Desk-Based Assessment Land to the Rear of The Walkdens, Ashwell, Herts, SG7 5RU

This report assesses the potential impacts upon the Archaeology and Cultural Heritage resource within a 0.5km Search Area around the proposed residential development to the rear of the Walkdens, Ashwell, Hertfordshire. This has been achieved by combining existing information about the Search Area with new information gathered during the course of the study. It provides an assessment of the potential construction and operational impacts upon archaeological deposits and historic monuments.
Ashwell has been a focus for settlement, burial and religious activity from the Bronze Age onwards. The Site is situated close to a number of ploughed out Bronze Age burial mounds, the closest being only 40m to the south-west of the Site boundary, and it is possible that others may be present within the Site. It is next to Ashwell Street – an ancient routeway which possibly formed part of the 'Icknield Way'. Ashwell occupies a rich Iron Age and Romano-British landscape, elements of which have been recorded in archaeological investigations immediately east and west of the Site.
Although Ashwell was was important as an Anglo-Saxon borough and later a medieval market town, the Site appears to lie outside the main focus of this settlement. It was part of a medieval open field, seemingly remaining under agricultural use until the present day. There is a possibility of post-medieval chalk pits and lime kilns being present as well as ridge and furrow and later field boundaries dating to the time of the 19th century enclosure.
There are no Scheduled Ancient Monuments within the Search Area but there are numerous Listed Buildings, the closest being 150m away from the Site boundary. The Site lies within an archaeological 'alert area' as identified by the Historic Environment Unit of Hertfordshire County Council.