Evaluation by Geophysical Survey of Land at Avenue Works, Wingerworth, Chesterfield

In March 1992 ARCUS were commissioned by Fitzwise Ltd to undertake an archaeological evaluation of land at the Avenue Works, Wingerworth. The work undertaken included a desk-based assessment, fieldwalking, a geophysical survey, and excavation. The fieldwalking programme revealed little other than that the area in question had been subject to agricultural activity during the post-medieval period.. The sample of flints is not sufficiently large to indicate intensive use of the land in the prehistoric period. No Roman or medieval material was recovered, although the evidence of the surrounding landscape suggests that medieval agricultural activities were taking place here. The wide and even distribution of slag is typical of agricultural areas in the coal measures, and does not indicate the presence of early industrial features. The geophysical scan and detailed survey revealed several anomalies within the five survey grids, most of which are thought to be relatively recent in origin. Two areas of ridge and furrow were identified within the application area and sketch plots of the full extent of the features have been made. Isolated areas of ridge and furrow, without associated settlement evidence, can only be considered as being of local importance, although they can often mask earlier features (as shown by excavations at Sheepbridge, North Chesterfield, Derbyshire). Although the geophysical survey in Area 1 did not identify any features of likely archaeological origin below the ridge and furrow, it is recommended that topsoil stripping in these areas is monitored. The nature of the linear anomaly in Area 3 should be clarified by machine-assisted excavation of a section along its length. The Desk-top Study identified the possible location of a Roman road running through the centre of the proposed application area. A Roman coin, possible structural evidence for the Roman road and a barbed and tanged arrow head have been found in the immediate vicinity. It was not possible to locate a geophysical survey grid here, because the area is adjacent to a railway siding, and the scan showed fluxgate gradiometer readings to be adversely affected by the presence of quantities of metal. In the absence of geophysical survey, it is recommended that topsoil stripping be monitored in this area. The excavations provided no evidence to support the existence of the proposed easterly Roman route. Furthermore, a geophysical survey conducted by ARCUS in January 1996 (ARCUS report 140b) failed to detect any trace of a road. The layer of stone observed in the bank of the River Rother only extended a short distance into Trench 1 and did not extend as far as Trenches 2 and 3. As part of the AFE the section visible in the river bank was investigated by Peter Jordan, a professional environmental archaeologist, and was shown to be a glacial till, rather than a man-made feature. There is, therefore, no evidence to support the proposed central route for the Roman road, as the reason for suggesting this route rested on the premise that the stones formed part of the construction of the road, exposed by the movement of the river. It should be emphasized that a linear feature running on this line would, in any case have been almost completely destroyed by previous open cast activities, as was stated in the original ARCUS desk-based research. The river bank survey and sondages excavated within Trenches 2 and 3, did not reveal evidence for buried land surfaces from earlier periods. No trace of any archaeological features or finds were found in Trench ?, over the area of geophysical anomaly.