A geoarchaeological watching brief and deposit model was undertaken for the site of the Ratcliffe-on-Soar Power Station, Nottinghamshire (NGR: 450144 330429). The project was commissioned by Uniper UK Ltd (the Client). This document summarises the stratigraphic sequence of geoarchaeological remains and discusses the results in relation to their archaeological and palaeoenvironmental potential. It will be integrated within the Ratcliffe-on-Soar Local Development Order's Archaeological Remains Management Plan: Outline Mitigation Strategy (ARMP:OMS). The principal objective of this report is to present the results, refine the research objectives of the project in light of the findings, and make recommendations concerning any subsequent archaeological investigations in order to address these research objectives. The geoarchaeological monitoring exercise comprised the monitoring of 20 geotechnical boreholes to a maximum depth of 30 m BGL , and the monitoring of 29 geotechnical trial pits to a maximum depth of 4 m bgl. No core samples were available to be retained for geoarchaeological purposes. Geoarchaeological and geotechnical deposit data can be used to identify areas of archaeological potential by characterising the probable nature and depth of sub-surface deposits The deposit sequence recorded across the site included tertiary bedrock of Mercia Mudstone Formation (encountered between approximately 24.5 and 44.0 m OD), superficial units of Pleistocene head, Hemington and Syston Member Gravels and alluvial silts, and Holocene clay / weathered bedrock. The nature of the Holocene clay / weathered bedrock is at present undetermined in the available records, though it may represent alluvium. Sealing the site were topsoil and made ground, the latter with a thickness of up to 11.6 m. Subsoil was present in only four of the test pits, followed by topsoil in all of the trenches. Archaeological remains were present in test pits four and ten, with the rest of the test pts being negative. The archaeological remains consisted of an undated pit, and undated northeast-southwest aligned gully.
Bower et al. (Wed,) studied this question.