Porch House Farm, Hett, County Durham: report on an archaeological trial trench evaluation

York Archaeology was commissioned by Enray Power to undertake an archaeological trial trench evaluation at the proposed battery storage scheme (BESS) on land to the south of Porch House Farm, Hett, County Durham (NGR NZ 28825 35920; Figure 1). This evaluation was designed to help inform a planning application for the proposed scheme. The programme of trial trenching assessed the archaeological potential of the Site, targeting geophysical anomalies and apparent 'blank areas' from the surveys conducted by Ecus Ltd in 2024, and will be used to inform the need for, and scope of, further archaeological mitigation. The evaluation comprised 31 trenches measuring 30m x 1.8m in size across 4.05 hectares of land, to provide a 4% sample of the Site. All excavation and recording followed CIfA standards and the YA excavation and recording manuals. No archaeological features were present within the trenches evaluated. Trenches 15, 28, 29, 30 and 31 were blank. The rest of the trenches contained agricultural furrows or modern features with modern glass and rubbish within their fills.