The evaluation fieldwork comprised the excavation of 43 trenches, in the locations shown on the attached plan. This included: " 32no. 50m x 1.8m trenches; " 11no. 25m x 1.8m trenches. The trenches were located to test geophysical anomalies and to provide a representative sample of the remainder of the site. Trench 33 was extended following on site discussions between CA, Pegasus Group, Noventum Power Limited and Tim Havard to further investigate archaeological features identified in the original trench. Trenches were set out on OS National Grid co-ordinates using Leica GPS. Overburden was stripped from the trenches by a mechanical excavator fitted with a toothless grading bucket. All machining was conducted under archaeological supervision to the top of the natural substrate, which was the level at which archaeological features were first encountered. In July and August 2025, Cotswold Archaeology carried out an archaeological evaluation of land at Allington North Solar Farm, Allington, Chippenham, Wiltshire. A total of 43 trenches were excavated. The evaluation identified a moderate number of archaeological features in the northern and south-eastern parts of the proposed development area. No features of a prehistoric date were identified during the evaluation, although a worked flint flake of broad prehistoric date and a microlith (of probable Early Mesolithic date) were recovered from the ploughsoil in two trenches excavated in the south-eastern part of the site. Two ditches identified in a trench excavated in the south-eastern part of the site contained a small quantity of pottery of Roman date and these, and a number of other ditches identified in this part of the site, may represent part of a broadly north-east/south-west orientated field system. Two further ditches, one of which contained a single sherd of pottery of broad Roman date, were identified in trenches excavated immediately to the north of this postulated field system, and they may also represent further agricultural activity. The ploughed out remains of medieval/post-medieval furrows were identified in a number of trenches excavated in the northern, western and central parts of the site. A number of ditches, in the main correlating to anomalies identified by the preceding geophysical survey and field boundaries shown on the 1847 Tithe Map for the parish of Chippenham, were identified during the course of the evaluation. A single fragment of clay tobacco pipe stem and a sherd of pottery of 16th to 17th-century date was recovered from a pit identified in a trench excavated in the north-western part of the site. A small number of other pits/postholes were identified in this trench and others excavated in the north-western part of the site and these may also be broadly contemporary as they cut the subsoil within the excavated trenches. A small number of ditches, pits and postholes were identified during the evaluation that cannot be conclusively ascribed to any specific period or function due to their relatively isolated nature within the excavated trenches. However, the absence of artefactual or other cultural material within their respective fills suggests that the majority may be associated with localised agricultural practice.
P Busby (Thu,) studied this question.