Data from a Trial Trenching at Thorpe Mandeville Sulgrave Road (South), Kent, 2018-2021 (HS2 Phase One)
MOLA Headland Infrastructure, High Speed Two Ltd., 2025. https://doi.org/10.5284/1133814. How to cite using this DOI
Data copyright © High Speed Two Ltd. unless otherwise stated
This work is licensed under a The Open Government Licence (OGL).
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Resource identifiers
- ADS Collection: 4612
- DOI:https://doi.org/10.5284/1133814
- How to cite using this DOI
Introduction
This collection comprises text, image, site record, Harris Matrices, CAD and spreadsheet data from trial trenching work at Thorpe Mandeville, Sulgrave Road (South), Kent. The work was undertaken by MOLA Headland Infrastructure between 2018 and 2021.
The text data includes survey, summary, interim and fieldwork reports, along with PDFs of site records, register, plans, and sections. The raster data includes digital site photos and matrices. The spreadsheet data comprises finds data.
Project Summary
A trial trench evaluation was carried out on behalf of Fusion for the HS2 Central Enabling Works in advance of the main construction activities at the Thorpe Mandeville Cutting. The evaluation comprised two land parcels: C31008 and C31009.
For field C31008 a total of 88 trial trenches were excavated of the course of the evaluation. They all measured 30 metres in length and 1.80 metres in width; the depts of trenches to the archaeological horizon varied from 0.24 metres up to 0.62 metres. Of the 88 trenches excavate, 24 contained archaeological features, the remaining 64 trenches contained no archaeology. However, a small amount of post-medieval pottery and ferrous metalwork was recovered from some trenches during the sieving process. Of the 24 trenches with archaeological features, the archaeology was mainly concentrated in three locations, with sporadic remnants of archaeology throughout the area. Field C31008 has produces a moderate volume of in three concentrated areas, the evaluation has corroborated the results of the geophysical survey carried out prior to the evaluation, showing archaeological presence at the north-eastern edge of site (Roman), the western side towards Sulgrave Road (Iron Age), and finally a concentration Iron Age/Roman archaeology toward the southern limit of the site.
For field C31009 a total of 33 trial trenches were excavated of the course of the evaluation. They all measured 30 metres in length and 1.80 metres in width, the depth of the trenches to the archaeological horizon varied from 0.12 metres to 0.74m. Of the 33 trenches excavated, nine contained archaeological features, the remaining 24 trenches contained no archaeology. However, a small amount of post-medieval pottery was recovered from some of the 24 trenches with no archaeology, during the topsoil sieving process. Field C31009 has produced a small volume of archaeology and the evaluation has, in general, corroborated the results of the earlier geophysical survey, showing some archaeological presence toward the eastern boundary of the site, and a large east-west aligned ditch observed across several trenches. Although no dateable finds were recovered from the ditch running east-west, it seems likely that it represents a medieval/post-medieval field boundary, abandoned when the current field boundaries were created. The archaeology found towards the eastern side of site did not produce any dateable material, but the presence of a struck flint infers potential prehistoric activity. The medieval/post-medieval furrows uncovered during the evaluation from part of a former ridge and furrow cultivation system the ridges of which still have a visible surface expression on the site.
Re-Use Value Statement
This archive can be used independently and/or in in conjunction with the rest of HS2 datasets in order to inform the archaeological features and periods unearthed on this route as interpretations of landscape archaeology. This can also function as a guide to digital archiving for future infrastructure projects benefiting both the commercial sector and the research community.
The final deposition location for the artefactual assemblage is to be confirmed.
