Ladybridge Farm: Additional Investigation Method Statement

Introduction

A programme of additional archaeological investigation has been agreed in principle between Tarmac, North Yorkshire County Council and English Heritage for the Ladybridge Farm site. The principal objective of this investigation is to define the limit of Neolithic/Early Bronze Age features recorded previously in the south western corner of the Ladybridge Farm site and further to characterise the nature of those remains. Every effort will be made to ensure that this additional sampling has the minimum destructive impact on the archaeological remains whilst achieving the stated objectives. The investigation will be followed by an assessment of the significance of the archaeological deposits. This assessment will be based on the criteria set out in PPG16 and will use an accepted methodology which will include the English Heritage Monument Evaluation Process (MPP). This assessment will serve as a guide to professional judgement.

Zone

The focus for this work is an area of presumed fade/transition along the northern and eastern edge of the Neolithic and Bronze Age features and artefact scatters previously recorded in the south western corner of Ladybridge Farm. This zone has been produced to reflect a number of natural,archaeological and historical factors which include;

the extent of the desiccated peat
past farming regimes and land management processes
location of dateable Neolithic features as identified in the initial evaluation.
extent of worked flint.

Investigation

The investigation will comprise four trenches aligned across the zone of transition (refer to accompanying plan). Three trenches, each measuring 100m by 50m will be located in the main area of the Ladybridge Farm application. A fourth trench measuring 50m by 25m will be located to the west of Ladybridge Farm itself. Each trench will be set out using a total station theodolite. Following the excavation of test pits in the corner of each of the four trenches, each trench will be stripped of ploughsoil by a mechanical excavator fitted with a toothless ditching bucket under direct archaeological control. The exposed subsoil surface will be scanned for soil features. All soil features will be cleaned by hand, defined, planned and recorded pre-excavation.A pre-excavation map for each area will be produced to aid further discussion and sampling.

Soil features will then be categorised on site as either;

natural features
possible natural/archaeological features
archaeological features of unknown date
archaeological features of known date (excluding Neolithic/Bronze Age)
archaeological features of Neolithic/Bronze Age date

Natural features will not be subject to further investigation.
Features of a possible natural/archaeological origin will be half sectioned in order to ascertain their origin and potential.
Archaeological features of an unknown date will be half sectioned in order to ascertain their date, preservation and potential.
The sampling of archaeological features of a date which is clearly not Neolithic/Bronze Age (ie. from material visible at surface, form, location etc.) will be agreed on site on a feature by feature basis.
Neolithic/Bronze Age archaeological features characterised by the presence of pottery visible at the surface will not be further intrusively investigated.
These features will be probed using a chaining arrow to ascertain their depth but not be the subject of further investigation. Addendum, 4th November 2005

Environmental Sampling

An appropriate level of environmental sampling will be agreed and implemented during the investigation.

Monitoring

This process will be undertaken in a clear and transparent manner.

A weekly meeting will be held on site between representatives of Mike Griffiths and Associates, North Yorkshire County Council's Heritage Unit and English Heritage to discuss the ongoing results of the investigation, and inform future work.
Meetings will be recorded by North Yorkshire County Council and issued accordingly.
A representative of interest groups will be invited to attend all meetings as an observer. It is proposed that Mike Heyworth, director of the CBA is invited to undertake that role.
North Yorkshire County Council will seek to post the results of weekly meetings on its website.
A daily photographic record of the work in progress will be made by Mike Griffiths and Associates Ltd and posted daily on its Nosterfield website.

Further Work

If the investigation indicates that Neolithic/Bronze Age features continue to the north of the excavated trenches then discussions will be held for further trenching to define the northern limits of the features. If the investigation does not record the presence of Neolithic/Bronze Age archaeological features then discussions will be held for further trenching to the south of the zone to define the northern limits of the features.

Reporting

An interim report will be produced shortly after the completion of field work on site. This will include drawings showing the location of the investigations, the location of all soil features, the location of all dated and undated archaeological features and the location of Neolithic/Bronze Age archaeological features. The report will include a summary of the investigations and recorded sections.

Assessment Of Importance And Significance.

Following the fieldwork an assessment of the significance of the archaeological deposits will be made. This assessment will be based on the criteria set out in PPG16 and will use an accepted methodology which will include the English Heritage Monument Evaluation Process (MPP) which serves as a guide to professional judgement.

Intellectual Copyright

The same terms and conditions that were applied to the archaeological evaluation of Ladybridge Farm will be applied to this investigation.

Addendum, 4th November 2005

During discussions at the third monitoring meeting, Neil Campling (County Archaeologist) stated that as the features evident at Ladybridge would be destroyed by the process of re-instatement, he was duty bound under IFA codes of conduct to ensure that all the archaeological features were preserved by record. It was therefore agreed that features characterised by the presence of pottery visible at the surface would be half-sectioned.

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