Land to the r/o The Royal George, 57 High Street, Stagsden, Archaeological Evaluation

In order to determine the archaeological risk posed by a proposal to develop land at The Royal George PH, 57 High Street, Stagsden Bedfordshire, the Heritage Network was commissioned by the developers to undertake a programme of archaeological evaluation. Four trial trenches were opened across the proposed development area. The investigation showed that the southern side of the site has been subject to post-medieval and modern disturbance. The majority of the dateable features encountered on the site were of the modern period. These include two postholes in Trench 1, cuts [102] and [105], demolition debris and modern disturbance in Trench 2 and the car park surface, contexts (400) and (401) for the former Royal George public house in Trench 4. The remaining features and layers, including cut [303] in Trench 3 and layer (403) in Trench 4 appear to date to the post-medieval period, indicated by the presence of brick fragments in both the upper fill of [303] and in layer (403). Two possible natural features were also observed in Trench 1, cuts [104] and [107]. These are likely to represent root action in the rear garden of the former public house.