EHG2843 - Trial trenching - Bellfield Farm, North Kessock

An evaluation was undertaken by Headland Archaeology in 2008 in advance of development for housing in the area of Bellfield Farm, North Kessock, to test the archaeological potential of an area of land and establish the location and extent of archaeological remains associated with cropmarks identified on aerial photographs. A total of eighty-one trenches and seventeen test pits were mechanically excavated across three fields with targeted trenching conducted on the location of one of the cropmarks interpreted as a bivallate enclosure. The trenches uncovered several features thought to be remains associated with the enclosure, including two curvilinear features, though they were extremely truncated. Small groups of postholes in the vicinity and a large pit with two in situ burning events were interpreted as evidence of settlement activity. The environmental evidence recovered from this pit suggested a later prehistoric date. Metalworking debris was also recovered from this pit. A group of postholes to the east of the enclosure suggested settlement activity elsewhere in the field and in the vicinity of another cropmark, that could not be directly trenched because of overhead power lines. An enclosure, represented by a palisade ditch with in situ packing stones, was located in an adjacent field. This was located on an area of high ground. An arc of postholes and two stone-filled pits to the west suggested that a settlement may have spread across this high ground. The third field contained very limited archaeological remains and appears to have been subject to quarrying and reinstatement in the recent past. <1>