NHER 65293 (Negative evidence record) - Site with no evidence for archaeologically-significant remains

July 2018. Trial Trenching.
Evaluation of proposed development site.
Excavation of the single trench opened was hampered by a high water table, which meant that natural clay deposits were only reached in an exploratory sondage at its north-western end. This demonstrated that the clay was overlain by a sequence of two silty layers, the uppermost of which lay immediately beneath the topsoil across much of the trench. Although this deposit produced a single sherd of Roman pottery it was also found to contain fragments of post-medieval clay tobacco pipe and what appeared to be modern ceramic building material. Within the sondage the surface of the natural clay dipped down from the north-east, suggesting the silty deposits may have lain within some form of pond or quarry pit.
Across much of the southern half of the trench the uppermost silt deposit was overlain by an extensive layer of dumped material containing a range of modern debris, including bricks, ironwork, textiles and ash. Bottles made between 1920 and 1930 provided a probable date for this episode of dumping.
See report (S1) for further details.
P. Watkins (HES), 11 February 2022.