Land off Lower Road, Milton Malsor, Northamptonshire

Between the 1st and 7th of September 2020, Oxford Archaeology East (OA East) undertook a trial trench evaluation on an approximately 4ha parcel of land east of Lower Road, Milton Malsor, Northamptonshire. This work was undertaken to aid in identifying the preservation and extent of any non-designated heritage assets within an area proposed for residential development, and followed on from an earlier programme of geophysical survey. Archaeological features were present in 10 of the 15 trenches excavated across the site, but most of these were furrows, previously identified during the geophysical survey and forming part part of the medieval ridge and furrow field system on the outskirts of the historic core of Milton Malsor. These furrows were identified on two different alignments and followed the topography of the field. Two of the trenches revealed gullies which, although not associated with any finds or dating evidence, are thought to possibly represent elements of a field system pre-dating the ridge and furrow. The results of the evaluation suggest that very little human activity took place within the development area prior to the medieval period, at which time it formed part of an open field system.