Data from an Evaluation at Kenilworth, Warwickshire to Balsall Common, West Midlands, 2019-2023 (HS2 Phase One)
High Speed Two Ltd., Wessex Archaeology, 2023. https://doi.org/10.5284/1125028. How to cite using this DOI
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- ADS Collection: 5928
- DOI:https://doi.org/10.5284/1125028
- How to cite using this DOI
Introduction
This collection comprises reports, documents, images, CAD files, spreadsheets and GIS data from an archaeological evaluation carried out by Wessex Archaeology at Kenilworth, Warwickshire to Balsall Common, West Midlands from October 2018 to December 2020.
A total of 354 trenches were excavated by Wessex Archaeology in 2019. The most significant findings were two areas of archaeological remains consisting of cut features dating to the Late Bronze Age–Middle Iron Age and Romano‐British periods.
‘Area 1’, located in the central part of the evaluation area to the north‐west of the A429, occupied a ridge overlooking the tributary of the Finham Brook to the north‐east and contained linear boundary ditches, cremated human remains and a hearth. These remains are thought to relate to activity during the Romano‐British period.
‘Area 2’ laid to the south‐east of the A429, on a south‐facing slope, and contained further boundary ditches. Features in Area 2 contained pottery of Late Bronze Age to Middle Iron Age date, set against a potential backdrop of prehistoric flint working dated to the Neolithic/Bronze Age. Isolated features found in trenches beyond Areas 1 and 2 included probable post‐medieval and modern boundary/drainage ditches and hedgerows, and undated pits.
Archaeological remains were sparse in the rest of the evaluation area with the majority of other features remaining undated. The only archaeological features noted within the vicinity of the Grade II Listed Barn at Lavender Hall Farm (National Heritage List/NHL Ref: 1054821), and the Grade II* Lavender Hall Farmhouse (NHL Ref. 1075943) were remnant field boundaries dating to the post‐medieval and modern periods. Within the north‐west and central sections of the evaluation area, historic agricultural practices such as ridge and furrow and partitioning of fields into smaller plots were evident but no earlier features were located. No features relating to the shrunken village at Hurst (ES ref: STN062) were found.
The earliest dateable evidence from the trial trenching was 12 pieces of worked stone, broadly dating to the Neolithic/Bronze Age, indicative of sporadic prehistoric activity of these periods across the area.
