An archaeological survey has concluded that a greenfield site proposed for development in Amesbury has a "high to very high potential" to contain prehistoric remains which may be of national significance.

This comes after members of the campaign group Sustainable Amesbury opposed Woodhouse Developments plans to build 830 new houses on the site south west of the town.

Read more: Property developers lead campaign effort to stop new homes in Amesbury

The desk-based assessment, conducted by Heritage Collective UK, examined digital data held by the Wiltshire Historic Environment Record (WHER) together with documentary research and suggests Viney's Farm is likely to contain "extremely valuable" Roman and prehistoric remains of regional to national significance.

HCUK also found strong evidence of an Iron Age settlement from up to 2,800 years on the site, as well as five Bronze Age burial mounds which may be up to 5,000 years old.

The archaeological survey was funded by supporters of Sustainable Amesbury.

Sophy Buckley, who is a member of Sustainable Amesbury, said: "This report highlights the huge damage that would be caused by concreting over Viney’s Farm.

"Any development here would obliterate prehistoric and Roman remains of huge archaeological and historic value, including the likely remains of an Iron Age village.

"This is a site that needs to be protected and further investigated, not levelled and destroyed by the bulldozers of a greedy developer.”

Overall, 31 individual archaeological records, dating from up to 2500BC to 1500AD – a span of 4,000 years – have been identified on the site in the preliminary report.

The vicinity of Viney's Farm has seen 154 investigations carried out on 314 archaeological monument records, including 10 Scheduled Monuments and the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Stonehenge and Avebury.

HCUK say if Viney's Farm is allocated in the local plan it would go against core policy 58 of the Wiltshire Core Strategy (2015) which states: "Development should protect, conserve and where possible enhance historic environment."

This policy includes nationally significant archaeological remains and World Heritage Sites within and adjacent to Wiltshire.

The Amesbury Archer was discovered in 2002 during construction of a residential development near the Viney's Farm site. Wessex Archaeology found the earliest gold objects ever made in England in the prehistoric grave and Sustainable Amesbury say this strongly suggests that more incredibly valuable remains may be found throughout the area.

A 'masterplan' in place for significant archaeology

Woodhouse Developments Ltd couldn't comment specifically on the HCUK since it hasn't been made publicly available but said a "masterplan" has been devised for Viney's Farm.

A spokesperson for Woodhouse Developments said: "We undertook an extensive geophysical survey at Viney’s Farm last year to identify the archaeology that may exist and have since devised a masterplan for the site which would protect in perpetuity, not only within the perimeter of the land to be developed but also land outside that perimeter, the areas of significant archaeology that were identified.  

"This approach is consistent with national planning policy, best planning practice and what has been done at King’s Gate to the east."

During the Amesbury public exhibition on 5 July 2022, the details of Woodhouse Development's geophysical survey were explained.

The spokesperson added:"The exhibition made clear that Woodhouse Developments is proposing to physically build on just 28.87 hectares of land at Viney’s Farm as well as providing 75 hectares of public open space.  

"As Viney’s Farm extends to 263 hectares in area, the suggestion that Woodhouse Developments Ltd is concreting over Viney’s Farm is inaccurate and misleading."

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