Castle Farm, Ogle, Northumberland: Archaeological Watching Brief

The scheme aimed to mitigate the potential impact of groundworks associated with the construction of an extension to an existing grain store on the north side of the farm complex. Due to the location of the site only 7m to the east of the designated boundary of the Ogle moated site, medieval village and open field system Scheduled Monument (list #: 1017737), Northumberland County Council advised that a programme of archaeological supervision be carried out during the invasive stages of the works. The grain store extension lies on the east side of the moated site surrounding the Grade 1 listed Ogle Castle (LB 1264065), and is located on the projected line of the northernmost enclosure bank of the double moated site. Moreover the course of the site's eastern defensive banks and ditches has never been traced and there is potential for the outer bank in particular to impinge on the site. The archaeological monitoring and recording was undertaken during all groundworks associated with the northward extension of the existing grain store. These comprised the excavation of three pits for the upright supports for the store and interior ground reduction over the footprint of the extension, an area measuring 12m (length N-S) x 11m (width E-W). The monitoring concluded that excavations revealed no in situ stratified deposits, archaeological finds or features of any kind. Therefore, no detrimental effects were impacted to the site during the development. No further archaeological monitoring is required in relation to works associated with this scheme.