Land at North End, Hallaton, Leicestershire: Report on an Archaeological Evaluation

The second stage of the evaluation, a further six trenches were excavated. Four of these crossed the ridge and furrow earthworks in the field to the north of North End; no archaeology other than a subsoil layer of probable medieval date was present in this field. Two fragments of medieval pottery were present in this subsoil layer; these probably entered the area in manuring scatter and their presence confirms the agricultural usage of this part of the site in the medieval period, as indicated by the surviving ridge and furrow earthworks in the area. A further two trenches targeted geophysical anomalies in the field to the south of North End; ditches corresponding to these anomalies were discovered in both trenches. These ditches appear to be former field boundaries, possibly relating to the historic core of Hallaton which was located in this area, and the pottery recovered from these ditches suggests a medieval date. Cartographic evidence indicates that the ditches were disused by the late eighteenth century.