Land East of Meadow Lane, Bedford, Bedfordshire: Archaeological Field Evaluation

Low Carbon Farming 1 Limited has entered into pre-application consultation with the local planning authority, Bedford Borough Council, regarding a proposed commercial glasshouse development and packing facility on Land East of Meadow Lane, Bedford, Bedfordshire The authority is advised on heritage matters by the council's Historic Environment Team and they advised that the site contains a scheduled monument and, therefore, scheduled monument consent (would be required for any works within the scheduled area, even if planning permission were granted for the development. Following consultation, Historic England's Inspector of Ancient Monuments , advised that some development on the land surrounding the monument might be acceptable, provided that there was no development upon the monument itself. However, more accurate information on the location, extent and condition of the archaeological remains comprising the monument was needed Due to the inadequacy of currently available aerial photographic evidence it was agreed that a programme of trial trenching would be undertaken to confirm the location of the monument, the nature and date of its component remains and their vulnerability to development impact. Trenching comprised the excavation of two trenches, both 1.8m in width and 70m in length, crossing the scheduled monument from two angles to create a cross section. No archaeological features were identified within the trenches and the only man-made feature was a modern land drain. No artefacts were found and there were no other items, such as animal or human bones, that might constitute archaeological evidence of past human activity. It was therefore concluded that the crop-mark observed on aerial photographs was not archaeological in origin. Nor were there any obvious natural anomalies in the soil, subsoil or superficial geological deposits that might have given rise to the crop-mark. Low Carbon Farming 1 Limited has entered into pre-application consultation with the local planning authority, Bedford Borough Council, regarding a proposed commercial glasshouse development and packing facility on Land East of Meadow Lane, Bedford, Bedfordshire (reference: 17/00471/PREAPP). The authority is advised on heritage matters by the council's Historic Environment Team (HET). In their consultation response the HET advised that the site contains a scheduled monument (a 'Mortuary enclosure 800m west of Octagon Farm, Bedford', NHLE1007331) and, therefore, scheduled monument consent (SMC) would be required for any works within the scheduled area, even if planning permission were granted for thedevelopment. Following consultation, Historic England's Inspector of Ancient Monuments (IAM), advised that some development on the land surrounding the monument might be acceptable, provided that there was no development upon the monument itself. However, more accurate information on the location, extent and condition of the archaeological remains comprising the monument was needed (in line with Historic England's current charter for advisory services). Due to the inadequacy of currently available aerial photographic evidence it was agreed that a programme of trial trenching would be undertaken to confirm the location of the monument, the nature and date of its component remains and their vulnerability to development impact. SMC was granted on 6th April 2018 and trial trenching took place on 17th April 2018. It comprised the excavation of two trenches, both 1.8m in width and 70m in length, crossing the scheduled monument from two angles to create a cross section. The overburden across the site ranged between 0.6 and 0.95m in depth. It comprised friable dark brown-black sandy silt topsoil and friable mid-brown-orange sandy silt subsoil.