Source/Archive record SCH6674 - Eaton Park Ha-Ha, 2011: Report on the Archaeological Watching Brief

The new ha-ha and deer fence cut across the southern end of an extensive area of shallow broad ridge and furrow, as identified and mapped in my earlier report. Observation of the removal of topsoil demonstrated that the surface pattern of shallow broad ridges was replicated in the top of the subsoil, which suggests that the topsoil under cultivation was then little thicker, if at all, than the 20cm that is present across most of the park today. Since abandonment of the ridge and furrow as plough-land at an unspecified date before c. 1800, there have been several attempts to improve the pasture, most noticeably through the insertion of under-draining. This was first attempted using horseshoe-shaped clay drains, probably in the early nineteenth century. Thereafter clay pipes of several different dimensions were laid in trenches, particularly on the western side of the modern service road and in the east immediately around the Roman Road. Other than a single probable stake-hole and debris associated with the construction of the deer fence and wall along the eastern side of the deer park, little was discovered of archaeological interest. The Roman Road was secured by an exclusion zone during work on the ha-ha. Discovery of the 1975 report of an excavation just a few metres away provided valuable information about this feature and the modern carriage-way which lay above it. This informed the strategy for the use of a mole to drain the ha-ha beneath the Road. Surfaces were discovered at two very different levels in the post-pits which were dug on the Road surface for the erection of the gate posts, the upper of which in the western post-hole was interpreted as the carriage-road while to lower cobbled surface was probably the Roman Road . In conclusion, work for the new ha-ha and deer fence made little impact on archaeology while at the same time providing a limited amount of new information for the archive. This report marks the ending of the watching brief and closure of the process.