Land off Hillside Road, Castle Gresely, Swadlincote, Derbyshire - Archaeological Evaluation Report

Wessex Archaeology

Wessex Archaeology was commissioned to undertake an archaeological evaluation of a 5.2 ha parcel of land located off Hillside Road, Castle Gresley, Swadlincote, Derbyshire, centred on NGR 42810 31760.

The evaluation comprised 16 trial trenches and revealed archaeological features across the proposed development area, and substantial colluvial layers with depths exceeding 1.2 m in places that limited the excavation of some features.

The evaluation area spanned three fields. The north-western field contained several ditches, with two large ditches appearing across three trial trenches that were indicative of a bivallate hilltop enclosure. Adjacent shallower ditches potentially formed internal features. The archaeological remains in the eastern field comprised ditches and a pit, and were indicative of a small enclosure. The only find of the evaluation, a possible rubber stone/whetstone, was recovered from a pit within this field. The remains within the south-western field comprised ditches and pits. These features may be part of a field system.

There were no dateable finds recovered during the evaluation, limiting the ability to firmly date any of the features. The lack of finds combined with the depth of colluvium covering the archaeological features is suggestive of a prehistoric date but is by no means definitive.