Data from a Trial Pit Evaluation at Durdent Court, Colne Valley, North Embankment, Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire, 2019-2022 (HS2 Phase One)
High Speed Two Ltd., MOLA Headland Infrastructure, 2025. https://doi.org/10.5284/1126689. How to cite using this DOI
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This work is licensed under a The Open Government Licence (OGL).
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Resource identifiers
- ADS Collection: 4715
- DOI:https://doi.org/10.5284/1126689
- How to cite using this DOI
Introduction
This collection comprises of images, report, CAD, spreadsheet, site record and harris matrices data from a trial pit evaluation at Durdent Court, Colne Valley, North Embankment, Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire, 2019-2022.
Project Summary
In total, 16 archaeological trial pits (TPs 42-46 and 50-60) were excavated in order to identify the location, extent survival and significance of any heritage assets at the Site and contribute to the above listed site-specific objectives (Figure 3). Where required, auger holes were drilled to reach the Holocene deposits.
The natural profile recorded on the Site consisted of the Upnor Formation - a Palaeocene deposit which is a stratigraphic subdivision of the Lambeth Group that is mapped as outcropping in the vicinity of the site (BGS 2005) - overlain by a variable thickness of colluvium, which consisted of brown sandy and occasionally stony silty clay. The present topsoil was formed on the surface of the colluvium. The colluvium contained occasional sherds of Roman and medieval pottery and ceramic building material (TPs 50 and 59), suggesting a medieval or later date of this deposit.
An isolated archaeological cut feature was encountered in TP058 sealed by the colluvium at 0.60m below the ground level (38.80m OD). It is thought to be a pit potentially dated to prehistoric period. Although no other features were noted in the trial pits, the presence of the pit below the colluvium suggests there are potentially more archaeological features at this level on the Site. Further, in four locations (TP42, TP 43, TP 053 and TP 059) several layers of colluvium were noted raising the possibility that archaeological features might also be present at different levels within the colluvium.
Re-Use Value Statement
This archive can be used independently and/or in in conjunction with the rest of HS2 datasets in order to further investigate the archaeological features, landscapes, and periods unearthed on this route.
