Land to west of Idle Bank, Westwoodsite, Wroot CP, North Lincolnshire. Archaeological evaluation scheme

PCAS Archaeology Ltd was commissioned to undertake a programme of archaeological evaluation on land to the west of Idle Bank, near the village of Westwoodside, where a fishing lake is to be created. The field was divided into thirteen 10m wide parallel transects and walked from side to side; the exposed topsoil was inspected by field staff for features or artefacts. Five evaluation trenches measuring 30x2m were excavated across the site. Trenches were laid out in an offset pattern to give the widest possible sample of the site and minimise the risk of long, narrow linear features passing between excavated trenches without being intercepted. All the evaluation trenches exposed an extensive layer of peat, which was encountered below the subsoil . The peat covered an alluvium deposit which was present in all but Trench 4, opened in the south-western corner of the site. No archaeological features were recorded, and no environmental evidence of human activity was detected in the soil samples from the peat and the alluvium, which produced assemblages typical of a wetland environment. One small rod found in Trench 2 presented working marks likely left by an axe. Another fragment of roundwood pole from the same trench also presents possible tool facets. The tool facets recorded from rod are not particularly diagnostic of date, other than being indicative of the use of a metal tool. The only dating evidence from the site is the Emperor Gallienus Antoninianus (AD253-268) collected during the fieldwalking, which to date represents the only Roman artefacts found in the area.