Land adj. The Willows, Flitton Road, Pulloxhill

In response to a planning condition on the construction of a proposed new development on land adjacent to The Willows, Flitton Road, Pulloxhill, Bedfordshire, the Heritage Network was commissioned to undertake a programme of archaeological monitoring of the groundworks. Desk-based research had previously demonstrated a Moderate overall archaeological potential for the site, with the possibility of features and deposits of prehistoric to post-medieval date surviving within the development area. However an earlier archaeological evaluation on land directly adjacent to the site revealed made ground to the north of the site and a blank area to the east, reducing the overall archaeological potential for the site to Low. Monitoring of the excavation of the footings trenches for the new dwelling and garage revealed a large feature, over 1m in depth, which ran approximately north-west to south-east across the centre of the site. Late 19th century mapping showed a line of mature trees crossing the centre of the site, which had apparently been removed by the early 20th century. It is possible that the feature recorded on the site represents the hollow left by their removal. This had apparently been deliberately backfilled in the late 19th or 20th century as fragments of brick and ceramic drain were noted in the backfill. No other features, deposits or artefacts of archaeological significance were observed during the course of this project.