EnviTec Biogas AD Site, Horsey Toll Whittlesey, Cambridgeshire. Test-Pit Survey.

Abstract

Fourteen machine excavated test-pits recorded a deep sequence of fen-related deposits (2.80- 4.70m in depth) associated with the buried floodplain of the prehistoric River Nene. The testpits were excavated to evaluate the archaeological potential of a small block of land situated immediately north of King’s Dyke and close to the south-western edge of the Flag Fen Basin. The exposed deposit sequence comprised a familiar succession of Lower Peat, Fen Clay and Upper Peat along with a basal layer of blue silty-clay and intermediary layers of organic muds and alluvial sediments. Aside from revealing a near complete Flandrian sequence, the test-pits also provided negative evidence in relation to the projected passage of the Nene roddon and its accompanying freshwater palaeochannel. None of the test-pits produced archaeological remains nor was a buried land surface revealed. In short, the evaluation exposed a developed stratigraphy consistent with the mid-Holocene succession identified elsewhere in the deeper parts of the Flag Fen Basin and the Fenland Basin.