Archaeological evaluation at Land off Pershore Road, Eckington, Worcestershire (cotswold2-370822)

Land off Pershore Road, Eckington, Worcestershire Short description An archaeological evaluation was undertaken by Cotswold Archaeology in June 2019 on land off Pershore Road, Eckington, Worcestershire. A total of eight trenches were excavated. The evaluation identified a small number of archaeological features within the proposed development area. These were predominately located within the south-eastern part of the site. An undated ditch/gully, identified in south-eastern part of the site confirms the presence of a penannular anomaly identified by the preceding geophysical survey. The exact function of this ditch/gully remains unclear; however it may represents part of a foundation trench or drip gully for a structure of possible prehistoric/Roman date. A further undated ditch/gully, also identified in the southeastern part of the site, may represent part of a further structure or agricultural enclosure. Evidence of medieval/post-medieval agricultural activity, comprising the ploughed out remains of a ridge and furrow field system, was identified in all of the excavated trenches. Two ditches, one of which contained medieval (12th to 14th-century) pottery, were identified in the south-eastern part of the site and, due to their broadly similar alignment, may be associated with the identified ridge and furrow field system. An undated ditch/gully, identified in northern part of the site may also relate to agricultural activity/ploughing. Two undated, north/south aligned ditches were identified in the south-eastern part of the site. Neither ditch appears to correspond to any anomaly identified by the preceding geophysical survey nor do they appear to correlate to any field boundary depicted by available historic mapping.