Land to the north of Kettering, Northamptonshire

In July 2004, Oxford Archaeology (OA) carried out an archaeological field evaluation and watching briefs on land to the north of Kettering, Northamptonshire (NGR SP 861 811) for John Samuels Archaeological Consultants, on behalf of Manly Project Services.

Much of the evaluation work was sited to target the results of a geophysical survey, which had identified a number of potential archaeological features. These included an area of possible pits, a possible field system and an enclosure with an inner circular feature. The evaluation demonstrated that the features recognised in the geophysical survey, where they were present within the trenches, were either geological in origin or were the result of natural drainage within the site. Seven sherds (19 g) of Iron Age pottery were retrieved from the subsoil within Trench 13, which was sited to test a possible enclosure, but these were not associated with any feature, whether archaeological or geological, or with any geophysical anomaly. Worked flint was recovered from the subsoil of three of the trenches.

The watching briefs were carried out on the haul road and a new balancing pond. The haul road revealed no features and the balancing pond only modern, agricultural features. A number of pieces of worked flint were retrieved from the subsoil on both areas, including a barbed and tanged arrowhead from the subsoil of the balancing pond