Land off Derby Road, Doveridge, Derbyshire - Post-excavation Assessment

Wessex Archaeology

Wessex Archaeology was commissioned to undertake archaeological mitigation works comprising a strip, map and record excavation on land off Derby Road, Doveridge, Derbyshire, DE6 5LA (NGR 412290 334030).

Three separate areas occupying 0.15 hectares in total were excavated. Area 1 contained the remains of a barrow. A complete ring ditch enclosed a 22 m diameter area that contained: the poorly preserved remains of the barrow mound; an off-centre inner ring ditch that cut the barrow mound; seven cremation burials (two urned and five unurned, spread across six graves) and a deposit of cremation-related debris. One of the cremation graves contained a complete inverted Early Bronze Age Collared Urn containing the remains of two children (<15 years old). There was also an east–west ditch alongside a scatter of undated discrete pits/postholes within the enclosed area. External to the complete ring ditch lay further pits and postholes, and field boundary ditches. Some of these appear post-medieval in date.

Within Area 2 lay a large sub-circular feature of uncertain date that contained fragments of worked wood. The area also contained the probable continuation of a post-medieval ditch seen in Area 1, and the edge of an infilled pond shown on historic mapping.

A circular large pit/small pond was exposed in Area 3; within its upper fill were quantities of slag alongside post-medieval pot.

The finds assemblage comprises pottery, slag, wood, glass, clay tobacco pipe, worked flint and other stone objects. The near-pristine Bronze Age Collared Urn found with two undisturbed cremation burials is a rare find. Within the human remains from the site as a whole there is a high proportion of immature individuals to the near exclusion of adults. Further analysis of the human bone will provide more detailed demographic data and further information related to the mortuary rites.

Numerous environmental samples were collected from a range of features; few charred plant remains were recovered from the grave deposits and other features of probable Bronze Age date.