Land south west of West Farm, Knook - Archaeological Watching Brief Report

Wessex Archaeology

Wessex Archaeology was commissioned to undertake archaeological mitigation works during groundworks on land located on the south west of West Farm, Knook, Wiltshire (NGR) 393962 142026.

The archaeological mitigation was carried out in the form of a watching brief and comprised the archaeological monitoring of several drainage trenches for a proposed drainage field, excavation of an area to locate a new pumping station and septic tank, and trenches to connect the works to adjacent properties.

One pit was uncovered in the southern end of the site and one north-east to south-west orientated ditch was identified in the centre of the site. The ditch was observed in three trenches and is the same feature as that observed in an earlier phase of archaeological works, during the archaeological trial trench evaluation of the site. The pit contained medieval coarseware pottery and one invention through the ditch revealed a single sherd of medieval pot. A second intervention through the ditch revealed animal bone fragments but no dating evidence. The two archaeological features are most likely medieval and relate to the shrunken medieval settlement which lies directly to the south of the site.