Archaeological Watching Brief at Waldridge Manor, Owlswick Road, Ford, Buckinghamshire
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Archaeological Watching Brief at Waldridge Manor, Owlswick Road, Ford, Buckinghamshire R. J. Ivens BA PhD FSA MIFA Puxley House, Puxley, Potterspury, Northants, NN12 7QS Tel: 01908 569308 Prepared on behalf of: Wilde Spooner Raleigh, 88 Easton Street, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, HP11 1LT September 2002 Archaeological Watching Brief at Waldridge Manor, Owlswick Road, Ford, Buckinghamshire Contents 1 Summary 1 2 Introduction 1 3 Background to the Development Site 3 4 The Watching Brief 4 4.1 Watching Brief 4 4.2 Archive Index: 6 Context records Plan and Section drawings Photographs Artefacts 5 Conclusions 7 Bibliography 7 Appendices 1 Brief for an Archaeological Watching Brief (Buckinghamshire County Archaeological Service) 2 Proposals for Archaeological Watching Brief 3 Department for Culture, Media and Sport: Schedule Entry List of illustrations 1 Location of Waldridge Manor and the Development Site (Scale 1 : 25000) 2 Waldridge Manor in 1885 (Scale 1 : 2500) 3 Plan of Waldridge Manor showing the New Build Site (Scale 1 : 2500) 4 Waldridge Manor: pre-excavation plan of site of New Build (Scale 1 : 50) 5 Waldridge Manor, New Build Site: plan of modern drains after removal of 20cm of topsoil (Scale 1 : 50) 6 Waldridge Manor, New Build Site: plan of foundation trench and modern disturbances (Scale 1 : 50) 7 Waldridge Manor, New Build Site: Sections A-B, B-C and C-D (Scale 1 : 25) i Archaeological Watching Brief at Waldridge Manor, Owlswick Road, Ford, Buckinghamshire R. J. Ivens 1 Summary A Watching Brief was carried out during the stripping of the site for the construction of a new conservatory, and during the excavation of the foundation trenches. The site was found to have been disturbed in modern times by an earlier extension to the existing house and by numerous modern drains. Evidence was also found indicating that much of the area investigated had been disturbed in post-medieval times. No remains were identified which could be confidently associated with the sixteenth or early seventeenth century manor house and no medieval or earlier remains were noted. 2 Introduction Mr and Mrs M. H. D. Barlow of Waldridge Manor, Meadle, Bucks HP17 9UH have been granted planning permission to erect a conservatory to the rear of their house (Planning Application 00/02770), Figs 1 and 3-4. Mr D. Radford, Archaeological Officer, Buckinghamshire County Archaeological Service, has issued a brief requiring an Archaeological Watching Brief to be carried out during the groundworks for the new build (Appendix 1). The evaluation was considered necessary because the development affects a Grade II* listed manor house which is associated with scheduled deserted medieval village (SAM 29414; Appendix 3). Wilde Spooner Raleigh of 88 Easton Street, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, HP11 1LT (acting for the applicants) appointed R. J. Ivens to carry out the required Archaeological Watching Brief (23rd July 2002). A Project Design (Appendix 2) detailing the proposed investigation was submitted to Buckinghamshire County Archaeological Service on 17th July 2002. Approval of 1 the scheme was granted by Buckinghamshire County Archaeological Service on 18th July 2002. The field investigation was carried out by R. J. Ivens between 25th and 26th July 2002. This report, which was entirely prepared by R. J. Ivens, summarises the findings of the Watching Brief. The site archive will be retained by the fieldworker until completion of the project, after which it will be deposited in an appropriate museum/archive, probably Buckinghamshire County Museum. 2 3 Background to the Development Site Waldridge Manor (formerly Upper Waldridge Farm) is situated in the South-east of the parish of Dinton with Ford and Upton (NGR: SP 78175 07275) about 2.25km South of the village of Ford, in a fairly flat area of Aylesbury Vale. The geology consists mainly of Gault formations (grey mudstones) intermittently overlain with head (British Geological Survey Sheet 237). The remains of a deserted medieval village (SAM 29414) lie immediately to the East of the gardens and yards of the manor; see Appendix 3 for a location map and description of the remains. The Grade II* listed manor house, itself, was probably built in the late sixteenth or early seventeenth century of timber and brick, partly refaced with brick at the end of the seventeenth century and enlarged in the eighteenth century (RCHM 1912, 126). At the beginning of the twentieth century the house had a T-shaped plan (ibid. and Fig. 2) with the cross wing facing South-west, and the RCHM surveyors suggested that it originally extended further to the South-east. The South-east corner was substantially rebuilt and extended c. 1940 (date-stone and pers. comm. Mr. Barlow) and it seems probable that this extension has destroyed or at least masked any evidence of the postulated South-east extension of the T-shaped house. North-east of the house are a series of farm buildings, cottages and yards while the South-west side of the property is occupied by lawns, garden beds, ponds and a tennis court. To the South-east of the house is a sunken lawn, bordered to the North- east by a timber barn. At the end of the nineteenth century two further ranges of buildings occupied the South-west border of this area (Fig. 2) and it seems likely that this lawn occupies the site of a former farmyard. South-east of the suggested farmyard site is a modern ornamental pond, modified from an earlier and larger pond (compare Figs 2 and 3). The suggestion that the site was once moated (RCHM 1912, 126) is presumably based on this and the linear pond to the North-west. 3 The new development consists of a single storey conservatory (7 x 2.8m) built on to the South-west face of the modern extension to the South-east corner of the early post-medieval house. 4 The Watching Brief 4.1 The Watching Brief Figs 3-7 Immediately prior to the start of the groundworks the development site consisted of an area of lawn, separated from the South-west face of the South-east corner of the house by an 85cm wide gravel and stone (Type 1) path, which excavation proved to the upper fill of a drain trench (4), Figs 3-4. Three rainwater gullies were set in this path. The stripping and foundation excavations were carried out, mechanically, by the building contractors (Bleriot Construction Ltd), under continuous archaeological observation. The entire site was first reduced by 20-30cm and then the foundation trenches were excavated. The foundation trenches were c. 50cm wide and c.1.1m deep. The stripping involved the partial removal of topsoil (1) from the lawn area, the gravel and stone path (2) and part of a shingle layer (3) found beneath layer 2, Fig, 7, Sections A-B and C-D. In the course of this work two separate drainage systems were revealed, Figs 5 and 7, Sections A-B and C-D. The first consisted of a network of plastic rainwater drainpipes (10), set within topsoil and connected to gullies (see above). The second was a salt-glazed drain (5) from the existing kitchen. Drain 5 was encased in layer 3 and ran along the entire length of development site about 50- 60cm from the house wall. The rainwater pipes were removed but the kitchen drain (5) was left in situ, for future use. At this stage the greater part of the site was covered by remnant topsoil, the only exception being the shingle-filled trench (4) for the kitchen drain. No further excavation was carried out, except for the foundation trenches. Excavation of the foundation trenches showed that the kitchen drain (5) was set in a trench (4) filled with shingle (3) and capped by a layer of gravel and stone (2) which 4 doubled as a path, Fig. 7, Sections A-B and C-D. Immediately below drain trench 4, another drain was revealed (6) which proved to be the foul drain for the house, Figs 6 and 7, Sections A-B and C-D. This drain ran the entire length of the development site, was set tight against the cinder block (7) foundations of the house, and was left in situ for future use. The complex of retained drains alongside the existing house effectively precluded any possibility of examining the house foundations or adjacent strata in any detail, but the brickwork (8) and cinder blocks (7) indicate the house foundations are of very recent date. A land drain (13) was found to run down the whole length of the long (south- western) foundation trench and this had disturbed all deposits in this section of the site, Figs 6 and 7, Sections A-B and C-D. Two other features were also recorded. A small pit or ditch (17) was observed in both faces of the long (south-western) trench, Fig. 7, Section B-C. This feature was cut into layer (11) and its fill (16) contained fragments of tile/brick and blue slate, and is presumably, therefore, of quite recent date. The eastern 2.5m of the site was occupied by a large cut feature (19) which was observed in both faces of the south-western and south-eastern trenches, Fig. 7, Sections B-C and C-D. This feature was cut into layer (11) and its fill (18) contained tiny fragments of ceramic tile, brick and clay pipe stems, and must be of seventeenth century or later date. The fill of this feature contained many large pieces of limestone and it appeared to have been deliberately infilled. Its original extent and function are unknown but it could have been a pond, of which there are many examples in the vicinity of Waldridge Manor, Fig.