An Archaeological Evaluation of the Former Government Offices Site, Brooklands Avenue: Phase 3

Abstract

In September 2006 a third phase of archaeological evaluation was carried out at the former government offices site on Brooklands Avenue in advance of residential development. Eleven trenches were opened up equivalent to 558 sq m of archaeological sampling (5% of the area not previously evaluated in 2004), but no significant datable archaeological features were found. Several post-medieval drainage ditches, a small area of probable post-medieval quarrying, some nineteenth century planting pits, plus evidence of Victorian or more modern cultivation in the form of plough furrows were identified, the latter just inside the boundary of the former Brookland Farm. A handful of earlier features included a sub- circular pit and a group of rather truncated features of irregular appearance, the latter including several crescentic pits or ditches, some of which could have been tree throws. All of these proved to be sterile apart from small amounts of burnt flint and some limited environmental evidence. A wide variety of mollusc species were recorded from some of the ditches, and in particular from a stream or pond silt at the south-east end of the site. This attests to the underlying damp conditions of the area which still persists today. The high water table perhaps explains the near complete absence of settlement and archaeological activity here prior to drainage and land reclamation in the nineteenth century.