Digital Archive for Hornsea Offshore Wind Farm Project One (HOW01) 2015-2019
Wessex Archaeology, 2024. https://doi.org/10.5284/1116860. How to cite using this DOI
Data copyright © Wessex Archaeology unless otherwise stated
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
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Resource identifiers
- ADS Collection: 6082
- DOI:https://doi.org/10.5284/1116860
- How to cite using this DOI
Introduction
This collection comprises fieldwork and post-excavation data from Hornsea Offshore Wind Farm Project One. Archaeological work was undertaken by Wessex Archaeology between September 2015 and July 2019.
Wessex Archaeology commissioned by Hornsea 1 Limited (formerly DONG Energy), undertook archaeological mitigation works comprising seven set piece excavation (SPE) areas, seven strip, map and record (SMR) areas, twenty targeted watching brief (TWB) areas and a general watching brief (GWB) along the route of cable from national grid reference (NGR) 538000 402100 to 515200 418900 through North Lincolnshire, Northeast Lincolnshire, and Lincolnshire.
A very small quantity of residual and unstratified Neolithic and Bronze Age pottery was recovered.
An Iron Age enclosed settlement from the first half of the first century AD was excavated in SPE6. Many pits were also present outside the enclosure (SMR5). Beyond SPE6/SMR5, evidence for Iron Age and Romano-British settlement was slight, with only one or two roundhouse sites recorded from SPE4 and a possible roundhouse site in SMR4. Settlement may have been of a type with little below-ground impact. A lesser or greater degree of transhumance is likely in the marshland environment.
Dense intensely re-cut areas of Iron Age and Romano-British agricultural enclosures were the primary type of site excavated (SPE1, SPE2, SPE4, SPE5, SPE7 and perhaps TWB4). The origins of these enclosures were generally in the late Iron Age. There was little evidence to highlight the Iron Age/Romano-British transition. The SPE5 site may have declined because of Romanisation, although the other sites reached their zenith in the Romano-British period. Decline at the turn of the 2nd/3rd centuries AD was followed by a return to intense activity in the 3rd/4th centuries, although with some differences demonstrated by pottery forms. The enclosures were in decline before the end of the Romano-British period.
An isolated Romano-British tile kiln was identified in SMR2.
A further dense area of intensely re-cut agricultural enclosures in TWB4 contained primarily undated and early Anglo-Saxon features. The undated features superficially resembled the Iron Age/Romano-British agricultural enclosures of SPE 1 etc. Artefacts suggest early Anglo-Saxon settlement, which may be evidenced by possible occupation layers.
A minor focus of Late Saxon activity was recorded by the SMR south of SPE4/4a at the boundary of a later medieval moated site. In total, two medieval moated enclosures were investigated (SPE3/SMR6 and SPE4). Saxo-Norman drainage systems likely pre-dated the origin of the moats. Dating of the moats was complicated by frequent re-scouring and the surviving fills were likely significantly later in date than the moat cuts. Both moats had ultimately been incorporated into post-medieval boundaries. Other interior features comprised a variety of pits and limited evidence indicating the presence of structures.
Medieval saltern activity (salt-making) was recorded in SMR1 and other areas. The form of the salt-making features closely resembled examples excavated elsewhere (e.g., McAvoy et al. 1994). Hearths were identified, with areas of heat-transformed natural and shallow deposits of ashy material sometimes reflecting the rectangular shape of evaporation pans.
Salt-making appears to have given way to medieval agriculture as evidenced by field boundaries, probably as land reclamation drove the coast seawards. Evidence of ridge and furrow across the scheme provides further evidence of medieval agricultural practice.
A historic building recording of a WWII dispersed airfield site, formerly belonging to RAF North Killingholme, which has most recently been used for agricultural purposes, and which partially lies within the onshore cable corridor of Hornsea Project One was also undertaken as part of the project
