SPTC-Imber Training Data Gathering: Archaeological Evaluation

Wessex Archaeology was commissioned by Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO), through Landmarc Support Services Ltd ('the client'), to undertake an archaeological evaluation of a 0.06 ha parcel of land located south of Warminster Road, Imber, Wiltshire, centred on NGR 396560 148380. The relatively isolated settlement of Imber was evacuated in late 1943, immediately in advance of training by American troops preparing for D-Day, and the villagers never returned. The surviving farm buildings and cottages were subsequently demolished, the debris cleared, and today the site is a grassed over field with several now-mature trees. The archaeological evaluation was undertaken primarily to provide the Ministry of Defence Senior Archaeologist with data to help him make informed decisions on military digging requests in an area heavily used in training serials. Initially, in May 2023, a Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) survey was carried out (reported on separately), this followed in June by the evaluation of various of the extensive geophysical anomalies related to the probably post-medieval - but possibly also medieval - remains known from cartographic and documentary sources. The combination of the GPR survey and limited - but targeted - evaluation trenching has corroborated the overall layout and various details of the former buildings in this part of Imber village as depicted on historic maps and in old photographs. It has shown that many of the foundations and basal courses of various buildings associated with Brown's Farm, Hooper's Farm and cottages adjacent to Church Row survive, as also do associated yard surfaces, despite the demolition and clearance which followed World War II. Some elements have gone, for example the frontage of the cottages on Church Row and parts of the farmhouse associated with Brown's Farm, as a result of post-war digging of military practice trenches. However, the overall integrity of the predominantly 19th- to 20th-century remains does not appear to have been compromised. Also of interest, though not unanticipated, is that there is a small but clear indication of medieval settlement alongside Church Row. A relatively complex sequence of structural remains and deposits began with an east-west line of possibly three contemporary large postholes of suggested medieval date, the small assemblage of largely residual pottery from this area having a late 11th-13th-century focus but extending into the 14th-/15th-century (only two other medieval sherds were recovered elsewhere on the site). On this slender evidence it can be postulated that a timber structure at 90p to Church Row might have stood here. There were virtually no pottery or other finds to indicate a later medieval presence, and this might reflect a real absence, material from this period often proving more elusive for a variety of possible reasons.