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GnK wrote:
The interpretation of a potential cursus was rejected by the planning consultants working for the client who has now finished developing the site. Instead the feature is claimed as a prehistoric field boundary, and now lies nearly entirely under nice looking new homes. At best it is an unusual and apparently very early land boundary, but taken as a whole the evidence from several interventions does not prevent further consideration of this feature as a potential cursus, especially when other long-lived monument complexes elsewhere are considered.

Your post is very interesting - I take it this was work commissioned by the developers prior to the Badbury Park development on the land adjacent to Dayhouse Lane. Losing that battle to protect that piece of land (which also has more recent associations with the Victorian writer Richard Jefferies) was too much for the person who orchestrated it and she moved away from the area shortly after.
Are you a local archaeologist? If so, I would very much like to talk to you the area known as the Lawns in Old Town (not too far from Coate). I understand it is the site of the very first settlement in the town and dates back to the neolithic, possibly earlier. There was talk about 'utilising' the some of the land for a car-park as part of the old Corn Exchange development, a while back but as far as I'm aware no plans have yet been submitted to the council. Archaeologically, and many other reasons too, I don't think this should be allowed to happen.

G GnK

Thank you for your message.

From an archaeologist who worked on the site:

"That is sad to hear - I met many of the residents near the new development in 2014.

The whole thing leaves a very bitter taste at many levels - in fact if it was not for the genuinely interesting archaeology (rather than run-of-the-mill stuff) i would prefer to forget about it all too.

This is/was a rich area of archaeology; heritage for Swindon to really get its teeth into - however, evidence for some of the best bits is far more partial that it could have been under 21st c. methods, knowledge and policies.

There are traceable errors tracked from the Consultants, County, and Contractors > this should not be allowed to happen again."

There is a much more interesting story of Swindons prehistory than is presently being told - the current evidence clearly indicates this. It is important that this perspective is promoted publicly for leverage to be brought on Developers/Planning/Consultants.

Please get in touch; the Facebook page "Common Head" was set up in 2014 whilst trying to get a better level of archaeological work done at the site. It could be used informally to co-ordinate local activity on this issue.
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