SNN117094 - Bassetts Park, West Villa Road Wellingborough, Northamptonshire NN8 4LR: Archaeological Inspection Report

Archaeological monitoring, investigation and recording was carried out by Souterrain during ground preparation for a new skateboard park within Bassetts Park, on the NW side of Wellingborough town, Northamptonshire. The public park was created in 1912, but little was known about former land-use. Field names on early 19th century maps indicated that quarry pits had been dug in this part of the town, following which the ground was reclaimed as pasture. The development site was a part of an enclosure then known as Bassetts Close, the name of which suggests that it was an exposed outcrop of geological strata, possibly a quarry face. Ground reduction at the development site was limited to the removal of topsoil, though sufficient to identify that the site contained successive land-fill deposits dating from the late 18th century or early 19th century, corroborative with the historic map evidence. An edge of a quarry pit was also apparent. It is therefore likely that the development site is situated above a former quarry pit, either for stone or clay. The age of the pit could not be ascertained. There were no earlier features or finds, or indications of land-use prior to extraction. However, it is inferred from a mid-19th century map that the site location would have been within one of Wellingborough’s medieval open-fields. The report provides an illustrated synopsis of the archaeological context of the investigation and its results.