The area was cleared prior to any ground works commencing, including the removal of hedges and shrubs and there was evidence of demolition among the topsoil. A 360� excavator with a toothless bucket was used to pull the foundation trenches. Overall the foundation trenches went to a depth of 1.20m meters however, in some areas the depth was extended to 2.50m. It should be noted that another house and associated garage that was located on the same plot but under a separate planning application (21/01686/F) did not have an archaeological monitoring & recording action attached to it. The foundations for this house had already been excavated. The services for the monitored foundations are linked to the house that has no archaeological monitoring & recording as such majority of the services were outside the monitored area. Standard John Moore Heritage Services techniques were employed throughout, involving the completion of a written record for each deposit encountered, with scale plans and section drawings compiled where appropriate. A photographic record was also produced. The resultant spoil from the works was visually scanned, especially for finds relating to the early medieval and medieval period. The development site was located within the historic village of Blackthorn. Part of the aims of the investigation were to investigate any Roman, early medieval and medieval activity that could be related to any previous finds that have been made within the surrounding area. However, despite this no archaeological deposits, features or finds were observed during the monitored works.
A Skillen-Thompson (Mon,) studied this question.