T H A M E S V A L L E Y ARCHAEOLOGICAL S E R V I C E S Castle Cottage, Castlefield Road, Reigate, Surrey Archaeological Watching Brief by Andrew Mundin and Josh Hargreaves Site Code: CCR17/137 (TQ 2529 5033) Castle Cottage, Castlefield Road, Reigate, Surrey An Archaeological Watching Brief For Mrs Janet Denise byAndrewMundinandJoshHargreaves ThamesValleyArchaeologicalServicesLtd Site Code CCR 17/137b March 2018 Summary Site name: Castle Cottage, Castlefield Road, Reigate, Surrey Grid reference: TQ 2529 5033 Site activity: Watching Brief Date and duration of project: 19th and 20th February 2018 Project coordinator: Tim Dawson Site supervisor: Josh Hargreaves Site code: CCR 17/137 Area of site: c. 20 sq m Summary of results: The footings for the new western extension to the house were observed. The previous test trenching had uncovered brickwork for a soakaway or cess pit, which was fully uncovered in these works, but deemed to be of modern date. The exterior, northern side had been uncovered previously, and this phase of works located the remains of the chamber on its north-western corner. Two further pits were recorded on the west facing section on the western side. Pottery within their fills indicates that they are not earlier than late 18th century. At the base of excavation, two layers were revealed but no finds were recovered to date these deposits. Location and reference of archive: The archive is presently held at Thames Valley Archaeological Services, Reading and will be deposited with Reigate Museum in due course. This report may be copied for bona fide research or planning purposes without the explicit permission of the copyright holder. All TVAS unpublished fieldwork reports are available on our website: www.tvas.co.uk/reports/reports.asp. Report edited/checked by: Steve Ford 13.03.18 Steve Preston 13.03.18 i Thames Valley Archaeological Services Ltd, 47–49 De Beauvoir Road, Reading RG1 5NR Tel. (0118) 926 0552; Fax (0118) 926 0553; email [email protected]; website: www.tvas.co.uk Castle Cottage, Castlefield Road, Reigate, Surrey An Archaeological Watching Brief by Andrew Mundin and Josh Hargreaves Report 17/137b Introduction This report documents the results of an archaeological watching brief carried out at Castle Cottage, Castlefield Road, Reigate, Surrey, RH2 OAP (Fig. 1). The work was commissioned by Ms Janet Denise, of the above address. Planning permission (16/02763/HHOLD) and Listed Building Consent (16/02674/LBC) have been gained from Reigate and Banstead Borough Council, and Scheduled Monument Consent (S00182176) has been granted by the Secretary of State, as advised by Historic England, for the construction of a new western extension to Castle Cottage, which is situated on the Scheduled Ancient Monument (SAM) of Reigate Castle (UID 1005947). The building itself is excluded from the Scheduled Area, but the ground under it is included, and the building itself is Grade II Listed (137791). An evaluation comprising archaeological trial trenching was carried out prior to the determination of the planning application (Pine 2017), with the results of this intended to inform any requirements for further work on the site. As a result, Condition 4 of the planning consent states that works can not commence without Scheduled Monument Consent, and then archaeological works must be undertaken. These works were required are in accordance with the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act (1979), the Department for Communities and Local Government’s National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF 2012), and the Borough’s Council policies on archaeology. The field investigation was carried out to a specification approved by Ms Alex Belllisario, Assistant Inspector of Ancient Monuments with Historic England. The fieldwork was undertaken by Josh Hargreaves on 19th and 20th February 2018 and the site code is CCR 17/137. The archive is presently held at Thames Valley Archaeological Services, Reading and will be deposited at Reigate Museum in due course. Location, topography and geology The site is located in the garden to the west of the existing cottage, which itself is located within the Scheduled Ancient Monument (SAM) of Reigate Castle. The garden is flat and levelled on its western side, and separated 1 from the public gardens of the castle by boundary walls (Fig. 2). The site is located on Folkstone Beds, of the Lower Greensand (BGS 1978). The site lies at a height of 86.6m above Ordnance Datum (OD). Archaeological background The archaeological potential of the site was initially summarized in a briefing statement from Historic England. The site lies within Reigate Castle, a late 11th-century fortification ordered by William de Warrenne, Earl of Surrey (Poulton 2003). The chronology of its structural development is poorly understood. Although little remains of the castle with the exception of the earthworks of the inner bailey, some upstanding walls were reportedly present in the 17th century and perhaps into the 18th. The location of the cottage is within the presumed area of the outer bailey, which is thought to represent a late 12th or early 13th century addition (Robertson 2000. To the south of Castle Cottage, and within the Scheduled Ancient Monument, are a wall (brick and masonry) of uncertain date, and a north-south line of eight square concrete blocks, or World War II 'dragon's teeth'. More widely, the town developed outside the castle, with the current High Street to the south. Its market charter was gained from 1276, before it gained borough status in 1291 (VCH 1911). Most gateways and 'follies' present on the site of the SAM are 17th- or 18th-century creations. The cottage itself is mostly timber framed, with brick infill, and the Reigate Sandstone in the base coursing is early 17th century. It was most likely originally a Warrener's cottage, for the keeper of rabbits for the estate. Its earliest construction would be contemporary with the systematic dismantling of the fortification after the English Civil War (after 1651). Recent excavations, undertaken during the construction of the Borough Council Offices impacting on the location of the Outer Bailey, investigated the moat bank in 1990 and 1992, and 1997 to 1999 investigating the bailey ditch (Robertson 2000). Medieval deposits (13th century) were encountered. Of most pertinence to the site, observations on the driveway of the cottage in 1994 revealed some sherds of pottery of 13th century and later date, raising the expectation that further early Medieval deposits survived in the area (Williams 1994). The recent evaluation suggested less chance of deposits of that date being, found after deposits no earlier than 19th century date were uncovered, with one sherd of imported Italian Montelupo Maiolica of 16th-17th century date of some interest (Pine 2017). 2 Objectives and methodology The purpose of the watching brief was to excavate and record any archaeological deposits affected by the groundworks. This is expected to involve monitoring of foundation trenches, and other intrusive digging such as soakaways. Service trenching was too shallow to extend beyond the previously recorded modern deposits and no landscaping was required. Trenching was undertaken by hand excavation, to no greater depth than 1.2m deep and 0.6m wide. Excavation was observed over two days continually. Results The three trenches that made up the side of the new extension, crossed the excavated areas of the two evaluation trenches in the north and south (Fig. 3). The north trench (Tr. 1) had been dug along the side of a previous soakaway/manhole that has since gone out of use. This was fully excavated (103, wall 155, backfill 160) and was seen to be 0.65m wide x 0.96m long (Pl.1). The top was only covered by two layers of modern overburden (150 and 151) to a depth of 0.4m. The internal fill of the brick work was a loose, yellowish brown silty sand (160). Eleven courses of the brickwork survived on its western side but only four or five on the east. Only a single course at its base remained on the northern side and in its north-eastern corner. No finds were recovered in this phase of work, but its brickwork was late post-medieval to modern in date and 19th-century finds were recovered from the same feature during the evaluation. On the western section, and its west facing side two further pits were seen in this phase, which added to the two other pits recorded in Ev Tr 2. This trench was crossed with the new southern footing trench. Below the upper layer of overburden (150), which was 0.3m thick, the tops of both features were identified in section. Cut 101 was 0.4m wide and extended to a depth of 0.3m (Fig. 4). It was pointed in appearance with irregular sloped edges visible against the lighter fill (154) it cut. The cut was filled with a single fill (153), a loose blackish grey silty sand that contained pottery and metal finds of 20th century date. The layer cut by this feature, to the base of excavation to 0.91m was a soft brownish-red clayey sand made ground (154), considered to be remaining garden overburden. This contained pottery (retained) considered to be of 18th century date (at earliest). The second rubbish pit (102) was more regular, straight sided with a regular slope and a flattened base, measuring 0.3m x 0.7m and 0.7m deep (Fig. 4; Pl. 2). This was filled with two fills (156 and 157). The secondary and more substantial fill (156), was a soft brown yellow silty sand with very occasional charcoal fleck inclusions. The basal fill (157) was 0.2m thick and was a loose, blackish grey sandy silt with occasional charcoal inclusions.