Land at Cossham Street Mangotsfield South Gloucestershire
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
LAND AT COSSHAM STREET MANGOTSFIELD SOUTH GLOUCESTERSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVALUATION For THE ENVIRONMENTAL DIMENSION PARTNERSHIP on behalf of TAYLOR WIMPEY BRISTOL CA PROJECT: 2865 CA REPORT: 09088 MAY 2009 LAND AT COSSHAM STREET MANGOTSFIELD SOUTH GLOUCESTERSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVALUATION CA PROJECT: 2865 CA REPORT: 09088 prepared by Jonathan Bennett, Project Supervisor date 27 May 2009 checked by Mark Collard, Head of Contracts date 28 May 2009 approved by Mark Collard, Head of Contracts signed date 28 May 2009 issue 01 This report is confidential to the client. Cotswold Archaeology accepts no responsibility or liability to any third ` at their own risk. No part of this report may be reproduced by any means without permission. © Cotswold Archaeology Building 11, Kemble Enterprise Park, Kemble, Cirencester, Gloucestershire, GL7 6BQ Tel. 01285 771022 Fax. 01285 771033 E-mail: [email protected] © Cotswold Archaeology Land at Cossham Street, Mangotsfield, South Gloucestershire: Archaeological Evaluation CONTENTS SUMMARY........................................................................................................................2 1. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................. 3 The site ................................................................................................................ 3 Archaeological background.................................................................................. 4 Archaeological objectives .................................................................................... 4 Methodology ........................................................................................................ 5 2. RESULTS (FIG 2) ................................................................................................ 5 3. DISCUSSION....................................................................................................... 6 4. CA PROJECT TEAM ........................................................................................... 6 5. REFERENCES .................................................................................................... 7 APPENDIX A: CONTEXT DESCRIPTIONS ..................................................................... 8 APPENDIX B: OASIS REPORT FORM............................................................................ 11 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Fig. 1 Site location plan (1:25,000) Fig. 2 Trench location plan (1:2000) 1 © Cotswold Archaeology Land at Cossham Street, Mangotsfield, South Gloucestershire: Archaeological Evaluation SUMMARY Project Name: Land at Cossham Street, Mangotsfield Location: Mangotsfield, South Gloucestershire NGR: ST 6655 7590 Type: Evaluation Date: 12–18 May 2009 Location of Archive: City of Bristol Museum and Art Gallery Site Code: LMF09 An archaeological evaluation was undertaken by Cotswold Archaeology in May 2009 at the request of The Environmental Dimension Partnership (EDP), on behalf of Taylor Wimpey Bristol, on land at Cossham Street, Mangotsfield, South Gloucestershire. Eleven trenches were excavated. Two undated linear features and two undated pits were identified during the evaluation. No other archaeological features were identified and no dating material was recovered. 2 © Cotswold Archaeology Land at Cossham Street, Mangotsfield, South Gloucestershire: Archaeological Evaluation 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 In May 2009 Cotswold Archaeology (CA) carried out an archaeological evaluation for The Environmental Dimension Partnership (EDP), acting on behalf of Taylor Wimpey Bristol, on land at Cossham Street, Mangotsfield, South Gloucestershire (centred on NGR: ST 6655 7590; Fig. 1). The evaluation was undertaken to accompany a planning application for residential development of the land within the site. 1.2 The evaluation was carried out in accordance with a detailed Written Scheme of Investigation (WSI) for archaeological evaluation (CA 2009), guided in its composition by a Specification for Archaeological Evaluation prepared by EDP (ref: H_EDP390_05b_030409_AC_hb; April 2009) and approved by David Evans, Archaeological Officer for South Gloucestershire Council. The fieldwork also followed the Standard and Guidance for Archaeological Field Evaluation issued by the Institute of Field Archaeologists (2008), the Statement of Standards and Practices Appropriate for Archaeological Fieldwork in Gloucestershire (GCC 1995) and the Management of Archaeological Projects (English Heritage 1991). It was monitored by David Evans, including a site visit on 18 May 2009. The site 1.3 The site is located on the north-eastern edge of Bristol, approximately 4km south- east of the junction of the M4 and M32 motorways. It lies immediately south of the B4465, 0.5 km west of the A4174 Bristol ring road. The site is bounded by Mangotsfield Football Club to the north-east, the grounds of Cleeve Rugby Football club to the south-east, Mangotsfield School to the south and south-west with Rodway Hill Road and residential houses to the north-west. Public footpaths run adjacent to the site on its east, west and south sides (Fig. 2). The site lies at approximately 80m AOD, with a slight dip in the landscape (approximately 79.7m AOD) running south-west to north-east across the centre. 1.4 The site covers an area in the region of 5ha and is currently rough grassland with areas of scrub. 3 © Cotswold Archaeology Land at Cossham Street, Mangotsfield, South Gloucestershire: Archaeological Evaluation 1.5 The underlying solid geology of the area is mapped as solid geology comprising Upper Carboniferous Coal Measure sandstones and shales (BGS 1967). The natural substrate of sandstone and shale was encountered within the evaluation trenches, as were some Coal Measure veins and sandy clay which coincided with the dip in the landscape. Archaeological background 1.6 A desk-based assessment was undertaken by EDP as a preliminary stage of archaeological analysis, and reference should be made to that document for the detailed archaeological background (EDP 2008). The only known archaeological remains within the site boundary refer to a complex of cropmarks visible on aerial photographs. These have been interpreted as the remains of anti-aircraft defences constructed during World War Two. Although the overwhelming majority of the known archaeological sites, monuments and findspots, within the immediate vicinity of the site boundary, are of post-medieval date, extensive remains of a Romano- British settlement, with an associated field and enclosure system, have previously been excavated on the north side of Cossham Street. These excavations also identified a wide scatter of Mesolithic and later flint artefacts, as well as more substantive remains of Bronze Age and Iron Age activity, including the plough- damaged remains of an Early Bronze Age cremation cemetery. It has also been suggested that the former medieval settlement of Mangotsfield may have extended into the north-west corner of the site. There is no direct evidence for this, especially given that the parish church is the only surviving medieval building in the core of the settlement. Nonetheless, whilst the site would probably have been on the periphery of the medieval settlement, there is potential for archaeological remains of this period to survive within its north-western boundary. Archaeological objectives 1.7 The objectives of the evaluation were to establish the character, quality, date and extent of any archaeological remains or deposits surviving within the site. This information will assist South Gloucestershire Council in making an informed judgement on the significance of the archaeological resource, and the likely impact upon it from the proposed development. 4 © Cotswold Archaeology Land at Cossham Street, Mangotsfield, South Gloucestershire: Archaeological Evaluation Methodology 1.8 The fieldwork comprised the excavation of 11 trenches; nine were 50m long and 1.8m wide and two were 25m long and 1.8m wide (Trenches 2 and 3), in the locations shown on the attached plan (Fig. 2). Trenches 2 and 3 had been revised from one trench to two due to live services, with the approval of David Evans. 1.9 All trenches were excavated by mechanical excavator equipped with a toothless grading 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 in accordance with CA Technical Manual 1: Fieldwork Recording Manual (2007). 1.10 Deposits were assessed for their palaeoenvironmental potential in accordance with CA Technical Manual 2: The Taking and Processing of Environmental and Other Samples from Archaeological Sites (2003); no deposits were identified that required sampling and no artefacts were recovered. 1.11 The archive from the evaluation is currently held by CA at their offices in Kemble. The archive will be deposited with City of Bristol Museum and Art Gallery. A summary of information from this project, set out within Appendix B, will be entered onto the OASIS online database of archaeological projects in Britain. 2. RESULTS (FIG 2) 2.1 This section provides an overview of the evaluation results; detailed summaries of the recorded contexts are to be found in Appendix A. 2.2 The natural geological substrate, consisting of a mid brownish red sandy clay in a weathered sandstone matrix, was revealed