Monument record 1564200000 - Area 2, Norbury Solar Farm

Evaluation trial trenching carried out by Oxford Archaeology in October and November 2024 in advance of a proposed solar farm development revealed a shallow circular pit in Trench 50. The pit was 0.58m in diameter and 0.1m deep with gently sloping sides and a flat base and with two sandy clay fills. The sides of the pit had been heat-affected, shown by a red colouration. The lower fill contained frequent charcoal and an environmental sample from this produced abundant charcoal, occasional carbonised seeds of docks and untransformed rush seeds. A fairly large quantity of charcoal was recovered from an environmental sample taken from the upper fill, which appeared to be a back-filling deposit. The pit has been interpreted as a possible post-medieval charcoal making pit due to its similarity to known features of this type. It is possible that adhoc
charcoal production occurred within the woodland of Whaddon Chase. See report for detail (B3).
The feature had not been identied by the earlier geophysical survey (B2).