Burton Upon Trent Flood Alleviation Scheme, Staffordshire. Archaeological Evaluation.

Oxford Archaeology North was commissioned by Jacobs Babtie, on behalf of the Environment Agency, to carry out an archaeological evaluation of the proposed repair and improvements to the existing Flood Alleviation Scheme, Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire, running parallel to Derby Road (NGR SK 2550 2600) and to the north of Meadow Lane (NGR SK 2624 2613). The archaeological programme of work was
required in order to identify any areas of archaeological interest that might be affected by the proposed scheme, following the results of a desk-based assessment carried out
by Jacobs Babtie in 2004. The evaluation took six days and was carried out in December 2005.
The main site is bounded to the north-west by a mainline railway, with modern residential development to the south-west and the Meadow Lane sewage works to the north-east. The archaeological investigation comprised ten evaluation trenches (Trenches 1-10) on a parcel of arable land parallel to Derby Road and beside the existing flood defences to the south-east. An eleventh trench (Trench 11) was located
at existing flood defences positioned on pasture land to the north of Meadow Lane. Trenches 5 and 7 measured 20m by 2m with the remainder (Trenches 1-4, 6 and 8-11) measuring 30m by 2m. Trenches 2, 4-5 and 7-8 (gazetteer site 29, after Jacobs Babtie 2004) and 10 (gazetteer site 30, after Jacobs Babtie 2004) were positioned to investigate cropmarks observed from aerial photographs, with the trench north of
Meadow Lane, Trench 11 positioned to ascertain the course of the Roman Road of Ryknild Street in this area.