Evaluation at Bonnington's Yard, Takeley, Essex

The evaluation consisted of the excavation of 100 linear metres of trial trench at 1.8m wide (5no. 20m trial trenches), representing a 5% sample evaluation of the part of the site (0.38ha) that is to be occupied by the proposed new housing. The evaluation has demonstrated that despite the archaeological potential of the site, there are no archaeological remains within the evaluation area and all trace of the former farm buildings that once occupied the northern part of the site, or the former pond and outbuilding, as shown on 19th and early 20th-century Ordnance Survey maps of the area, have been removed by modern activity. Those features that were identified dated to the mid to latter half of the 20th century and were associated with the extensive groundworks that were undertaken to construct the yard following the demolition of the farm buildings and levelling of the surrounding area. The excavated deposits were scanned for finds, but no material pre-dating the 20th century was noted. Although some of the building rubble may derive from the former farm buildings, the extensive layer of made-ground that covered the site is probably largely formed from material imported to the site from elsewhere.