Exeter, Devon
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Countess Wear Waste Water Treatment Works (new electricity supply) Exeter, Devon Archaeological Watching Brief for: Kier Utilities & Rail | Water CA Project: EX0134 CA Report: EX0134_1 OASIS ID: cotswold2-403912 September 2020 Countess Wear Waste Water Treatment Works (new electricity supply) Exeter, Devon Archaeological Watching Brief CA Project: EX0134 CA Report: EX0134_1 OASIS ID: cotswold2-403912 Document Control Grid Revision Date Author Checked by Status Reasons for Approved revision by A 24 Derek Evans – Internal – Derek September review Evans 2020 This report is confidential to the client. Cotswold Archaeology accepts no responsibility or liability to any third party to whom this report, or any part of it, is made known. Any such party relies upon this report entirely at their own risk. No part of this report may be reproduced by any means without permission. Cirencester Milton Keynes Andover Exeter Suffolk Building 11 Unit 8, The IO Centre Stanley House Unit 1, Clyst Units Unit 5, Plot 11 Kemble Enterprise Park Fingle Drive Walworth Road Cofton Road Maitland Road Cirencester Stonebridge Andover Marsh Barton Lion Barn Industrial Gloucestershire Milton Keynes Hampshire Exeter Estate GL7 6BQ Buckinghamshire SP10 5LH EX2 8QW Needham Market MK13 0AT Suffolk IP6 8NZ t. 01285 771 022 t. 01264 347 630 t. 01392 573 970 t. 01908 564 660 t. 01449 900 120 e. [email protected] CONTENTS SUMMARY ............................................................................................................................ 3 1. INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................... 4 2. ARCHAEOLOGICAL BACKGROUND ...................................................................... 5 3. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES ......................................................................................... 5 4. METHODOLOGY ..................................................................................................... 6 5. RESULTS................................................................................................................. 6 6. DISCUSSION ........................................................................................................... 7 7. CA PROJECT TEAM ................................................................................................ 7 8. REFERENCES ......................................................................................................... 7 APPENDIX A: CONTEXT DESCRIPTIONS ........................................................................... 8 APPENDIX B: OASIS REPORT FORM.................................................................................. 9 1 Countess Wear Waste Water Treatment Works (new electricity supply), Exeter, Devon: Archaeological Watching Brief © Cotswold Archaeology LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Fig. 1 Site location plan (1:25,000) Fig. 2 The site, showing monitored groundworks (1:20,000, 1:2000) Fig. 3 Photographs 2 Countess Wear Waste Water Treatment Works (new electricity supply), Exeter, Devon: Archaeological Watching Brief © Cotswold Archaeology SUMMARY Project name: Countess Wear Waste Water Treatment Works Location: Exeter, Devon NGR: 292609 090496 to 294828 089062 Type: Watching brief Date: 30 July and 17 August 2020 Planning reference: Teignbridge District Council ref: 17/01155/FUL OASIS ID: cotswold2-403912 Location of Archive: N/A Site Code: MABA20 In July and August 2020, Cotswold Archaeology carried out an archaeological watching brief during the installation of an electrical supply wire from the Exeter Energy Recovery Facility at Marsh Barton to South West Water’s Countess Wear Waste Water Treatment Works. The watching brief requirement applied only to that part of the scheme which is within Teignbridge District Council’s boundaries The watching brief identified no archaeological remains within the area of observed groundworks. This may be due to an absence of archaeological remains in the monitored area, although it may also be the case that any remains which might be present were not exposed by the limited groundworks. 3 Countess Wear Waste Water Treatment Works (new electricity supply), Exeter, Devon: Archaeological Watching Brief © Cotswold Archaeology 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1. In July and August 2020, Cotswold Archaeology (CA) carried out an archaeological watching brief during the installation of an electrical supply wire from the Exeter Energy Recovery Facility at Marsh Barton (NGR: 292609 090496) to South West Water’s Countess Wear Waste Water Treatment Works (NGR: 294828 089062; Fig. 1). This watching brief was undertaken for Kier Utilities & Rail | Water. 1.2. Teignbridge District Council has granted planning permission for the scheme (planning ref: 17/01155/FUL). Condition 3 of the planning permission required the implementation of a programme of archaeological work in accordance with an approved WSI. 1.3. The scope of the watching brief was defined by Stephen Reed (Senior Historic Environment Officer, Devon County Council Historic Environment Team). The watching brief was carried out in accordance with a Written Scheme of Investigation (WSI) prepared by CA (2020) and approved by Stephen Reed. 1.4. The watching brief was also in line with Specification for a programme of Archaeological Monitoring and Recording (also known as a Watching Brief) (Devon County Council 2020), Standard and guidance for an archaeological watching brief (CIfA 2014; updated June 2020), Management of Research Projects in the Historic Environment (MoRPHE) PPN 3: Archaeological Excavation (Historic England 2015) and Management of Research Projects in the Historic Environment: The MoRPHE Project Managers' Guide (Historic England 2015). The site 1.5. The new electrical supply wire originates from the Exeter Energy Recovery Facility, which lies on the eastern side of Grace Road South, in the Marsh Barton area of Exeter. The wire terminates at South West Water’s Countess Wear Waste Water Treatment Works, which lies between the River Exe and the Exeter Ship Canal, on the fringes of the Exeter suburb of Lower Wear. The full cable route is approximately 3km in extent and largely runs through greenspace along the south- western side of the Exeter Ship Canal. 1.6. The underlying bedrock geology in the north-western part of the cable route is mapped as Alphington Breccia Formation, which formed in the Permian Period. This is overlain by alluvial clays, silts, sands and gravels (BGS 2020). 4 Countess Wear Waste Water Treatment Works (new electricity supply), Exeter, Devon: Archaeological Watching Brief © Cotswold Archaeology 1.7. The underlying bedrock geology in the south-eastern part of the cable route (the area south-east of Bridge Road) is mapped as Heavitree Breccia Formation, which formed in the Permian Period. This is overlain by Tidal Flat Deposits of clay, silt, sand and gravel (BGS 2020). 2. ARCHAEOLOGICAL BACKGROUND 2.1. The cable route lies within reclaimed land of the River Exe floodplain and has potential for palaeoenvironmental sediments, such as prehistoric peat beds. 2.2. An archaeological watching brief carried out at the site of the Chrysler Garage (Matford Park Road; c. 625m south-west of the cable route) recorded a palaeochannel containing Neolithic wood fragments (Exeter Archaeology 2000). 2.3. Historic England (HE) records the cropmarks of at least six possible prehistoric round barrows in the land between the Exeter Energy Recovery Facility and the Exeter Ship Canal (HE ref: 1047938), as well as the cropmarks of a possible Iron Age/Roman square enclosure off Bad Homburg Way (c. 530m south-west of the cable route; HE ref: 447942). 2.4. The Countess of Devon, Isabella de Fortibus, constructed a weir across the River Exe in the 1280s. This weir was in the broad location of the present Countess Wear Bridge (c. 250m north-east of the cable route at its closest point). 2.5. The Exeter Ship Canal was constructed in 1564–1566. The canal originally deviated from the River Exe at a point south-east of the Countess Weir Bridge (i.e. to the immediate north-west of the Countess Wear Waste Water Treatment Works). The canal was extended in 1677, when its entrance was moved downstream to Topsham. 2.6. In May 1944, the Exeter Canal Swing Bridge (Bridge Road) was used in rehearsals for the D-Day attacks on the Pegasus and Horsa Bridges. The proposed cable route passes underneath the Swing Bridge. 3. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES 3.1. The general objectives of the watching brief were: • to monitor the development groundworks, and to identify, investigate and record any significant buried archaeological deposits/features thus revealed; 5 Countess Wear Waste Water Treatment Works (new electricity supply), Exeter, Devon: Archaeological Watching Brief © Cotswold Archaeology • at the conclusion of the project, to produce an integrated project archive and a report setting out the watching brief results and the archaeological conclusions that can be drawn from the recorded data. 4. METHODOLOGY 4.1. The watching brief requirement applied only to that part of the scheme which is within Teignbridge District Council’s boundaries (Fig. 2). 4.2. The watching brief comprised the observation by a competent archaeologist of intrusive groundworks associated with the development. The majority of the cable was installed using a “no trench” horizontal directional drilling method. The monitored groundworks comprised eight directional drill launch/reception pits/cable jointing pits. These pits were 1.5m–2.6m in length, 0.55–1.9m