| Title: |
Whitehouse Farm, Belper, Derbyshire: Archaeological Evaluation |
| Series: |
Wessex Archaeology unpublished report series
|
| Downloads: |
|
wessexar1-408792_129756.pdf (5 MB)
:
|
Download
|
|
| Biblio Note |
This report was uploaded to the OASIS system by the named Publisher. The report has not been reviewed by the relevant HER. The report has been transferred into the ADS Library for public access and to facilitate future research.
|
| Licence Type: |
ADS Terms of Use and Access
|
| DOI |
|
| Publication Type: |
Report (in Series)
|
| Abstract: |
Wessex Archaeology was commissioned by Wheeldon Brothers Ltd to conduct an archaeological trench evaluation of a 3.58 ha parcel of land located at Whitehouse Farm, Belper Lane, Belper, Derbyshire, NGR 433904 348825. This was part of archaeological work in response to a planning condition for a housing development. A 2 % sample of the area was provided through excavation of 15 trenches. An additional 10 x 10 m area around a possible Romano-British pit feature was excavated to check for further related features. The site is characterised mainly by post-medieval agriculture and allotment gardening. One pit (506) was dated by the presence of a single sherd of pottery to the Romano-British period. The 10 x 10 m strip area around this feature uncovered no further archaeological material. The remaining gullies, pits, postholes and a demolished dry stone wall may all be recent in date although artefacts were infrequently recovered and only two further features can be dated by the presence of pottery and clay tobacco pipe. Linear features were generally in alignment with the extant field system, suggesting that they post-date inclosure. Historic maps show that the north of the site was used as allotment gardens in the 20th century, which may be the origin of some of the features. Other features are probably agricultural in origin, perhaps including drains, furrows and plough scars or trends. Gullies in trenches 2 and 15 were on different alignments and could potentially be earlier in date, although trench 2 lies within the area of former allotments and gully 209 may therefore be the product of small-scale allotment gardening. The results are consistent with the general picture revealed by previous walkover and geophysical survey, although the detailed results of the geophysical survey did not correlate directly with the detailed results of the trial trenching. Ridge and furrow identified by non-intrusive survey generally did not translate into observable belowground features. The evidence for furrows does suggest that the site may have been in agricultural use in the medieval period (although a medieval origin for the furrows is speculative). It is most likely that any exploitation of the site during any period comprised low-intensity activity such as agriculture undertaken at some distance from settlement. Despite evidence for Romano-British quern production in the immediate area, there was no evidence for quern manufacture or consumption on the site. Two sherds of Romano-British pottery might represent transient activity in the hinterland of the quern production site. Though there was evidence of ploughing in the fields evaluated, the ploughsoil was relatively shallow suggesting that recent ploughing has had little impact on preservation of earlier features. |
| Author: |
P Whittaker
B Saunders
|
| Publisher: |
Wessex Archaeology
|
| Year of Publication: |
2021
|
| Locations: |
| Parish: |
Belper |
| District: |
Amber Valley |
| Country: |
England |
| County: |
Derbyshire |
|
Grid Reference: 433903, 348824 (Easting, Northing)
|
|
| Subjects / Periods: |
|
| Identifiers: |
| OASIS Id: |
wessexar1-408792 |
| OBIB: |
239450.03 |
|
| Source: |
|
| Relations: |
|
| Created Date: |
21 Sep 2023 |
