Site Event/Activity record ECH3547 - Palaeoenvironmental Assessment of a Proposed motorway Service Station at Hapsford

Palaeoenvironmental Assessment of a Proposed motorway Service Station at Hapsford. Specific aims of the project were to establish the presence of peat or similar deposits in the proposed development area; to establish the depth, extent and condition of the peat deposits in order to establish the environmental history of the site and evidence for human activity; to record the location, nature and condition of any earthworks on site including dykes, watercourses and other drainage features, particularly former field boundaries; to establish the presence of archeologically significant ecofacts. The site was divided into a number of transects, the lines of which were established to give the optimum number of sample points in representative locations across the site. The entire site was sampled in order to detect the edge of the peat. A sub-sample of 500g from each sample of peat was examined in the lab, with all identifiable plant macrofossils being recorded. The locations of earthworks, including hedgebanks, ditches, drainage features and dykes, were recorded at 1:1250 scale; observations were also made on their condition. Four trial pits were mechanically excavated to a depth of 1.2m, a natural boulder clay subsoil was identified at varying depths above this. A series of sections were also made of the dyke/drain. Peat was found along the eastern edge of the site where the ground slopes down towards Ince Marsh and presumably formed as a result of periodic flooding. It only survives beneath the low bank feature on the eastern boundary which has protected it from plough damage. It probably formed in the early Flandrian period and is generally well humified, but it's depth could not be determined due to the presence of groundwater. No archaeologically significant ecofacts were recovered. (1)