archaeological evaluation was undertaken at land south of Brington Road, Long Buckby, Northamptonshire (the Site). The project was commissioned by Claudia Jorge of EDP (the Consultant) on behalf of Rainer Developments and Strategic Land (the Client). The Site is proposed for residential development. An Archaeological and Heritage Assessment, produced by EDP, and a geophysical survey of the Site, undertaken by GSB Prospection, in support of the application indicated some potential for Roman, medieval and post-medieval activity on the Site. Accordingly, the Lead Planning Archaeologist at Northamptonshire County Council (the Curator) considered that the proposed development had the potential to impact upon preserved heritage assets and requested a phase of archaeological evaluation trenching to determine the presence, degree of significance and state of preservation of any archaeological remains present on the Site. The evaluation was requested in accordance with paragraph 207 of the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF). 27no trenches, extending across a 1,458m² area, were excavated over the 3.64ha site, representing a sample of 4%. The trenches were laid out on a broad grid array with some slight variations for site constraints and to test geophysical anomalies. The evaluation fieldwork confirmed the results of the geophysical survey due to the identification of extensive furrow troughs across the Site. Given the widespread preservation of ridge and furrow earthworks both across the Site and the surrounding fields, the presence of the furrow troughs within the evaluation trenches was unsurprising and feeds into the already comprehensive corpus of data demonstrating the use of ridge and furrow cultivation terraces, during the medieval and post-medieval period, to allow for arable farming on heavy, poorly draining land. Aside from the presence of the ridge and furrow activity no other finds, features or deposits of archaeological significance were identified during the course of the archaeological evaluation. The furrows themselves are considered to be of negligible significance also, all being products of postmedieval and modern agriculture. The methods adopted allow a high degree of confidence that the aims of the project have been achieved. Conditions were suitable in all of the trenches to identify the presence or absence of archaeological features. It is considered that the nature, density and distribution of archaeological features provides an accurate characterisation of the development site as a whole.