Belvoir Solar Farm, Bottesford, Leicestershire

Oxford Archaeology was commissioned by JBM Solar Projects 10 Ltd to
undertake a trial trench evaluation at the site of a proposed solar farm
development on land to the west of Muston and south of Bottesford. The work
comprised the excavation of 172 trenches distributed across the proposed
development area. The fieldwork was undertaken throughout April 2022.
The archaeological remains revealed during this evaluation were almost
exclusively limited to an Iron Age settlement identified in the north‐west
corner of the site. Defined by a number of ditched enclosures, the remains
also included a smaller number of postholes and pits. The finds assemblage
included a dominant component of Scored Ware, accompanied by fired clay
fragments derived from ovens and numerous animal bone fragments from
domesticated species. Overall, the area around Trenches 130‐137 appears to
have been a focus of domestic activity during this period, with a lesser focus
around Trenches 154 and 155.
The remainder of the site was largely devoid of significant archaeological
remains and aside from a tentatively dated Roman CBM fragment, a sherd of
possible Bronze Age pottery and two small sherds of medieval pottery, the site
showed only widespread evidence for agricultural activity from the medieval
period onwards.