Data copyright © High Speed Two Ltd. unless otherwise stated
This work is licensed under a The Open Government Licence (OGL).
High Speed Two Ltd.
2 Snowhill
Queensway
Birmingham
B4 6GA
United Kingdom
Tel: 08081 434 434
This collection comprises reports, site records, spreadsheets, images, and CAD files from trial pit investigation carried out by MOLA Headland Infrastructure at Colne Valley Viaduct, Buckinghamshire and London Borough of Hillingdon from December 2018 to March 2020.
This test pit evaluation was undertaken in land parcels C10014, C10028, C10029, C10031, C10032 and C10036, located along a 13km stretch of the Colne Valley, between Denham and Rickmansworth. Thirty-three test pits were excavated in locations to determine as far as reasonably possible the nature of the archaeological resource of the site. Following the conclusion of the fieldwork, a geoarchaeological deposit model was created by the Archaeological Contractor, incorporating data from 114 borehole logs provided by the employer. Five distinct deposit formations were identified on the site: Tertiary geological deposits in the form of Lambeth Group and Chalk head, Pleistocene gravels, Holocene alluvium, Holocene colluvium and modern made ground. No cut features or artefacts pre-dating the post-medieval period were recovered from the site. The results of pollen and C14 samples taken from Test pits’ 10 and 13 indicate that peat formation began in the Mesolithic period when the environment comprised thick woodland.
This archive can be used independently and/or in in conjunction with the rest of HS2 datasets in order to further investigate the archaeological landscape recorded along the route as. This can also function as a guide to digital archiving for future infrastructure projects benefiting both the commercial sector and the research community.