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
by Andrew Mundin and Josh Hargreaves
Thames Valley Archaeological Services Ltd
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 All TVAS unpublished fieldwork reports are available on our website: www.tvas.co.uk/reports/reports.asp.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. Pottery recovered from the fill was considered to be late 18th or 19th century in date.
3 This pit was cut through a deep layer which consisted of redeposited upcast natural (159), and contained no finds. Although of different consistency, this probably equates with layer 154 further north. Below layer 159, from 0.8m to 1.1m deep, the lowest layer under the pits was a brownish grey silty sand (158). No finds were encountered in this deposit which is perhaps a buried topsoil/old ground surface.
Finds
Pottery by Paul Blinkhorn The pottery assemblage comprised 26 sherds with a total weight of 523g. It is all post-medieval, and was
recorded using the conventions of the Museum of London Type-Series (eg. Vince 1985), as follows:
CREA: Creamware, 1740 - 1830. 15 sherds, 160g. FREC: Frechen Stoneware, 1550 – 1700. 1 sherd, 50g. LONS: London Stoneware, 1670 – 1900. 3 sherds, 44g. PEAR: Pearlware, 1770 - 1830. 2 sherds, 16g. PMR: Post-medieval Redware, 1580 – 1900. 3 sherds, 200g. SWSG: Staffordshire White Salt-Glazed Stoneware, 1720 - 1780. 1 sherd, 44g. TGW: English Tin-Glazed Ware, 1600 - 1800. 1 sherd, 29g.
The pottery occurrence by number and weight of sherds per context by fabric type is shown in Appendix 2. The range of fabric types is typical of late 18th-century sites in the region. The assemblage is entirely domestic in nature, and consists of a mixture of utilitarian earthenwares and stonewares, and finer table wares, including a fragment of a beaded, shell-edged SWSG plate and a painted PEAR bowl.
The fragment of TGW is from a blue-painted pictorial wall-tile, with the remaining piece depicting a water- scene with ducks and reeds. It has similarities with an 18th-century Dutch example from London (Betts and
Weinstein 2010, no. 223). Such tiles usually adorned the houses of the wealthy urban middle classes of the period (Weinstein 2010, 1).
Ceramic Building material by Danielle Millbank
Ceramic building material was recovered from layer 154 encountered in the excavation. This comprised four pieces (330g in total) which were examined under x10 magnification. Two fragments of tile are of a moderately hard, friable and slightly laminated fabric, with fine groggy and sparse sandy inclusions, and a light red colour.
The thickness is 12mm and the form is slightly uneven. They are of broadly late medieval date.
Two fragments in a hard, dense, evenly-fired clay fabric with very fine small (possibly shell) inclusions were also recovered. The form is fairly neat and the thickness is 9mm. This is typical of an earlier medieval date
4 but the fabric type suggests either a later (post-medieval) date or perhaps an imported rather than locally produced material.
Clay pipe by Danielle Millbank
Two fragments of clay pipe stem were recovered in the course of the excavation. These were from layer 154 and have a bore diameter broadly suggestive of a late 18th or early 19th century date. In addition, a small piece of fired white kaolin clay was recovered, which is likely to be related to the manufacture of clay pipes.
Shell by Danielle Milbank A single piece of bivalve shell was encountered. This is part of a scallop shell, presumably representing food waste. Although these are not as ubiquitous in the post-medieval period as oyster shell, they are not uncommon.
Conclusion
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, fully uncovered in these works, and deemed to be a modern manhole. The exterior, northern side had been uncovered in the previous evaluation, and this works located the remains of the chamber to the south, placed on the north-western corner of the excavated area. Two further pits were recorded on the west facing section on the western side. Pottery indicates a late 18th century date, or later, date. At the base of excavation, two overburden layers were revealed. They were undated but could be derived from earlier landscaping of the site, associated with the earthworking of the castle. However, despite the potential of the setting, no finds were recovered to date these fills.
References Betts, I.M and Weinstein, R.I, 2010, Tin-Glazed Tiles from London, Museum of London BGS, 1978, British Geological Survey, 1:50 000, Sheet 286 (Reigate), Drift Edition, Keyworth NPPF 2012, National Planning Policy Framework, Dept Communities and Local Govt, London Poulton, R, 2003, 'Extensive Urban Survey of Surrey: Reigate', Surrey County Archaeological Unit Robertson, J, 2000, ‘An archaeological excavation and watching brief at Reigate Town Hall, Castlefield Road, Reigate, Surrey’, SCAU unpubl rep VCH, 1911, 'Reigate', in The History of the County of Surrey, Vol 3, Halden H.E (ed), 229-245, British History Online, http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/vol3/pp229-245 [accessed 8th March 2018] Vince, AG, 1985, ‘The Saxon and Medieval Pottery of London: A review’, Medieval Archaeol 29, 25–93 Williams, D, 1994, 'Castle Cottage, Castle Grounds, Reigate, archaeological watching brief', SCAU unpubl rep
5 APPENDIX 1: Feature list
Cut Fill (s) Type Date Dating evidence 150 Topsoil - - 151 Subsoil - - 152 Yellow Sandy silt (natural geology) - - 101 153 Natural feature Late 18th century Pottery 154 Made ground Late 18th century Pottery 103 155 Brick wall Modern pottery, metal 160 Fill of construction cut 102 156 Fill of pit Late 18th century Pottery 157 Fill of pit 158 Ground surface/buried topsoil Pre 18th century Stratigraphy 159 Redeposited natural Pre 18th century Stratigraphy
6 APPENDIX 2: Catalogue of pottery by context, by number of sherds and weight in grams
FREC PMR TGW LONS SWSG CREA PEAR Cut Fill No Wt (g) No Wt (g) No Wt (g) No Wt (g) No Wt (g) No Wt (g) No Wt (g) 154 2 130 2 29 1 44 7 72 1 10 102 157 1 50 1 70 1 29 1 15 8 88 1 6 Total 1 50 3 200 1 29 3 44 1 44 15 160 2 16
1 Staines
Egham
Woking Weybridge
Reigate Redhill Aldershot Guildford
Godalming Farnham SITE
51000
SITE 50000
TQ25000 26000 CCR 17/137b Castle Cottage, Castlefield Road, Reigate, Surrey, 2018 Archaeological Watching Brief Figure 1. Location of site within Reigate and Surrey.
Reproduced under licence from Ordnance Survey Explorer Digital mapping at 1:12500 Crown Copyright reserved Schedule boundary 1005947
50400
SITE
50300
TQ25200 25300
CCR 17/137b N Castle Cottage, Castlefield Road, Reigate, Surrey 2018 Archaeological Watching Brief Figure 2. Detailed location of site.
Reproduced from Ordnance Survey Digital Mapping under licence. Crown copyright reserved. Scale 1:1250 50340
to be demolished Castle Cottage T1
50330 manhole 155 101 proposed 102 T2
50320
8 7 4 6 5 9 2 3 1
TQ25290 25300 25310
CCR 17/137b
N Castle Cottage, Castlefield Road, Reigate, Surrey, 2018 Archaeological Watching Brief
Figure 3. Location of new footing with evaluation in grey.
0 10m West facing section West facing section
NSN S 86.7m
150 150
153
156 159
154
157 155 158
101 102
CCR 17/137b
Castle Cottage, Castlefield Road, Reigate, Surrey, 2018 Archaeological Watching Brief
Figure 4. Section.
0 1m Plate 1. Manhole 155, looking west, Scales: horizontal 1m, vertical 0.5m.
102
Plate 2. Pit 102, looking east, Scales: horizontal 0.5m, vertical 1m.
CCR 17/137b Castle Cottage, Castlefield Road, Reigate, Surrey, 2018 Archaeological Watching Brief Plates 1 and 2. TIME CHART
Calendar Years
Modern AD 1901
Victorian AD 1837
Post Medieval AD 1500
Medieval AD 1066
Saxon AD 410
Roman AD 43 AD 0 BC Iron Age 750 BC
Bronze Age: Late 1300 BC
Bronze Age: Middle 1700 BC
Bronze Age: Early 2100 BC
Neolithic: Late 3300 BC
Neolithic: Early 4300 BC
Mesolithic: Late 6000 BC
Mesolithic: Early 10000 BC
Palaeolithic: Upper 30000 BC
Palaeolithic: Middle 70000 BC
Palaeolithic: Lower 2,000,000 BC Thames Valley Archaeological Services Ltd, 47-49 De Beauvoir Road, Reading RG1 5NR
Tel: 0118 9260552 Email: [email protected] Web: www.tvas.co.uk
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