Land South-West of Yatton Keynell, Wiltshire: Archaeological Evaluation

The evaluation fieldwork comprised the excavation of 37 trenches, each measuring 25m in length by 1.8m in width, in the locations shown on attached plan. The trenches were located to test geophysical anomalies and to provide a representative sample of the remainder of the site. During the course of the evaluation, Trenches 24 and 26 were relocated due to the identification of a previously unknown buried service, with the approval of Mr Havard. Between October and November 2025, Cotswold Archaeology carried out an archaeological evaluation of land to the south-west of Yatton Keynell, Wiltshire. A total of 37 trenches were excavated. The ploughed out remains of medieval/post-medieval furrows were identified cutting the subsoil in three trenches excavated in the north-western part of the site. A number of levelling deposits, one of which contained artefactual material of a 19th-century date, were identified in four trenches excavated in the south-western part of the site. Three large undated pits, most likely relating to quarrying activity, were identified in a trench excavated in the south-western part of the site. An undated ditch, most probably relating to agricultural land management, drainage or division, was identified in a trench excavated in the eastern part of the site. Two probable ponds were identified in two trenches excavated in the southern part of the site. Neither pond is shown on available historic mapping, however a further pond is shown immediately to the west of the current site on the 1841 Tithe Map for the parish of Yatton Keynell.