Astwood Grange Astwood Newport Pagnell Milton Keynes

Archaeological Evaluation

Accession No. AYBCM: 2012.21 HER Event No. 1308

for

Bowler Energy

on behalf of TGR Williams & Son

CA Project: 660045 CA Report: 12060

March 2012

Astwood Grange Astwood Newport Pagnell Milton Keynes

Archaeological Evaluation

CA Project: 660045 CA Report: 12060

HER Event No.1308 Accession No. AYBCM: 2012.21

prepared by Simon Carlyle, Project Manager

date 26 March 2012

checked by Simon Carlyle, Project Manager

date 27 March 2012

approved by Roland Smith, Regional Manager

signed

date 29 March 2012

issue 02

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.

© Cotswold Archaeology Unit 4, Cromwell Business Centre, Howard Way, Newport Pagnell, Milton Keynes MK16 9QS t. 01908 218320 e. [email protected] © Cotswold Archaeology Astwood Grange, Newport Pagnell: Written Scheme of Investigation for an Archaeological Evaluation

CONTENTS

SUMMARY ...... 2

1. INTRODUCTION...... 3

2. FIELDWORK RESULTS...... 5

3. DISCUSSION...... 6

4. CA PROJECT TEAM...... 7

5. REFERENCES...... 7

APPENDIX A: CONTEXT DESCRIPTIONS ...... 8 APPENDIX B: OASIS REPORT FORM...... 9

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Fig. 1 Site location plan, 1:25,000 Fig. 2 Trench location plan, 1:2000 Fig. 3 Trenches 1 and 2: plan, section of pit 203 and photograph

1 © Cotswold Archaeology Astwood Grange, Newport Pagnell: Written Scheme of Investigation for an Archaeological Evaluation

SUMMARY

Project name: Astwood Grange, Astwood Location: Newport Pagnell, Milton Keynes NGR: SP 9510 4886 Type: Evaluation Date: March 2012 Site code: AGR 12 Museum Accession No: AYBCM: 2012.21 MK HER Event No: 1308

In March 2012, an archaeological evaluation, comprising the excavation of four trial trenches, was undertaken by Cotswold Archaeology on farmland at Astwood Grange, near Astwood, Newport Pagnell, Milton Keynes. The work, which was commissioned by Bowler Energy, acting on behalf of TGR Williams & Son, was undertaken prior to the submission of planning proposals for the construction of two wind turbines.

The trenches were arranged in T-shaped pairs, positioned within the footprints of the two turbine pads. A sherd of Roman pottery was recovered from a small, shallow pit within the footprint of the southern turbine, and three sherds of Roman pottery were recovered from the subsoil in the same area. There were no archaeological remains within the footprint of the northern turbine pad.

2 © Cotswold Archaeology Astwood Grange, Newport Pagnell: Written Scheme of Investigation for an Archaeological Evaluation

1. INTRODUCTION

1.1 In March 2012, an archaeological evaluation, comprising the excavation of four 5m trial trenches, was undertaken by Cotswold Archaeology (CA) on land at Astwood Grange, near Astwood, Newport Pagnell, Milton Keynes (site centred on NGR: SP 9510 4886; Fig. 1). The work, which was commissioned by Bowler Energy, acting on behalf of TGR Williams & Son, was carried out prior to the submission of planning proposals for the construction of two 50kW wind turbines.

1.2 The application for the construction of the turbines is to be made to Milton Keynes Council, the design details of which have been presented in the Design Statement issued by Bowler Energy (2012). The requirement for archaeological evaluation, comprising the excavation of four trial trenches on the footprints of the turbine bases, was outlined by Nick Crank, Milton Keynes Council’s Archaeological Officer (MKCAO). No archaeological works were requested for the route of the access road and cable trench as they will have minimal impact on underlying deposits.

1.3 The project was undertaken in accordance with the approved Written Scheme of Investigation (WSI) prepared by CA (2012), the Institute for Archaeologists’ Standard and Guidance for Archaeological Field Evaluation (IfA 2008), and the English Heritage procedural documents Management of Archaeological Projects 2 (EH 1991) and the Management of Research Projects in the Historic Environment (MoRPHE): Project Manager’s Guide (EH 2006). The fieldwork was monitored by Nick Crank, MKCAO, with a site visit being made on 15 March 2012.

The site

1.4 The site of the proposed wind turbines (hereafter ‘the site’) is situated at Astwood Grange, 1.6km to the north of the village of Astwood and 6km to the east of Olney, Milton Keynes (Fig. 1). The A422 Newport Pagnell Road passes close to the site to the south, and Turvey Road lies to the west. The two turbines are to be sited in arable fields to the west of the farm buildings and to the north of the farm access road, between the 95m and 100m Ordnance Survey contours. The geology of the site (BGS 2010) comprises Middle Jurassic rocks of the Peterborough Member (mudstone) and Kellaway Sands Member (sand and sandstone) of the Oxford Clay Formation, overlain by glacial till of the Oadby Member (gravelly grey clay).

3 © Cotswold Archaeology Astwood Grange, Newport Pagnell: Written Scheme of Investigation for an Archaeological Evaluation

1.5 There are no known archaeological sites within the application area and the site has not been subject to any known previous archaeological investigation. In the wider area, reference to the Milton Keynes and Bedfordshire Historic Environment Records (HER), via the Heritage Gateway ( www.heritagegateway.org.uk ), has identified several archaeological sites nearby, the majority of which are of Roman or medieval date.

1.6 Approximately 1.3km to the south of the site a Roman ditch and a pit containing charcoal and burnt bone were discovered during the construction of the Astwood Bypass, and c. 600m to the west, off Turvey Road, Roman pottery has been found near The Bury. In the field to the south-west of The Bury, aerial photographs show cropmarks of a ditched enclosure, from the middle of which were recovered part of a quern stone, iron-working slag and Roman pottery. The site of a possible Roman pottery kiln has been identified c. 1.4km to the north-west of the site; this comprised a patch of black soil, from which were recovered Roman pottery dating to the late 1st to mid 4th centuries AD, iron-working slag and part of a kiln bar.

1.7 Saxon pottery, dating to no later than the 8th or 9th century AD, has been found in the ploughsoil near Manor Farm, 2.5km to the south-west of the site, and in the surrounding area there are a number of earthworks that mark the sites of medieval moated manor houses and fishponds. These include the earthworks at Astwood, Hardmead, Maukins (Scheduled Monument No. 32114) and The Bury, and the extensive manorial earthworks at Upend Wood (Scheduled Monument No.11559), which are believed to be the remains of an early 11th-century Royal manor.

Archaeological objectives

1.8 The objectives of the evaluation were to:

• determine the character, quality, date and extent of any archaeological remains or deposits surviving within the site, • establish the integrity and state of preservation of any archaeological remains that may be present.

4 © Cotswold Archaeology Astwood Grange, Newport Pagnell: Written Scheme of Investigation for an Archaeological Evaluation

The results of the evaluation will assist MKC in making an informed judgement on the significance of the archaeological resource and the likely impact upon it of the proposed development.

Methodology

1.9 The fieldwork comprised the excavation of four 5m trenches in the locations shown in Figure 2. Trenches were surveyed using a Leica 1200 series SmartRover GPS, in accordance with CA’s Technical Manual 4: Survey Manual (CA 2009).

1.10 The trenches were excavated using a 360 o tracked mechanical excavator fitted with a 1.8m wide toothless ditching bucket. All machine excavation was undertaken under constant archaeological supervision to the top of the first significant archaeological horizon or the natural substrate, whichever was encountered first. Where archaeological deposits were encountered they were excavated by hand and recorded, in accordance with Technical Manual 1: Fieldwork Recording Manual (CA 2007).

1.11 Given the limitations of the archaeology encountered by the evaluation, no samples were taken for palaeoenvironmental assessment. All artefacts recovered were processed in accordance with Technical Manual 3: Treatment of Finds Immediately after Excavation (CA 2010).

1.12 The archive and artefacts from the evaluation are currently held by CA at their offices in Milton Keynes. Subject to the agreement of the legal landowner, the artefacts and the site archive will eventually be deposited with Buckinghamshire County Museum Services (Accession No. AYBCM: 2012.21; HER Event No. 1308). A summary of information from this project will be entered onto the OASIS online database of archaeological projects in Britain.

2. FIELDWORK RESULTS

General stratigraphy

2.1 The geological substrate was chalk-flecked mid brownish-yellow clay. The overlying subsoil was mid brownish-grey silty clay, approximately 0.22m thick, with occasional chalk pebbles. The ploughsoil, which was typically c. 0.3m thick, was dark brownish-grey humic clayey silt.

5 © Cotswold Archaeology Astwood Grange, Newport Pagnell: Written Scheme of Investigation for an Archaeological Evaluation

2.2 In Trench 2, near the centre of the pad for Turbine 1, there was a small, shallow, circular pit, 203, with a diameter of 0.5m and depth of 0.07m (Fig. 3). A sherd of Roman pottery was recovered from the pit (which was fully excavated), and three sherds of Roman pottery were recovered from the subsoil in the same area. No archaeological remains were encountered within the footprint of Turbine 2.

The pottery by Angus Crawford

2.3 The finds assemblage recovered from the evaluation is summarised below. The assemblage was of small size and consisted of four sherds of pottery retrieved from three stratified contexts. The level of preservation was good with the sherds exhibiting low levels of abrasion. Three of the recovered pottery sherds, from subsoil 101 and pit fill 204, were of a fine shell-tempered fabric, with the remaining sherd, recovered from subsoil 201, in a reduced fabric with well-sorted quartz inclusions. While the sherds from deposits 201 and 204 were unfeatured body sherds, the two sherds from deposit 101 were joining rim-sherds with a simple everted rim with a slight neck. All of the pottery sherds could only be attributed a broad Roman period date.

Context Description Ct. Wt. Date 101 Roman pottery: fine shell-tempered ware 2 20 Roman 201 Roman pottery: fine fabric with quartz inclusions 1 18 Roman 204 Roman pottery: fine shell-tempered ware 1 8 Roman

3. DISCUSSION

3.1 The evaluation encountered Roman activity in the pasture field, the site of Turbine 1, but the small scale of the evaluation precludes commenting on the nature and extent of this activity. However, the recovery of four sherds of pottery, one from the pit and three from the subsoil, within such a small area suggests that this is not just an isolated feature and that other Roman remains may occur nearby.

6 © Cotswold Archaeology Astwood Grange, Newport Pagnell: Written Scheme of Investigation for an Archaeological Evaluation

4. CA PROJECT TEAM

4.1 The fieldwork was undertaken by Jeremy Mordue and the report was written by Simon Carlyle, with contributions from Angus Crawford. The illustrations were prepared by Peter Moore. The archive has been compiled and prepared for deposition by Jeremy Mordue. The project was managed for CA by Simon Carlyle.

5. REFERENCES

BGS (British Geological Survey) 2010 Bedford: Bedrock and Superficial Deposits , England and Wales Sheet 203 , 1:50,000

Bowler Energy 2012 Design and Access Statement and Planning Statement for the siting of 2 x 50kW Wind Turbines at Astwood Grange, Astwood, Newport Pagnell, Buckinghamshire MK16 9JT , document 028-BEP-M034-P

CA (Cotswold Archaeology) 2012 Astwood Grange, Astwood, Newport Pagnell, Milton Keynes: Written Scheme of Investigation for an Archaeological Evaluation, February 2012

Heritage Gateway ( www.heritagegateway.org.uk ), accessed 29 February 2012

APPENDIX A: CONTEXT DESCRIPTIONS

TURBINE 1

Trench 1

No. Type Description Length Width Depth Spot-date (m) (m) (m) 100 Topsoil Soft dark brownish-grey organic clayey silt with - - 0.26 occ. to mod. pebbles. 101 Subsoil Soft mid brownish grey silty clay with occ. - - 0.22 pebbles. 102 Natural Firm, mid brownish-yellow clay with occ. to - - - mod. chalk flecks.

Trench 2

No. Type Description Length Width Depth Spot-date (m) (m) (m) 200 Topsoil Soft dark brownish-grey organic clayey silt with - - 0.26 occ. to mod. pebbles. 201 Subsoil Soft mid brownish grey silty clay with occ. - - 0.22 pebbles. 202 Natural Firm, mid brownish-yellow clay with occ. to - - - mod. chalk flecks. 203 Pit Roughly circular cut with shallow concave 0.54 0.50 0.07 Roman profile and well-defined edges. 204 Fill of 203 Firm mid to dark brownish-grey silty clay. - - 0.07

TURBINE 2

Trench 3

No. Type Description Length Width Depth Spot-date (m) (m) (m) 300 Ploughsoil Soft dark brownish-grey organic clayey silt with - - 0.25 occ. to mod. pebbles. 301 Subsoil Soft mid brownish grey silty clay with occ. - - 0.17 pebbles. 302 Natural Firm, mid brownish-yellow clay with occ. to - - - mod. chalk flecks.

Trench 4

No. Type Description Length Width Depth Spot-date (m) (m) (m) 400 Ploughsoil Soft dark brownish-grey organic clayey silt with - - 0.25 occ. to mod. pebbles. 401 Subsoil Soft mid brownish grey silty clay with occ. - - 0.17 pebbles. 402 Natural Firm, mid brownish-yellow clay with occ. to - - - mod. chalk flecks.

APPENDIX B: OASIS REPORT FORM

PROJECT DETAILS Project name Astwood Grange, Milton Keynes Short description (250 words maximum) The trenches were arranged in T-shaped pairs, positioned within the footprints of the two turbine pads. A sherd of Roman pottery was recovered from a small, shallow pit within the footprint of the southern turbine, and three sherds of Roman pottery were recovered from the subsoil in the same area. There were no archaeological remains within the footprint of the northern turbine pad. Project dates 15 March 2012 Project type Field evaluation Previous work None Future work None Monument type Roman pit Significant finds Roman pottery PROJECT LOCATION Site location Astwood Grange, Astwood, Milton Keynes Study area 50m 2 Site co-ordinates SP 9510 4886 PROJECT CREATORS Name of organisation Cotswold Archaeology (CA) Project Brief originator - Project Design (WSI) originator CA Project Manager Simon Carlyle (CA) Project Supervisor Jeremy Mordue (CA) PROJECT ARCHIVE Type Location Content Physical Buckinghamshire Museum Medieval pottery Paper Services, Accession No. AYBCM: Site records 2012.21 Digital HER Event No. 1308 Report, digital photos BIBLIOGRAPHY

CA (Cotswold Archaeology) 2012 Astwood Grange, Astwood, Milton Keynes: Archaeological Evaluation. CA typescript report 12060

9 site

N Milton Cirencester 01285 771022 Milton Keynes 01908 218320 Keynes Cotswold Archaeology w www.cotswoldarchaeology.co.uk e [email protected]

Buckingha PROJECT TITLE Astwood Grange, Astwood Milton Keynes mshire FIGURE TITLE Site location plan

0 1km

FIGURE NO. Reproduced from the 1999 Ordnance Survey Explorer map with PROJECT NO. 660045 DATE 28-3-2012 the permission of Ordnance Survey on behalf of The Controller DRAWN BY PJM REVISION 00 of Her Majesty's Stationery Office c Crown copyright Cotswold Archaeology Ltd 100002109 APPROVED BY PJM SCALE@A4 1:25,000 1

natural 202 Trench 2

pit 203 A

Trench 1

02m

Section AA SW NE

204 pit 203

01m

Pit 203, looking north-west (scale 0.5m)

Cirencester 01285 771022 Cotswold Milton Keynes 01908 218320 Archaeology w www.cotswoldarchaeology.co.uk e [email protected]

PROJECT TITLE Astwood Grange, Astwood, Milton Keynes

FIGURE TITLE Trenches 1 and 2: plan, section of pit 203 and photograph

PROJECT NO. 660045 DATE 28-3-2012 FIGURE NO. DRAWN BY PJM REVISION 00 APPROVED BY PJM SCALE@A4 1:50 & 1:20 3