What question did this study set out to answer?

The aim is to evaluate the archaeological potential of the land at Windmill Hill through trial trenching.

April 10, 2026Open Access

Project Plan for Trial Trench Evaluation at Windmill Hill, Ladbroke Cutting, Warwickshire (AC3208)

Key Points

The aim is to evaluate the archaeological potential of the land at Windmill Hill through trial trenching.
Commissioning of archaeological evaluation by COPA for HS2 construction land requirements.
Excavation of eight trial trenches with monitoring of mitigation ponds.
Geophysical survey conducted prior to excavation.
Only two of the eight trenches revealed archaeological deposits.
Trench 3 uncovered a north-west/south-east oriented ditch with post-medieval ceramics.
Trench 6 showed evidence of three excavated furrows, with no artefacts found.

Abstract

Trial Trench COPA were commissioned by Fusion to undertake an archaeological evaluation at HS2 2017 Construction Land Requirement, Windmill Hill LS093/94 (Project Plan for Trial Trench Investigations at Windmill Hill (LS093/94) and Southam (LS122) ; Fusion 2017b; Document No. 1EW03-FUS-EV-REP-CS07CL24002689). The archaeological monitoring of the excavation of Mitigation Ponds 1-7 and 9-12 revealed no deposits of archaeological interest and no finds were observed in the topsoil during the course of the fieldwork. Of the eight trial trenches only two, Trenches 3 and 6, revealed any deposits of archaeological interest. In Trench 3 a north-west/south-east orientated ditch (303) was excavated. This ditch was 1. 10m in width and 0. 58m in depth with a v-shaped profile. It produced a single fragment of post-medieval ceramic building material (CBM) and cut through the subsoil (301) suggesting a relatively modern date. This field boundary is visible as a sub-division of the field on the 1886 Edition OS map. Trench 6 revealed evidence of three furrows on a north-west/south-east alignment as indicated by anomalies in the geophysical survey. Two of these (603 and 605) were sample excavated and one (607) was left unexcavated. 603 measured 2. 95m wide and 0. 20m deep while 605 measured 2. 67m wide and 0. 12m deep. Both had straight sides and a flat base. No artefactual material was recovered from either of the interventions into the furrows.

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