Time Team - Blackhills Farm and The Hollys, Wickenby, Lincolnshire - Archaeological Evaluation and Assessment of Results

Wessex Archaeology

An evaluation comprising eight trenches confirmed the density of Iron Age and Romano-British activity on the Site. Geophysical evidence suggested three main phases of use on three separate alignments. The earliest activity appeared to comprise a number of penannular ditch structures and a north-west – south-east alignment of linear boundaries, thought to be Late Iron Age or early Romano-British in date. Two further alignments of rectangular enclosures and possible trackways, thought to be Romano-British in date, although of uncertain chronological relationship to each other, were also seen.

As the area of the Site was extensive much was unexcavated, but interventions were placed into a number of ditches and pits and dating from the Romano-British period. Traces of medieval ridge and furrow ploughing were visible in several trenches, cutting across the Iron Age and Romano-British alignments and in many cases obscuring the earlier archaeology. Only a small area of the site was excavated, and the quantity of finds recovered was small; the chronological sequence, therefore, remains somewhat tentative.