The survey was undertaken using four Bartington Grad601 sensors mounted at 1m intervals (1m traverse interval) onto a rigid frame. The system was programmed to take readings at a frequency of 10Hz (allowing for a 10-15cm sample interval) on roaming traverses (swaths) 4m apart (Illus 4). These readings were stored on an external weatherproof laptop and later downloaded for processing and interpretation. The system was linked to a Trimble R12 Real Time Kinetic (RTK) differential Global Positioning System (dGPS) outputting in NMEA mode to ensure a high positional accuracy for each data point. MLGrad601 and MultiGrad601 (Geomar Software Inc.) software was used to collect and export the data. Terrasurveyor V3.0.37.0 (DWConsulting) software was used to process and present the data. The survey has identified anomalies consistent with modern activity and agricultural usage of the proposed development area (PDA) against a variable magnetic background caused by overlying sand and gravel deposits. The most prominent anomalies are linear in nature identifying modern service pipes, ploughing regimes, a former boundary and/or field drains. Outside of these anomalies the findings are limited to a single faint, curving ditch-like anomaly of uncertain origin and a single, discrete high magnitude anomaly possibly identifying an area of burning close to the line of the former boundary. No anomalies have been recorded by the survey which might relate to a scheduled monument of Romano-British farmsteads identified from cropmark features a minimum of 100 metres north of the PDA. The results of the magnetometer survey are consistent with the conclusions of an Archaeology and Heritage Assessment (BSA Heritage 2021) which identified no designated heritage assets within the PDA. Consequently, based on the results of the survey the archaeological potential of the PDA is assessed as low.
Berry et al. (Sat,) studied this question.