An Archaeological Desktop Assessment at Bow Brickhill, Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire

This study is designed to assess the archaeological potential of an area of 85.2 hectares of land to the north of Bow Brickhill (SP903 350). Within the subject site is a possible soil mark visible on aerial photographs which has been tentatively recorded by Milton Keynes Sites and Monuments Record as an enclosure. A road ran through the western part of the subject site according to both the 1770 Jeffery's Map and the Pre-Enclosure Map of Bow Brickhill. In the latter map, the names of four fields to the south of this road imply that there had been a former croft(s) in art least one of the fields.
Aerial photographs from the 1940s show ridge and furrow surviving across the development area, implying that in the later medieval period it was within the field land of Bow Brickhill. The subject site has largely remained pasture land to this day. There are no other known archaeological sites or artefacts from the development area although archaeological sites and artefacts have been recorded adjacent to it. It is unknown if any of these sites run into the subject site. Apart from the faint soil mark, aerial photographs have revealed no other features within the subject site although this may be due to the masking any features by the natural clay.