This collection comprises of text, spreadsheet and GIS data from a route wide woodland historic landscape characterisation carried out by INFRA Archaeology during April 2021.

Project Summary

The Project Plan outlined an objective-led approach that sought to contribute to the establishment of a chronology of the historic use and activities at the woodland Sites, with the overall aim of the Woodland Evaluation being to broaden the level of knowledge and understanding of woodlands within the Proposed Scheme, including their social and economic history.

The below outlines site-specific aims:

Jones Hill Wood

• Establish the date of the Ancient Woodlandusing a dendrochronological sample.
• Establish the potential for medieval agricultural features to be present.
• Confirm the nature of the east-west aligned anomalies detected by LiDAR survey, and
• Define the extent of post-medieval quarrying.

Widmore Farm

• Confirm or amend the provisional mid-19th century date for the woodland using a dendrochronological sample.
• Examine the potential for residual artefactual remains dating to the Mesolithic and Neolithic periods.
• Investigate the potential for further evidence of Iron Age settlement, as recorded nearby at Finmere Quarry.
• Establish the potential for medieval agricultural features to be present, and
• Define the extent of impacts resulting from the construction of the Great Central Railway.

Fox Covert Whitfield

• Establish the date of the woodland using a dendrochronological sample.
• Investigate the potential for a continuation of the possible late prehistoric field system as recorded nearby.
• Explore the potential for Roman features/artefacts associated with that recorded nearby at Sundale.
• Establish the date and nature of linear earthworks identified within the woodland, and
• Investigate potential for features/artefacts associated with the parish boundary.

Halse Copse

• Establish the date of the Ancient Woodland and confirm that of the later plantation using a dendrochronological sample.
• Investigate the potential for late prehistoric and/or Roman features.
• Explore the potential for evidence of the medieval park pale, and
• Establish the potential for medieval agricultural features to be present.

Fox Covert (Glyn Davies Wood)

• Establish the date of the Ancient Woodland using a dendrochronological sample.
• Explore the potential for late prehistoric features/artefacts and an association with contemporary settlement evidence identified nearby.
• Examine the northern flank of Welsh Lane for evidence to better understand its origins and development.
• Investigate potential for features/artefacts associated with parish/county boundaries.
• Establish the potential for medieval agricultural features to be present.
• Establish the potential for Second World War defensive features to be present, and
• Confirm and characterise the sub-circular feature identified within the Ancient Woodland.

Windmill Hill Spinney

• Establish the date of the woodland using a dendrochronological sample.
• Explore the potential for Mesolithic, Neolithic & Bronze Age evidence.
• Investigate the potential for a continuation of Iron Age/Roman features as identified to the immediate south.
• Establish the potential for medieval agricultural features to be present, and
• Confirm the nature of the linear features detected by LiDAR survey and visual inspect.

Re-Use Value Statement

There would appear to be little potential for archaeological evidence for woodland activity within any of the Sites, particularly activity which pertains to woodland management, except for the activity represented in the various boundary features identified in the Topographic Survey.

The woodland survey provided the baseline data for understanding the potential for past woodland management to be evident, the current make-up of the woodlands in terms of species and how these reflect upon the histories of the Sites. Whilst the survey did achieve some level of assessment, the survey did suffer from several constraints.

The Woodland Evaluation was an evidence-led approach that drew on site-specific and local topographical and geological information, historical mapping evidence and evidence of past activity within the Site. The Phase 1 evaluation work, and resultant data presented here, does contribute to this stock of information, but the understanding of the Site would be significantly advanced by Phase 2 surveys.