Silchester Environs Project, Silchester Farm, Silchester, Hampshire, Report on Geophysical Survey, July 2015
Author(s): Neil Linford, Paul Linford, Andy Payne
Caesium magnetometer and Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) surveys were conducted as part of the University of Reading Silchester Environs Project over a series of paddocks containing crop mark evidence for a prehistoric enclosure together with medieval or post medieval cultivation, at Silchester Farm, Silchester, Hampshire. The vehicle towed caesium magnetometer survey (2.0 ha) revealed half the circuit of a sub-rectangular enclosure containing large (~2m diameter) pit-type anomalies suggesting internal activity, and weaker linear ditches extending further to the south. A more fragmented magnetic response was encountered in the paddock to the east with some suggestion of rectilinear structures. The GPR survey (1.6 ha) targeted the medieval or post medieval cultivation ridges found in the aerial photography, which are replicated as high amplitude linear anomalies together with a wider pattern of field drainage. Some subtle ditch-type anomalies to the north, may, perhaps, represent a continuation of the activity associated with the Iron Age enclosure covered by the magnetic survey. There is also evidence for a possible quarry pit or pond, and three discrete high amplitude responses which might represent post pads for a former structure.
- Report Number:
- 19/2019
- Series:
- Research Report
- Pages:
- 22
- Keywords:
- Geophysical Survey
