Series: Tigergeo Limited unpublished report series

TigerGeo was commissioned to undertake a geophysical survey of land at Seven Hills, Ipswich, Suffolk, to assess the potential of the site to contain below ground deposits of archaeological interest. The National Mapping Programme (NMP) has identified a number of probable Bronze age barrows within and adjacent to the site which is located to the north and east of Felixstowe Road, Seven Hills, Ipswich, and comprises multiple fields on gently undulating arable land. The survey was undertaken using an array of fluxgate magnetometers on a non-magnetic platform towed by an ATV. After survey, the data was observed to have a highly variable background of small but locally intense anomalies densely scattered across the site, thought to be derived from municipal compost contaminated with tiny ferrous metal fragments. This has inevitably limited the potential of the survey to detect weakly magnetic features, however, evidence for at least one (HER LVT023) and maybe two Bronze Age barrows was found, plus a number of linear ditch fills that seem to represent an unknown former system of enclosure. One suspected (from NMP data) Bronze Age barrow appears to have been confirmed (HER LVT023) while a second has not (HER LVT022). A third HER record LVT058 not seen during NMP mapping nor in the magnetic data. A fourth example [3] may be evident within the magnetic data but is not within the NMP or HER data sets. For both LVT022 and LVT058, if any associated magnetic anomalies are weak then they may be obscured by the debris. There appears to be evidence of a previously unknown system of enclosure removed prior to OS map editions of the 1880s. Whether this is of prehistoric or much later date cannot be determined from the survey. The presence of strongly magnetic debris across much of the survey has limited the scope for detection of some features of interest.

A magnetic survey was commissioned by CgMs Consulting to prospect for buried features of potential archaeological interest at Land at Florida Farm, St Helens, Merseyside. Survey was undertaken using an ATV-towed and GNSS-tracked array of caesium vapour magnetometers in a transverse non-gradiometric configuration. The coverage of the surveyable area was near complete, with only a small area with nesting birds excluded from data collection. The landscape depicted in 1849, much of which was altered by the end of that century, is clearly visible in the data. There is little in the magnetic data that obviously pre-dates this layout, though some probable boundary ditches may do so. The coal mining activity has left traces across the landscape, including the tramway, possible buildings and features related to land drainage. Any features relating to extraction prior to 1849 were not clearly identifiable but may yet exist within the site. The discussion of mine entries in this report is based upon interpretation of the magnetic data in conjunction with Coal Authority map data supplied by CgMs Consulting. A more definitive mapping of these is beyond the scope of the work commissioned.

A magnetic survey was commissioned by Armour Heritage to prospect Land North of Ingham, Suffolk, for buried structures of archaeological interest. Survey was undertaken using a GNSS-tracked ATV-towed array of caesium vapour magnetometers in non-gradiometric configuration, a pseudo-gradient data set being subsequently calculated from this to aid interpretation. Nothing of archaeological interest was seen in the data, although there are signs of a depression, perhaps a former marl pit, having been filled with debris. A further spread of debris, extending right across the field and constrained within a rectangular area, may result from the spreading of contaminated green manure. Two large pit-fill type anomalies seem likely to have a natural origin, as does a small area of anomalous magnetic texture near the northeast corner of the field.

Magnetic (total field) survey of two fields on the outskirts of Stowmarket The survey has identified a palimpsest of previously known and unknown linear landscape divisions representing former field systems and boundaries. Some of these are ambiguous in character and are likely to relate to the existing copse of trees on the western border of the site but they could also pre-date this and relate to a slight rise in the ground at this location.

A fluxgate magnetometer survey, to be undertaken using an array of Sensys FGM650-3 sensors mounted on a GNSS-tracked non-magnetic platform and controlled by a Mercury6508 digitiser. The whole development area was surveyed, the most effective route to an overview of possible archaeological remains and their context. The magnetic survey found little of archaeological interest, with the possible exception of a semi-circular arrangements of ditch fills in the centre of the site and maybe a linear ditch fill. Although a number of metal detecting finds have been made within the site over the years, no obvious source of these was detected and it might be that these are due to chance loss across a long period of agricultural use.