Data from an Archaeological Mitigation at Coleshill Park, Warwickshire, 2019 (HS2 Phase One)
Wessex Archaeology, High Speed Two Ltd., 2025. https://doi.org/10.5284/1122725. How to cite using this DOI
- HS2 Phase One: London to West Midlands Historic Environment Digital Archive
- Curated Collection: Primary Schools
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This work is licensed under a The Open Government Licence (OGL).
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Resource identifiers
- ADS Collection: 5940
- DOI:https://doi.org/10.5284/1122725
- How to cite using this DOI
Introduction
This collection comprises reports, plans, GIS files, spreadsheets, images, and photogrammetry 3D models from archaeological mitigation conducted by Wessex Archaeology at Coleshill Park, Warwickshire in 2019. The work investigated heritage assets through metal detecting and archaeological recording.
Archaeological mitigation at Coleshill Park revealed three palaeochannels, likely earlier courses or tributaries of the River Cole, and two burnt mounds of probable Bronze Age date. The burnt mount in Area 2 showed three phases of use separated by a hiatus, while the kidney-shaped Area 5 burnt mound was thicker away from underlying features, with a pit or trough originally outside it. Bronze Age finds included redeposited pottery from two findspots 1.4 km apart and in situ pottery from an isolated pit in Area 1.
Iron Age activity comprised settlements in Areas 1, 3, and 4, with roundhouses, ditches, pits, cremation burials, and pit alignments forming part of an extensive field system. Some features date from 500 BC to AD 43, with settlement in Area 1 continuing into the Early/Middle Romano-British period (500 BC–AD 225). A pit alignment in Area 2 may be Iron Age, terminating at the River Cole, which may have served as a boundary. Optically Stimulated Luminescence dating largely supports an Iron Age chronology. A separate Iron Age to Romano-British settlement included three additional roundhouses.
Romano-British occupation, concentrated in the 2nd–mid-3rd centuries AD, focused on agricultural and domestic activities, including crop processing, waste management, livestock enclosures, a droveway, and possible granary or barn. Ceramic building material suggests substantial structures nearby. Later activity included a medieval rectilinear enclosure in Area 4, which could possibly be linked to Coleshill Manor, a stock enclosure, pits, and gullies. Post-medieval remains, including cultivation furrows, field boundaries, and drainage features, reflect continued agricultural use of the landscape.
