TVAS
SOUTH WEST
Land off Rinsey Lane, Ashton, Cornwall
Archaeological Evaluation
by Nicholas Dawson
Site Code: RLA18/163
(SW 6021 2851)
Land off Rinsey Lane, Ashton, Helston, Cornwall
An Archaeological Evaluation
for Armour Heritage
by Nicholas Dawson
Thames Valley Archaeological Services Ltd
Site Code RLA 18/163
October 2018 Summary
Site name: Land off Rinsey Lane, Ashton, Helston, Cornwall
Grid reference: SW 6021 2851
Site activity: Archaeological Evaluation
Date and duration of project: 8th and 9th October 2018
Project manager: Agata Socha-Paszkiewicz
Site supervisor: Nicholas Dawson
Site code: RLA 18/163
OASis Reference: thamesva1-330877
Area of site: 1.63ha
Summary of results: The evaluation was carried out as intended with all six trenches opened successfully but revealed only one undated probable quarry pit. The site is considered to have low archaeological potential.
Location and reference of archive: The archive is presently held at TVAS South West, Taunton and will be deposited at Cornwall Museum Service or the Archaeology Data Service in due course.
This report may be copied for bona fide research or planning purposes without the explicit permission of the copyright holder. All TVAS unpublished fieldwork reports are available on our website: www.tvas.co.uk/reports/reports.asp.
Report edited/checked by: Steve Ford 10.10.18
i
TVAS South West, Unit 21 Apple Business Centre, Frobisher Way, Taunton, TA2 6BB Tel. (01823) 288 284; email: [email protected]; website: www.tvas.co.uk/southwest Land off Rinsey Lane, Ashton, Helston, Cornwall An Archaeological Evaluation
by Nicholas Dawson
Report 18/163
Introduction
This report documents the results of an archaeological field evaluation carried out on land off Rinsey Lane,
Ashton, Cornwall (SW 6021 2851) (Fig. 1). The work was commissioned by Ms Sue Farr of Armour Heritage
Ltd, Foghamshire Tomber Yard, Foghamshire Lane, Trudoxhill, Frome, Somerset, BA11 5DG on behalf of
Laurence Associates, Lander House, May Court, Threemilestone Business Park, Truro, TR4 9LD.
A planning application (PA18/00430) has been submitted to Cornwall Council for a residential development. The application included the submission of an historic environment desk-based assessment (FH
2017) and subsequent geophysical survey (Lefort 2018). The Archaeological Officer has advised an archaeological evaluation is undertaken prior to the determination of the planning appliation.
This is in accordance with the Department for Communities and Local Government’s National Planning
Policy Framework (NPPF 2012), and the County Council’s policies on archaeology. The field investigation was carried out to a specification approved by Mr Sean Taylor, Senior Developments Officer, Historic Environment
Planning, Cornwall Council. The fieldwork was undertaken by Nicholas Dawson and Piotr Wrobel, on the 8th and 9th October 2018 and the site code is RLA 18/163. The archive is presently held at Thames Valley
Archaeological Services South West, Taunton and will be deposited with the Cornwall Museum Service.
Location, topography and geology
The site is located on the southern edge of the village of Ashton with the town of Helston some 5.8km to the east and Penzance 13km to the west. The site is spread across three fields with the northern two being currently used as paddocks for horses and the southern partial field as arable land. To the north the site is bounded by the back gardens of houses fronting on the A394 and to the west by houses fronting on Hendra Close. The site is bounded to the east by Rinsey Lane and to the south by further arable land (Fig. 2). The land has a very gradual slope down from the north with a height of 120m above Ordnance Datum (aOD). The underlying geology is mapped as a Godolphin Intrusion – Granite, and igneous bedrock. No superficial geological deposits are recorded (BGS
1984).
1 Archaeological background
The archaeological potential of the site has been highlighted in a desk-based assessment (FH 2017). In summary, the assessment indicated that while there is no known archaeology within the site’s boundaries it does sit within an area of known archaeology. The known archaeology ranges in date from the Bronze Age through to post- medieval including evidence of Bronze Age settlement some 420m to the north-west and post-medieval field systems directly to the south of the site. The results of the geophysical survey revealed a small number of anomalies of potential archaeological origin: with the exception of one large feature some 25m long the remainder were small pit-like features (Lefort 2018).
Objectives and methodology
The purpose of the evaluation was to determine the presence/absence, extent, condition, character, quality and date of any archaeological deposits within the area of development.
Specific aims of the project were:
to ground-truth the results of the recently completed geophysical survey; to clarify the presence/absence and extent of any buried archaeological remains within the site that may be impacted by development; to identify, within the constraints of the evaluation, the date, character, condition and depth of any surviving remains within the site; to assess the degree of existing impacts to sub-surface horizons and to document the extent of archaeological survival of buried deposits; and to produce a report which will present the results of the evaluation in sufficient detail to allow an informed decision to be made concerning the site’s archaeological potential.
It was proposed to excavate six trenches, each 25m long and 1.8m wide. The trenches were to be dug using a
360-type machine fitted with a toothless ditching bucket, under constant archaeological supervision. Where archaeological features were certainly or probably present, the stripped areas were to be cleaned using appropriate hand tools and sufficient of the archaeological features and deposits exposed were to be excavated or sampled by hand to satisfy the aims outlined above, without compromising the integrity of any features or deposits which might warrant preservation in situ, or might better be excavated under conditions pertaining full excavation.
Results
All six of the intended evaluation trenches were opened as planned (Fig. 2). Trench lengths ranged from 24.5m to 26.8m and depths 0.5m to 0.75m. All were 1.8m wide. A complete list of trenches giving lengths, breadths,
2 depths and a description of sections and geology is given in Appendix 1. Trenches 1 to 4 contained no features,
Trench 5 contained a large modern waste dump and Trench 6 was the only trench to reveal archaeology that was excavated. The excavated features, with dating evidence, are summarized in Appendix 2.
Trench 1 (Figs 2 and 3) Trench 1 was aligned SW - NE and was 25.5m long and 0.75m deep. The stratigraphy consisted of 0.6m of topsoil (50) and 0.1.5m subsoil (51) overlying natural geology. No finds were recovered and no archaeological features were observed.
Trench 2 (Figs 2 and 3) Trench 2 was aligned WSW - ENE and was 24.5m long and 0.4m deep. The stratigraphy consisted of 0.3m of topsoil and 0.3m subsoil overlying natural geology. One very small fragment of blue and white china was recovered (retained on site) from the topsoil (50). No archaeological features were observed.
Trench 3 (Figs 2 and 3; Pl. 1) Trench 3 was aligned SSW - NNE and was 25m long and 0.5m deep. The stratigraphy consisted of 0.3m of topsoil and 0.2m subsoil overlying natural geology. One small fragment of white china was recovered but not retained from the topsoil (50). No archaeological features were observed.
Trench 4 (Figs 2 and 3) Trench 4 was aligned SSE - NNW and was 25m long and 0.55m deep. The stratigraphy consisted of 0.3m of topsoil and 0.25m subsoil overlying natural geology. Five small fragments of white china were recovered but not retained from the topsoil (50). No archaeological features were observed.
Trench 5 (Figs 2, 3 and 4; Pl. 2) Trench 5 was aligned SE - NW and was 26.8m long and 0.75m deep. The stratigraphy consisted of 0.4m of topsoil and 0.35m subsoil overlying natural geology. No archaeological features were observed, although a modern disturbance (2) was present between 2m and 12m from the south east end of the trench in the form of a large hole backfilled (53) with rubbish and debris include wires, car parts and plastic. Its location adjacent to a feature identified as potential archaeology within the geophysical survey report (Lefort 2018) may indicate that the anomalies where caused by the large amount of ferrous metals within the modern dump. This was not further investigated.
3 Trench 6 (Figs 2, 3 and 4; Pl. 3) Trench 6 was aligned WNW - ESE and was 25.7m long and 0.4m deep. The stratigraphy consisted of 0.25m of topsoil and 0.15m subsoil overlying natural geology. A pit (1) was recorded which was 3m wide and 0.7m deep and filled (52) with a very loose dark grey silty sand with 90% irregular stone rubble inclusions up to 15cm x
10cm x 8cm in size [Pl. 4]. The pit cuts both the subsoil and natural geology and its purpose may be that of a small quarry pit. No finds were recovered.
Conclusion
All six of the trenches were successfully excavated as intended. However, despite potential archaeology being highlighted by the geophysical survey results, only one of these anomalies was positively identified. This was identified as an undated pit or possible small quarry pit in Trench 6. There is a possibility that another anomaly identified within the geophysics may have been caused by nearby modern dump with quantities of ferrous metals. No other archaeological features were found. The site is considered to have low archaeological potential.
References
BGS, 1984, British Geological Survey, 1:50,000, Sheet 351 & 358, Solid and Drift Edition, Keyworth Farr, S, 2018, ‘Land off Rinsey Lane, Ashton, Cornwall, TR13 9SF: Written Scheme of Investigation for an Archaeological Field Evaluation’, Armour Heritage WSI AH736, Frome FH, 2017, ‘Land to the Rear of Keo Wei, Rinsey Lane, Ashton, Cornwall: Heritage Impact Assessment’, Foundations Heritage Report, Swindon Lefort, R, 2018, ‘Land off Rinsey Lane, Ashton, Cornwall: A Gradiometer Survey’, Lefort Geophysics Report 18-0011.01, Frome NPPF, 2012, National Planning Policy Framework, Dept Communities and Local Govt, London
4 APPENDIX 1: Trench details
0m at West or South end
Trench Length (m) Breadth (m) Depth (m) Comment 1 25.5 1.8 0.75 0–0.6m topsoil, 0.6m-0.75m subsoil with pale and mid yellow brown mottled silt sand natural geology with gravel inclusions. 2 24.5 1.8 0.6 0–0.3m topsoil, 0.3m-0.6m subsoil with pale and mid yellow brown mottled silt sand natural geology with gravel inclusions. 3 25 1.8 0.5 0–0.3m topsoil, 0.3m-0.5m subsoil with pale and mid yellow brown mottled silt sand natural geology with gravel inclusions. [Pl. 1] 4 25 1.8 0.55 0–0.3m topsoil, 0.3m-0.55m subsoil with pale and mid yellow brown mottled silt sand natural geology with gravel inclusions. 5 26.8 1.8 0.75 0–0.4m topsoil, 0.4m-0.75m subsoil with pale and mid yellow brown mottled silt sand natural geology with gravel inclusions. 10m wide modern dump (2) identified but not investigated further [Pl. 2] 6 25.7 1.8 0.4 0–0.25m topsoil, 0.25m-0.4m subsoil with pale and mid yellow brown mottled silt sand natural geology with gravel inclusions. One 3m and 0.7m deep pit (1) [Pl. 3 and 4]
APPENDIX 2: Feature details
Trench Cut Fill (s) Type Date Dating evidence 5 2 53 Waste dump Modern Car parts and plastics 6 1 52 Possible quarry pit Undated
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30000
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Penzance
SITE
29000
SITE
28000
SW60000 61000 RLA 18/163 Land off Rinsey Lane, Ashton, Helston, Cornwall, 2018 Archaeological Evaluation Figure 1. Location of site within Ashton and Cornwall.
Reproduced under licence from Ordnance Survey Explorer Digital mapping at 1:12500 Crown Copyright reserved 28700
LANE R HE G Ashton HI
28600 Church of the Annunciation
FORE 4 STRE 3 ET 5
HEN DRA CL 2 OSE
28500
2 1
1 6
28400 60200
E N A L Y E S IN R
SW60100 60200 60300 RLA 18/163
N Land off Rinsey Road, Ashton, Helston, Cornwall, 2018 Archaeological Evaluation m
Figure 2. Site Plan.
0 100m 28700
LANE R HE G Ashton HI
28600 Church of the Annunciation
FOR E ST 4 REET
3 5 HEN DRA CL 2 OSE
28500
2
1
1 6
28400 60200
E N A L Y E S IN R Geophysical Survey Legend Potential Archaeology
SW60100 60200 60300 RLA 18/163
N Land off Rinsey Road, Ashton, Helston, Cornwall, 2018 Archaeological Evaluationm
Figure 3. Site plan overlaying geophysical survey results (after LG 2018).
0 100m Trench 5
8m 10m 2m 4m 6m 12m
2 N
Trench 6
7m 5m 9m N
1
0 5m
ESE WNW
50
WNW ESE NNE SSW 52 51
52 52
1
0 1m
RLA 18/163 Land off Rinsey Road, Ashton, Helston, Cornwall, 2018 Archaeological Evaluation
Figure 4. Details of trenches. Plate 1. Trench 3, looking N, Scales: 2m, 1m and 0.5m. Plate 2. Trench 5, looking NE, Scales: 2m, 1m and 0.5m.
Plate 3. Trench 6, looking E, Scales: 2m, 1m and 0.5m. Plate 4. Cut 1, looking NE, Scales: 1m, 1m and 0.5m.
RLA 18/163 Land off Rinsey Lane, Ashton, Helston, Cornwall, 2018 Archaeological Evaluation Plates 1 to 4. TIME CHART
Calendar Years
Modern AD 1901
Victorian AD 1837
Post Medieval AD 1500
Medieval AD 1066
Saxon AD 410
Roman AD 43 AD 0 BC Iron Age 750 BC
Bronze Age: Late 1300 BC
Bronze Age: Middle 1700 BC
Bronze Age: Early 2100 BC
Neolithic: Late 3300 BC
Neolithic: Early 4300 BC
Mesolithic: Late 6000 BC
Mesolithic: Early 10000 BC
Palaeolithic: Upper 30000 BC
Palaeolithic: Middle 70000 BC
Palaeolithic: Lower 2,000,000 BC TVAS (South West), Unit 21 Apple Business Centre, Frobisher Way, Taunton TA2 6BB Tel: 01823 288284 Email: [email protected] Web: www.tvas.co.uk/southwest
Offices in: Reading, Brighton, Stoke-on-Trent and Ennis (Ireland)