Fernwood Extension North, Newark, Nottinghamshire

In April 2018, Oxford Archaeology were commissioned by CgMs Heritage (part
of the RPS Group) on behalf of Barratt Homes to undertake an archaeological
evaluation on the 55ha site of a consented housing development to the North
of Fernwood, Newark (SK 82789 5136). A programme of 150 trenches was
undertaken across the site, representing a 3% sample of the area, to groundtruth
a previous phase of geophysical survey and assess the archaeological
potential of the site.
The evaluation confirmed the presence of archaeological remains in areas
identified by the geophysical survey. Remains were found in the western field
in the form of a prehistoric square enclosure and a 14th century windmill
mound. Another Bronze Age enclosure was found just to the south, and a
single urned cremation was found on the southern edge of the proposed
development area. Other features identified in the geophysical survey were
found to correspond with modern disturbance relating to RAF Baldererton. A
system of undated ridge and furrow was also recorded during the course of
the trenching.
Away from the areas of archaeological activity, only 18th-19th century
agricultural field boundaries were identified. The installation of a gas pipeline
and water culvert has also probably truncated any archaeology in the
northwest of the site.
Excavation
Between March and May 2019 Oxford Archaeology undertook an excavation
at Fernwood Northern Extension, Fernwood, Nottinghamshire (NGR SK 8278
5136) on behalf of RPS Group, for Barratt Homes and David Wilson Homes.
The excavation comprised four areas (Areas 1–4), which had been identified
during a previous evaluation as having a high potential to contain
archaeological remains. The earliest evidence for human activity revealed by
the excavations comprised a small assemblage of probable late Mesolithic to
early Neolithic worked flint, representing transient small‐scale occupation of
the landscape. In addition, a middle Bronze Age urned cremation burial was
located towards the southern edge of the development area. During the
middle Iron Age, the landscape was more extensively occupied, with a large
sub‐rectangular domestic enclosure, roundhouses, pits, a field system and a
probable stock enclosure. The settlement and field system appears to have
gone out of use by the end of the middle or late Iron Age, after which there is
limited evidence for Roman agricultural and industrial use of the landscape.
Subsequently the landscape continued in agricultural and industrial use, with
evidence for arable cultivation in the form of plough furrows and a medieval
windmill, dated by pottery to the 13th to 14th centuries. Adjacent to, and
post‐dating the windmill, was a small oven or lime kiln dating to the late
medieval or post‐medieval period