St Margaret's Church, Catmore, West Berkshire
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ST MARGARET’S CHURCH, CATMORE, WEST BERKSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL WATCHING BRIEF C.A.T JOB: 0864 C.A.T REPORT: 991075 DATE: SEPTEMBER 1999 This report has been researched and compiled with all reasonable skill, care, and attention to detail within the terms of the project as specified by the Client and within the general terms and conditions of Cotswold Archaeological Trust Ltd. The Trust shall not be liable for any inaccuracy, error or omission in the report or other documents produced as part of the Consultancy and no liability is accepted for any claim, loss or damage howsoever arising from any opinion stated or conclusion or other material contained in this report or other documents supplied as part of the Consultancy. This report is confidential to the Client. Cotswold Archaeological Trust Ltd accept no responsibility whatsoever to third parties to whom this report, or any part of it is made known. Any such party relies upon this report entirely at their own risk. © Cotswold Archaeological Trust Headquarters Building, Kemble Business Park, Cirencester, Gloucestershire, GL7 6BQ Tel. 01285 771022 Fax. 01285 771033 E-mail: [email protected] St Margaret’s Church, Catmore, West Berkshire: Archaeological Watching Brief CONTENTS LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS ........................................................................................... 2 SUMMARY ..................................................................................................................... 3 1. INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................. 4 1.1 Introduction ................................................................................................... 4 1.2 Geology and topography ............................................................................... 4 1.3 Historical background .................................................................................. 4 1.4 Methodology .................................................................................................. 7 2. RESULTS ............................................................................................................... 9 2.1 The trenches .................................................................................................. 9 Trench 1 ........................................................................................................ 9 Trench 2 ........................................................................................................ 9 Trench 3 ........................................................................................................ 9 Trench 4 ........................................................................................................ 10 Trench 5 ........................................................................................................ 10 Trench 6 ........................................................................................................ 10 2.2 The test-pits ................................................................................................... 11 Test-pit 1 ....................................................................................................... 11 Test-pit 2 ....................................................................................................... 12 Test-pit 3 ....................................................................................................... 12 Test-pit 4 ....................................................................................................... 12 Test-pit 5 ....................................................................................................... 13 Test-pit 6 ....................................................................................................... 13 2.3 The rendering work ....................................................................................... 14 General .......................................................................................................... 14 2.4 The church interior ....................................................................................... 14 General .......................................................................................................... 14 3. CONCLUSIONS .................................................................................................... 15 3.1 The churchyard ............................................................................................. 15 3.2 The church ..................................................................................................... 15 4. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ...................................................................................... 17 5. REFERENCES ....................................................................................................... 17 Original documentary and cartographic sources .................................................. 17 Printed and secondary sources .............................................................................. 17 APPENDIX ...................................................................................................................... 19 Finds List ................................................................................................................ 19 1 St Margaret’s Church, Catmore, West Berkshire: Archaeological Watching Brief LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Fig.1 Location plan ................................................................................................. 20 Fig.2 Plan of groundworks ..................................................................................... 21 Plate 1 General view of church from SE ................................................................... 22 Plate 2 SE corner of chancel during repair work ...................................................... 22 2 St Margaret’s Church, Catmore, West Berkshire: Archaeological Watching Brief SUMMARY In March 1999, Cotswold Archaeological Trust was commissioned by Andrew Townsend, Architects, on behalf of the Churches Conservation Trust, to undertake an archaeological watching brief during repair works at St Margaret’s Church, Catmore, West Berkshire. The work involved monitoring the excavation of a number of drainage trenches and test-pits together with the observation of rendering work to parts of the exterior of the building. Although no archaeological deposits were identified during the course of the groundworks, significant evidence of rebuilding works in the 16th/17th centuries and the Victorian period was obtained during the internal and external repair work to the church itself. 3 St Margaret’s Church, Catmore, West Berkshire: Archaeological Watching Brief 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 Introduction 1.1.1 This report presents the results of an archaeological watching brief conducted in May 1999, at St Margaret’s Church, Catmore, West Berkshire. The site is centred on NGR SU 4538 8017 (Fig.1). 1.2 Geology and topography 1.2.1 The underlying geology of the study area consists of Upper Chalk of the Upper Cretaceous period, containing many flint nodules (Geological Survey of Great Britain (England & Wales), Sheet 267 (1971)). The natural substrate was not encountered during the watching brief. 1.2.2 The church is situated on fairly level ground, apparently terraced into a gentle dipslope of the Berkshire Downs, at approximately 180m OD. It is located adjacent to the farmhouse of Catmore Farm, some 2km to the east of the B4494, Wantage to Newbury road. 1.3 Historical background 1.3.1 St Margaret’s church comprises chancel and nave, with 19th century vestry and south porch. Dated to the second half of the 12th century, the building has been much restored (Page and Ditchfield 1924, 9), but retains two opposed 12th century doorways. The northern is blocked and the southern includes a moulded label, possible head-stops and a beak-head over the centre of the door. Each nave wall has two window openings flanking the doors, which probably reflect the original arrangement, the round-headed examples on the north wall perhaps being original internally (ibid, 10). The chancel east window is 19th century. 4 St Margaret’s Church, Catmore, West Berkshire: Archaeological Watching Brief 1.3.2 The church is isolated and has a small parish. This may account for its omission from the inventory of church goods in Berkshire taken by Edward VI’s commissioners in 1552. The neighbouring parishes of Brightwalton and East and West Ilsley are included (Money 1879). The nave was re-roofed in 1607 (date carved on some timbers), but more extensive work had to wait until the 19th century. 1.3.3 An early Victorian restoration has been described as “an effort to make a modest Norman church showy Norman” (Pevsner 1966, 110) and included the rebuilding of the chancel arch and redesign of the windows. Further works took place in 1891, for which a specification (Berkshire Records Office D/P 31/7/1) and bills (BRO D/P 31/7/3) survive. These included the re-laying of the tile roof of the nave, erection of a chimney, movement of the font and removal of the plaster ceiling of the chancel. Of particular relevance to this project are the removal of all the plaster from the internal walls of the chancel and the heightening of the chancel floor (presumably in the sanctuary area) by six inches. There was a requirement to “Remove the earth round the church from the north west corner of the nave to the east side of the porch, as shown on plan [unfortunately not surviving], to a depth of 12 inches