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The Heritage Network
11 Furmston Court
Icknield Way
Letchworth
SG6 1UJ
In response to a planning condition on the construction of a new dwelling, with detached garage and associated access, services and landscaping, on land at 20 Leys Road, Loughton, Milton Keynes, the Heritage Network was commissioned by Fernwood Developments (MK) Ltd. to undertake a programme of archaeological monitoring of the construction groundworks. Loughton is recorded in the Domesday Survey of 1086 as Lochintone, and its name may suggest that the settlement has Anglo-Saxon origins. In the medieval period it formed two parishes, Great and Little Loughton, which were united by 1409. The present site lies within Great Loughton.
Immediately to the south of the site, on the other side of the brook, lies a scheduled medieval moated site, with associated fishpond, leats, stock enclosures, channels and fields. Seven building platforms have been identified, all of which lie adjacent to the old course of the Loughton Brook, the course having been reconfigured to the west of the site during the 1930s. Monitoring of the development groundworks revealed a uniform stratigraphy across the site. This consisted of topsoil and subsoil above the undisturbed natural clay, which was encountered at approximately 0.40m below the present ground level. A modern soakaway was exposed within the centre of the footprint of the new dwelling. This had been excavated about 12 years ago, when no.20 Leys Road was built. No other features, deposits or finds of archaeological significance were encountered in the course of the project.