Monument record 0434701000 - Area 4, Norbury Solar Farm

Geophysical survey carried by Magnitude Survey in June and September 2024 in advance of a proposed solar farm development, identified an E-W negative linear anomaly in Area 4, shown as part of the boundary of Whaddon Chase in the 1813 OS surveyor's draft drawing (B2).
Evaluation trial trenching carried out by Oxford Archaeology in October and November 2024 revealed the boundary ditch in Trenches 38 and 40. The ditch was 2m-2.66m wide and 0.86m deep. It had steep sides, a flat base and three silty clay fills. The middle fill included charcoal flecks. An environmental sample taken from this fill produced negligible charcoal and a small amount of hammerscale. The uppermost fill produced frequent charcoal flecks and flecks of fired clay. An iron hand-forged nail, five residual sherds Iron Age pottery, and a single fragment of fired clay were also recovered. See report for detail (B3).