Land at Woburn Road, Marston Moretaine, Bedfordshire: An Archaeological Desk-based Assessment

This desk-based assessment examined an area of agricultural land to the west of Marston Moretaine, Bedfordshire, close to Moat Farm. It was carried out in order to identify and map archaeological information derived from documentary sources as part of a broader archaeological evaluation prior to development.

The land around Moat Farm has long been considered archaeologically sensitive. It contains a range of medieval features including Moat Farm itself, a series of settlement earthworks to the north-west of Woburn Road as well as ridge and furrow, part of the medieval field system of Marston Moretaine. Moat Farm and some of the earthworks are a Scheduled Ancient Monument.

The actual study area is located in an area of ridge and furrow to the north-west of the moat and settlement earthworks. Recent archaeological investigations immediately to the north suggest these obscure earlier archaeological remains of late prehistoric to early medieval date. In particular parts of an early to late Iron Age settlement may be expected across the north part of the study area with late Saxon to early medieval remains adjacent to the moat and settlement earthworks.

Little ground disturbance has occurred within the study area as it has been pasture since the medieval period with cultivation occurring only recently.

A geophysical survey of the area located several areas of anomalies, which may correspond with subsoil archaeological features. These lay mainly in the north-central and north-western parts of the site.

Further archaeological evaluation in the form of trial excavation will be necessary to determine the exact nature and condition of the archaeological deposits within the study area.