Broadway House Farm, Bedlington, Northumberland: post-excavation assessment

The works comprised a single area of excavation, targeting features identified during previous evaluation trenching. This was extended to the south-west following the identification of further archaeological features. The results from the strip, map and record excavation support the results of previous geophysical survey and evaluation trenching, that the southern edges of the historic opencast mining and subsequent reinstatement of the land lay around the south of the development area. This was evidenced by the presence of both glacial subsoil and plough soil across the south-west half of the trench and opencast mining waste across the north-east. Archaeological deposits comprising a large ditch and pits relating to Iron Age activity were identified in the south-west half of the trench along the edge of the opencast. The north half of the trench was truncated by the opencast, evident by the presence of mining material. Furrows, the remains of medieval or post-medieval ploughing, were recorded in the south-east of the trench. Tiny fragments of pottery of probable prehistoric date came from the sample residues from three contexts. Fire cracked stones were recovered from the ditch, indicating domestic, craft and industrial activity in the area. The pit fills were charcoal-rich, while the ditch fills consisted mainly of coal and cinder. Diagnostic palaeoenvironmental evidence is sparse, although there are a few remains consistent with late prehistoric/Romano-British and medieval/post-medieval activity.