JOHN MOORE HERITAGE SERVICES

AN ARCHAEOLOGICAL FIELD EVALUATION

TO THE WEST OF

ASHFOLD SCHOOL BUILDINGS,

DORTON,

SP 6784 1390

On behalf of

Ashfold School Trust Ltd

September 2004 John Moore HERITAGE SERVICES Ashfold School, Dorton. DTAS04 Archaeological Field Evaluation Report

REPORT FOR Ashfold School Trust Ltd C/o GES Design Associates The Studio Long Wall House Green Lane Woodstock Oxford OX20 1JY

PREPARED BY John Moore

FIELDWORK 17 September 2004

REPORT ISSUED 22 September 2004

ENQUIRES TO John Moore Heritage Services Long White Cloud Waterperry Road Holton OX33 1PW

Telephone/Fax 01865 876637 Email: [email protected]

Site Code: DTAS 04 JMHS Project No: 1468

John Moore HERITAGE SERVICES Ashfold School, Dorton. DTAS04 Archaeological Field Evaluation Report

CONTENTS

Page

SUMMARY 1

1 INTRODUCTION 1 1.1 Origins of the Report 1.2 The Site 1.3 Archaeological Background

2 AIMS OF THE INVESTIGATION 4

3 STRATEGY 4 3.1 Research Design 3.2 Methodology

4 RESULTS 6

5 FINDS 6 5.1 The Pottery 5.2 Other finds 7

6 DISCUSSION 7

7 THE ARCHIVE 7

8 BIBLIOGRAPHY 8

APPENDIX 1 Archaeological Context Inventory 9

Figure 1 Site and trench location 2 Figure 2 Plans of Trenches 2 and 3 5

John Moore HERITAGE SERVICES Ashfold School, Dorton. DTAS04 Archaeological Field Evaluation Report

SUMMARY

An archaeological evaluation was carried out as part of a consideration of a planning application for the construction of a single storey prep school. The site lies immediately to the south-west of the Church of St John the Baptist and therefore was considered to lie within the historic core of the medieval village of Dorton.

The enclosed copse, within which Trenches 1 and 2 were excavated, was found to have been stripped of topsoil at some time and then subsequently used for dumping of spoil and other material presumably from construction and landscaping works within the school grounds. No archaeological remains were found in these two trenches. Trench 3 was situated within the field to the south-west where remnants of ridge and furrow cultivation were found. Pottery recovered from this trench indicates manuring of the field from the later medieval period through to around the 16th century.

1 INTRODUCTION

1.1 Origins of the Project

A planning application has been submitted for the erection of a single story prep school. Due to the presence of potential remains of archaeological interest in the proposal area, Buckinghamshire County Archaeological Service (BCAS) advised that an archaeological evaluation and assessment of the application site should be undertaken prior to the determination of the planning application. BCAS prepared a Brief for such archaeological work. John Moore Heritage Services undertook a desk- based assessment and prepared a Written Scheme of Investigation. The latter document set out the methods to be employed for demonstrating whether or not any archaeological remains survive on the site, and for establishing their significance in relation to the development proposal.

1.2 The Site (Figure 1)

The proposed development is located immediately to the west of the school buildings of Ashfold School and immediately south-west of the Church of St John the Baptist. A stream flows to the west of the proposal site. The application site is partly within an enclosed copse and partly within a field to the south-west of the copse and is centred on National Grid Reference SP 6784 1390. The copse is occupied by trees and bushes with piles of dumped material. The field is under pasture. The geology is Oakley Member marl and limestone of the Upper Jurassic.

1.3 Archaeological Background

A desk based assessment of the site was carried out. This involved consulting sources at the County Sites and Monuments Record (SMR) and examining maps held in the County Records Office.

The name Dorton derives from the Old English and means ‘farmstead or village at the narrow pass’. Dorton was held by Alric, a thane of King Edward, before the and by Walter Giffard in 1086 when it was assessed as having 12 villagers,

John Moore HERITAGE SERVICES Ashfold School, Dorton. DTAS04 Archaeological Field Evaluation Report

Figure 1. Site and trench location

2 John Moore HERITAGE SERVICES Ashfold School, Dorton. DTAS04 Archaeological Field Evaluation Report six small holders and 3 slaves (Morris, 1978). In 1616 Sir John Dormer and his heirs received a grant of park, liberty of park and free warren (VCH, 1969, 47-8)

The Church of St John the Baptist (County Sites and Monuments No. CAS4655) has a 13th century nave (Pevsner & Williamson, 1994) although the church is of 12th century date (VCH). In the 14th century a two-bay south aisle was added east of the 13th century porch (Pevsner & Williamson, 1994). Both were remodelled in Perpendicular style. The chancel was enlarged to the south in 16th century. The church was restored in 1904. Dorton House (grade 1 listed building) is a large 17th century mansion (CAS1683) of red brick with stone dressings built for Sir John Dormer (ibid) and is now occupied by the school. Dorton House lies within an 18th century park with 19th century walled garden and modern formal garden. An undated Christ Church College map (Map of the Manor of Dorton and part of Brill Parish copied from a plan in the possession of Sir John Aubrey Baronet) shows formal gardens north and south of the mansion. The application site lies within the park. The Christ Church College map and the Tithe Map of 1848 show the application site as being within part of Bilsden Close.

In 1999 there were 285 acres of ridge and furrow cultivation surviving within the parish (CAS6335). These lay south and east of the park and south-east of the village. A roughly T-shaped earthwork (CAS4209) survives c. 500m NW of the church. This is approximately 40 x 40 with banks standing up to 750mm high with external ditches/quarries. The earthwork is drained towards the stream to the south. While its function is unknown it may be a game enclosure or pillow mound. A probable rubbish pit (CAS5758) was found to the south-west of Dorton House when digging for a pond revealed medieval and post-medieval pottery. During excavation for a field drain a 1.8m wide free-standing wall was found (CAS5334) 600m south of Dorton House. This may relate to a pond within the landscaped garden.

The Sites and Monuments Record contains an entry (CAS4187) for a possible shrunken village. This is within a naturally flat field c. 300m north-west of the church. Aerial photographs show various marks within this field but there is no coherent pattern suggestive of settlement. Other similar marks appear to the south- west of Dorton House towards the south-western edge of the park. Both sets of marks are probably geological. The application site is considered to lie within the historic core of the medieval settlement of Dorton (2653) due to its proximity to the church and thus was considered to have archaeological potential.

The church now is isolated from the village. It is possible that when Dorton House was constructed and subsequently the park was laid out, that the road from Dorton to Chilton was moved eastwards. The original road may have followed the line of drive to the house from near Chilton Lodge before continuing to Dorton. It would be expected that the medieval settlement would have been closer to this road.

While no Roman and Iron Age remains are known in the immediate vicinity of the application site there are sites of these dates slightly further a field and the possibility remains that further Roman and/or Iron /Age sites lie undiscovered.

3 John Moore HERITAGE SERVICES Ashfold School, Dorton. DTAS04 Archaeological Field Evaluation Report

2 AIMS OF THE INVESTIGATION

The aims of the evaluation as laid out in the Written Scheme of Investigation were as follows:

• To establish the presence/absence of archaeological remains within the site.

• To determine the extent, condition, nature, character, quality and date of any archaeological remains encountered.

• To assess the ecofactual and environmental potential of the archaeological features and deposits.

• In particular to establish whether late Saxon and /or medieval occupation or boundary features are present and, if so, their likely relationship to the settlement layout.

• To make available to interested parties the results of the investigation subject to any confidentiality restrictions.

3 STRATEGY

3.1 Research Design

A scheme of investigation was designed by JMHS and subsequently agreed with BCAS and the applicant. The work was carried out by JMHS and involved the excavation of three trenches.

Site procedures for the investigation and recording of potential archaeological deposits and features were defined in the Written Scheme of Investigation. The work was carried out in accordance with the standards specified by the Institute of Field Archaeologists (1994).

3.2 Methodology

The field evaluation comprised the excavation of three trenches (Figure 1). Trench dimensions are given in Appendix 1. The trenches were excavated using a 1.5 tonne mini-excavator equipped with an 800mm wide toothless bucket. Trenches were excavated down to the natural geology under direct archaeological control. Potential features present were sampled by hand excavation.

Standard John Moore Heritage Services techniques were employed throughout, involving the completion of a written record for each deposit encountered, with scale plans and section drawings compiled where appropriate.

Mr David Radford of BCAS monitored the works.

4 John Moore HERITAGE SERVICES Ashfold School, Dorton. DTAS04 Archaeological Field Evaluation Report

Figure 2. Plans of Trenches 2 and 3

5 John Moore HERITAGE SERVICES Ashfold School, Dorton. DTAS04 Archaeological Field Evaluation Report

4 RESULTS

Deposits and fills are referred to in the text and figures in brackets: (02), cut features: [03]. Trench numbers precede deposit and cut numbers i.e. (1/02) is deposit 02 in Trench 1.

The Oakley Member marl and limestone of the Upper Jurassic was exposed in all three trenches were it consisted of tenacious pale yellow clay with occasional small pieces of thin flat limestone and fossil shell (1/02, 2/03, and 3/03).

Overlying the natural within Trenches 1 and 2 was a mid orange-brown silty clay with 2% fine gravel containing frequent brick rubble, pieces of clay pigeons, ash and general debris (1/01, 2/01). Within Trench 1 this layer varied in thickness from 300mm at the south-east end to 900mm at the west end and in Trench 2 was 350- 450mm thick. The presence of ash and cinders directly over the natural clay at the north end of Trench 2 shows that the original topsoil, in the part of the enclosed copse that was investigated, had been stripped off and that the material now overlying the natural is a later deposit. A former head master stated that this area had been used as a general dumping ground for at least the last 40 years. All the finds seen were of late 20th century date and included a cocktail stirrer.

Within Trench 2 and seen cutting into the top of the natural clay was the remnants of a tree throw pit filled with compact silty clay (2/02). The arc of bowl was c. 200mm deep. To the south-east the top of the natural clay was very disturbed and contained old roots indicating that tree clearance had occurred. This had probably been carried out in order to form a clearing for access for the topsoil stripping and subsequent dumping.

The top of the natural clay (3/03) in Trench 3 was undulating showing remnants of ploughed out ridge and furrow cultivation [3/04]. The ridges were on approximately 3m spacing (centre-to-centre), which is relatively close. The cultivation was orientated north-west – south-east and four ridges were present within the trench. The ridges survived 90-180mm high. Lying above the ridge and furrow features was an old ploughsoil (3/02) composed of pale-mid brown-grey very slightly loamy clay with occasional small pieces of limestone. This ploughsoil was 200-270mm thick. The uppermost deposit within the trench was the modern ploughsoil and grass (3/01). This comprised compact mid orange-brown clayey loam with occasional small pieces of limestone and was 330mm thick.

5 FINDS

5.1 The Pottery by Paul Blinkhorn

The pottery assemblage comprised 14 sherds with a total weight of 86g. It all came from the same context, the fossil plough-soil horizon 3/02. The pottery was recorded using the coding system of the Milton Keynes Archaeological Unit type-series (e.g. Mynard and Zeepvat 1992; Zeepvat et al. 1994), with the following noted:

MS3: Medieval Grey Sandy Wares, Mid 11th – late 14th century. 1 sherd, 13g.

6 John Moore HERITAGE SERVICES Ashfold School, Dorton. DTAS04 Archaeological Field Evaluation Report

MC9: Brill/ Ware. 1200-?1600. 12 sherds, 57g. PM29: Rhenish Stonewares, AD1450+. 1 sherd, 16g.

Most of the Brill ware came from the same vessel, and is a type typical of the 13th/14th centuries. The sherd of Rhenish Stoneware was decorated with an moulded prunt, a common technique of the 16th century German Stoneware industry (Gaimster 1997, 208). This suggests that the soil horizon was in use for at least 200 years.

5.2 Other finds

A small fragment of animal bone and two pieces of tile were recovered from the old ploughsoil (3/02) within Trench 3. The only other finds seen, and not retained, came from the dumped material and comprised late post-medieval brick and tile and late 20th century pottery, metal and plastic objects and window glass.

6 DISCUSSION

The lack of features shows that this area was not occupied within the medieval period. The Christ Church College map and the Tithe Map of 1848 show the application site as being within part of Bilsden Close. It seems safe to assume that the enclosed copse was similarly in ridge and furrow cultivation however no real evidence for this was present within Trenches 1 and 2. This may be as Trench 1 was mostly orientated along the line of the cultivation, although the eastern side of the trench was fractionally lower, perhaps suggestive of a furrow. The tree clearance within Trench 2 may have destroyed any evidence for ridge and furrow features.

The pottery recovered from the old ploughsoil in Trench 1 shows that Bilsden Close was being manured from at least the 14th century to until at least the 16th century.

It would appear that, from the results of the evaluation, the proposed development will not impact on any archaeological remains of significance.

7 THE ARCHIVE

The archive consists of the following:

The project brief Written scheme of investigation The project report The primary site records The photographic and drawn records

The archive currently is maintained by John Moore Heritage Services. The archive will be transferred to:

Buckinghamshire County Museum, Technical Centre, Tring Road, Halton, HP22 5PJ.

7 John Moore HERITAGE SERVICES Ashfold School, Dorton. DTAS04 Archaeological Field Evaluation Report

8 BIBLIOGRAPHY

Gaimster, D, 1997 German Stoneware British Museum Publications Institute of Field Archaeologists (IFA), 1999, Standard and Guidance for Archaeological Field Evaluations

Morris, J 1978 Doomsday Book: Buckinghamshire

Mynard, DC and Zeepvat RJ, 1992 Great Linford Bucks Archaeol Soc Monog Ser 3

Pevsner, N, & Williamson, E 1994 The Buildings of . Buckinghamshire.

VCH, 1969 Victoria History of the Counties of England: Buckinghamshire Vol IV

Zeepvat, RJ, Roberts, JS and King, NA, 1994 Caldecotte, Milton Keynes. Excavation and Fieldwork 1966-91 Bucks Archaeol Soc Monog Ser 9

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APPENDIX 1 ARCHAEOLOGICAL CONTEXT INVENTORY

Context Type Description Depth Width Length Finds Date (mm) (mm) (mm) Trench 1 14m x 1.9m -2.0m 01 Deposit Dumped 300-900 Trench Trench Cbm, glass Modern material 02 Deposit Natural - Trench Trench Trench 2 10m x 1.8m -2.0m 01 Deposit Dumped 350-450 Trench Trench Cbm, glass, Modern material metal & plastic objects 02 Fill Tree throw pit 200 Trench None ?Modern 03 Deposit Natural - Trench Trench Trench 3 11.5m x 1.6m 01 Deposit Ploughsoil 330 Trench Trench None Post- medieval 02 Deposit Old ploughsoil 200-270 Trench Trench Pottery, Medieval bone and to post- tile medieval 03 Deposit Natural - Trench Trench 04 Feature Ridge & 90-180 Trench Trench Medieval furrow

Cbm – ceramic building material

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