Salvage Recording along the Uckington to Cluddley Link Main

CONTENTS Page No 1 INTRODUCTION 2 2 THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL BACKGROUND 3 3 THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL PROVISION 5 4 THE SAMPLE EXCAVATIONS 6 5 THE WATCHING BRIEF 7 6 CONCLUSIONS 9 7 REFERENCES AND SOURCES CONSULTED 11 8 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 11

ILLUSTRATIONS Fig. 1: SA94 and ridge and furrow at Bluebell Crossroads Fig. 2: Watling Street (SA99) at Burcotgate Fig. 3: Watling Street (SA99) at the Uppington turning Fig. 4: (a) Watling Street (SA99) at the Uppington turning - area cleaned and sampled (b) section x - x1

1 Salvage Recording along the Uckington to Cluddley Link Main

1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 In October 1995, Severn Trent Water Ltd began construction of a new link main between the Uckington Borehole and Cluddley Service Reservoir in Shropshire. The new water main was to run for a distance of about 6.6km through an area known from aerial photographic sources to be rich in archaeological remains. The Uckington Borehole lies a mere 800 metres to the northeast of the defences of the Roman city of Wroxeter, the fourth largest walled city in Roman Britain.

1.2 The excavation of the new water main would directly affect three known archaeological sites:

(i) The line of the Roman road from London to Wroxeter, Watling Street (County Sites and Monuments No. SA99) would be cut in two places, at SJ59110996 and at SJ62001060 (Figs. 2 and 3). Sections of this road, in particular at the western end of the study area, were still in use as the main London to Shrewsbury road as recently as 1991.

(ii) An angular cropmark feature (Fig. 1, SA94), possibly marking the southwestern corner of a rectilinear enclosure adjacent to the Roman road, would be cut by the new water main at SJ59591014. The cropmark, as indicated by the 1:10,560 Sites and Monuments Record plot comprised a ditch aligned northwest- southeast for a length of 50 metres and turning through 90o to the northeast for a short length.

(iii) During the course of a watching brief on the excavation of test pits on the line of the new main, a possible Roman villa site (SA4706) was discovered at Uckington. The line of the new main was subsequently altered to the north to avoid this site.

2 Salvage Recording along the Uckington to Cluddley Link Main

2 THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL BACKGROUND 2.1 Watling Street Roman Road Between Uckington and the Uppington turning, and again at Burcotgate, the new pipeline would closely follow or cross the line of the Roman road from London to Wroxeter, Watling Street (County Sites and Monuments No. SA99). Sections of this road (the B5061), in particular at the western end of the study area, were still in use as the main A5 London to Shrewsbury trunk road as recently as 1991. In the 1830s the modern road between the Uppington turning and Burcotgate was diverted by Thomas Telford around the north side of Overley Hill to reduce the gradient. The original pre-1830s road-line is marked on the ground by differential soil colour and a dense scatter of pink rhyolite rock fragments in the ploughsoil, and in places by a low agger, a holloway, or terracing, and shows well as a cropmark on aerial photographs; a public footpath still follows the old road line for its entire length from Bluebell to Burcote.

This section of the road has been examined in the 1960s on the east side of Overley Hill at SJ615106, near the remains of the former "Plume and Feathers Inn" (Meeson, 1968). At least four surfaces were ascribed a Roman date, the original road being set in a shallow trench about 7m wide by 1m deep. Medieval and post-medieval road layers built up on top of the Roman road to create an agger.

In 1990, during the construction of the A5 Shrewsbury Bypass the pre-1830s road was sectioned at Burcotgate (Hannaford, 1994), where a succession of road formations and surfaces, dating from both Roman and post-medieval periods, were revealed. The Roman road was originally seen to have comprised a formation layer of red clay puddled with cobbles and pebbles into a shallow hollow, 7m wide by 1m deep, cut into the natural orange brown sand and red boulder clay. The Roman road surfaces, which consisted of rounded pebbles and gravel, had been heavily rutted and largely worn away. The Roman levels were sealed by a layer of hard compact sandy silt; the earliest of the post-medieval road surfaces comprised a very hard, compacted layer of quarried pink rhyolite. This in turn lay beneath a later surfaces of grey gritty sand and a compact layer of crushed pink rhyolite chippings.

On the western slopes of Overley Hill, at SJ604103, the post-medieval road layers were exposed by the bypass construction works and were again seen to consist of compacted pink rhyolite fragments, with, in places, surfaces consisting of dark grey gritty sand and crushed pink rhyolite.

2.2 The cropmark feature SA94 near Bluebell Crossroads In recent years, the nature of prehistoric and Romano-British rural settlement in the environs of the Roman city of Wroxeter has come under much scrutiny, and is now the subject of a major research project (the Wroxeter Hinterland Project) being undertaken by Birmingham University. Tentative models for settlement patterns have in the recent past relied heavily on evidence from aerial photography. Fieldwork on cropmark enclosure sites representing farmsteads of Iron Age and Romano-British date has been comparatively limited within the Wroxeter Hinterland area (as defined in Buteux, 1993), with less than 5% of 3 Salvage Recording along the Uckington to Cluddley Link Main such sites having been investigated by means of excavation or geophysical survey. It was considered that the cropmark feature SA94 might well represent the southwest corner of such an enclosure, although the apparent association of this feature with the Roman road might well have indicated a more specialised function for the site.

4 Salvage Recording along the Uckington to Cluddley Link Main

3 THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL PROVISION 3.1 In view of the significance of the known archaeological features along the route of the new main, a scheme of archaeological provision was agreed. A brief for this provision was prepared by the Head of Archaeology, Information and Community Services, Shropshire County Council; the necessary archaeological provision was to comprise a watching brief and sample excavation.

3.2 The Watching Brief An archaeological watching brief was required to be maintained throughout the initial phase of topsoil stripping of the easement and the subsequent trenching along two sections of the line of the new main, ie between Uckington Borehole and Bluebell Crossroads (NGR: SJ57830936 - SJ59851027) and from the former Burcote Crossroads eastwards for a distance of 200m (SJ60821063 - SJ62011062). In the event of significant archaeological features or deposits being encountered, provision was included for up to 10 days of on-site archaeological recording.

3.3 The excavation of SA94 A 100m length of the easement of the new main was to be stripped of topsoil under archaeological supervision where it crossed the line of the cropmark SA94. The exposed subsurfaces were to be inspected, cleaned, and assessed in order to locate any archaeological features. Sample excavation of up to 100m2 would be carried out on the basis of the results of the sub-surface assessment of the site.

3.4 Severn Trent Water Ltd commissioned the Archaeology Service of Information and Community Services, Shropshire County Council, to carry out the archaeological watching brief and sample excavation. The work was undertaken in October and November 1995.

5 Salvage Recording along the Uckington to Cluddley Link Main

4 THE SAMPLE EXCAVATIONS 4.1 The cropmark feature (SA94) near Bluebell Crossroads (Fig. 1) By prior arrangement, the excavation of the cropmark SA94 was to follow the topsoil stripping of the easement by the contractors. The site would then be available for archaeological investigation for a period of up to three weeks before the cutting of the pipe trench.

A depth of up to 0.55m of topsoil was stripped by machine from the easement of the new main in the area of the cropmark SA94. Although the topsoil was stripped down to the surface of the natural subsoil, no archaeological features or deposits were immediately apparent. Before the site could be thoroughly cleaned a layer of topsoil c0.1m thick was re-deposited over the easement and compacted to prepare it for use by contractor's plant and vehicles. The easement subsequently remained in use as an access for plant and machinery, and the new pipe sections were also stored along the edge of the easement; thus the area available for detailed investigation was somewhat restricted.

Nevertheless, it proved possible to remove a 1m wide strip of the re-deposited topsoil along a 40m length of the easement across the approximate location of the cropmark. The surface of the natural subsoil was then cleaned by hand. This appeared to confirm the initial observations made during the mechanical topsoil stripping that there were no archaeological features or deposits present. Likewise, no archaeological features or deposits were observed during the subsequent cutting of the pipe trench in this area.

By way of contrast, in the field immediately to the east, the remains of ploughed- out ridge and furrow could be traced in the surface of the subsoil after the mechanical removal of the topsoil (see section 5.4, below).

6 Salvage Recording along the Uckington to Cluddley Link Main

5 THE WATCHING BRIEF 5.1 An archaeological watching brief was kept on the topsoil stripping of the easement and the subsequent trenching for the new main between Uckington Borehole and Bluebell Crossroads (NGR: SJ57830936 - SJ59851027) and the specified area at Burcotgate (SJ60821063 - SJ62011062). In addition, the easement was inspected between Bluebell Crossroads and Burcotgate following topsoil stripping. Archaeological features or deposits were observed in three places: deposits relating to the line of the former road Watling Street were seen at the Uppington turning of the B5061 and at Burcotgate, and remains of ridge and furrow earthworks at Bluebell Crossroads. No other archaeological features or deposits were seen along the route, including the area of the cropmark feature SA94.

5.2 Watling Street Roman Road (SA99) at the Uppington turning (Figs. 3 & 4) Immediately to the east of the Uppington turning, where Thomas Telford's 1830 diversion of the London to Holyhead road around the north of Overley Hill diverges from the earlier road line, the latter (SA99) could be seen to survive as a low, broad agger running for about 150m across the field towards Blue Bell House. The surface of the agger was marked by a large inclusion of rhyolite chippings and fragments within the topsoil, a feature noted elsewhere along the abandoned section of the road over Overley Hill.

Following the topsoil stripping, the distinctive surfaces of the post-medieval turnpike road were exposed. These consisted of two parallel bands along either edge of the road, each about 2m wide of fine, of well compacted deep reddish brown rhyolite grit (Fig. 4; 01). The crown of the road had been eroded away, presumably by ploughing, to expose the partial remains of a previous surface of compacted dark grey grit (02). This surface was rutted, and had also been partially destroyed by ploughing, to expose in turn an underlying surface and formation consisting of very well compacted red rhyolite fragments and chippings (03). The sequence here was thus identical to the excavated sequence of the post-medieval road surfaces at Burcotgate (see above, section 2.1.3).

However, at one point, along southern edge of road, a band of pebbles (04) had been revealed on the southern edge of the road. The pebbles were compacted into a deposit of red boulder clay which disappeared beneath the edge of the post-medieval road surface (05). The southern edge of this band of clay and pebbles dropped away beneath a deposit of large cobbles in dark grey brown topsoil (06), which proved to represent the recent in-filling of a pond, shown on OS maps of the area up to the 1950s. It was suspected that the band of clay and pebbles might represent an earlier, possibly Roman, road surface.

It was decided that this merited further investigation, and accordingly an area 7m long by 4m wide was cleaned by hand. This revealed that the band of pebbles did indeed represent an early road surface, but that the pebbles themselves partially overlay a paved surface consisting of decayed red sandstone flagstones (07). The sandstone flags had been laid on puddled red boulder clay (08). This clay, presumably representing the original road formation, was sectioned in an attempt to determine the depth of this formation. However, there was no clear 7 Salvage Recording along the Uckington to Cluddley Link Main

horizon evident between the puddled clay and the underlying undisturbed red boulder clay (09).

Both the puddled clay and the underlying boulder clay dropped away steeply to the south. A mixed deposit of silty sandy clay (10) with lenses of pebbles and gravel had accumulated against the southern edge of these clay layers. This deposit may have represented eroded material from the edge of the road. A layer of dark grey silty clay pond deposit (11) lay over the southern edge of this layer. This in turn was covered by a deposits of brown sandy silty clay (12) and brown silty sand with charcoal and coal fragments (13), which sloped down from the top edge of the road mound. Further water-lain pond deposits (14 & 16), interleaved with a loamy deposit (15) containing 19th-century horseshoe field drain fragments, lapped against the side of road mound. Finally, a 0.4m deep deposit of loamy soil (06) containing modern glass and metalwork and large cobbles, representing the recent in-filling of the pond, raised the deposits on this side almost to the level of the former road surfaces. A depth of between 0.4 and 0.6m of topsoil (17) covered the site.

The northern edge of the early sandstone flag and pebble road surfaces was seen to have been sharply cut away to accommodate the red rhyolite grit (01) and earlier grey grit (02) road surfaces of the post-medieval road.

5.3 Roman road Watling Street at Burcotgate (Fig. 2) The uppermost surfaces and formation of the former turnpike road were again exposed in places by the removal of topsoil from the easement to the east of Burcote Cottage. As elsewhere, these deposits were seen to consist of rhyolite fragments and chippings. These deposits were noted over a length of about 150m where the easement was cut along the line road before turning south to pass beneath the new A5 road.

Earlier road surfaces or formation deposits were not identifiable during the excavation of the pipe trench.

No other archaeological features or deposits were seen in this area.

5.4 Ridge and furrow ploughing at Bluebell Crossroads (Fig. 1) The easement for the new main cut across the northern edge of fields at Bluebell crossroads containing well preserved earthwork remains of ridge and furrow ploughing of probable medieval date. The easement cut a swathe 11m wide by 290m long through these earthworks. The earthworks were particularly well preserved in the field immediately to the north of Blue Bell House, and could also be seen in the field in the southeast angle of the Bluebell crossroads. In both these fields the ridges were spaced at about 15m between centres. In the field to the west of Blue Bell House, the earthworks were less well preserved, and were more closely spaced at about 7m between ridge centres; at the westernmost end of this field they appeared only as subsurface features, revealed once the topsoil had been removed.

8 Salvage Recording along the Uckington to Cluddley Link Main

6 CONCLUSIONS 6.1 SA99 at the Uppington Turning and Burcotgate Opposite the Uppington turning, the modern B5061 road cuts across the southern edge of a slight mound, and the ground surface to the north of the road is somewhat higher than that on the south side, where it originally dropped down to a pond. It is likely that the Roman road was originally terraced into the side of this mound. The early puddled red clay road formation and sandstone flag and pebble surfaces probably represented the remains of the Roman road. It is possible that these surfaces survived here because of their location on the road edge beside the pond - with road-users tending to give the pond a wider berth. The paving of a Roman road with stone would appear to be unique in this region: elsewhere, where Roman road surfaces have survived, they are usually of pebble and gravel construction (Hughes, 1994; Hannaford, 1991 and 1994; Houghton, 1958, 1966, and 1978). The road may have been paved here and not elsewhere because of the proximity to Wroxeter (2.3 km from the city defences), and it is possible that it may have originally been paved from here at least right up to the city. No similar surface was found by Houghton during his investigations of the road just outside the city (Houghton, 1978); however, it seems that excavation stopped when the latest surviving road surfaces were encountered, and in 6 of the 11 trenches where road deposits were located, only formation deposits without surfacing survived. The survival of an early paved surface at the Uppington turning would thus appear to be exceptional.

6.2 The Cropmark feature (SA94) near Bluebell Crossroads While it is possible that the cropmark SA94 represented a shallow feature that has been completely ploughed out since the aerial photographs of the site were taken, or that these show a feature present in the ploughsoil alone, these explanations are considered unlikely. The cropmark feature SA94 is now one of four cropmark sites in the vicinity whose status as antiquities has been disproved or rendered dubious by excavation. Near Burcote Crossroads, a geophysical survey and trial trenching in 1988 failed to locate a partial cropmark enclosure SA2354b (Cane and Watson, 1989); a second cropmark enclosure nearby, SA2354a proved to be natural kettlehole, in-filled in the 19th or early 20th century (Hannaford, unpublished). The third cropmark enclosure, SA474, was evaluated by Birmingham University Field Archaeology Unit in advance of the construction of the Shelton - Uckington pipeline; trial excavation failed to locate any features of pre-19th century date that might be associated with the cropmark enclosure (Newton, 1994). In these cases, the aerial photographic evidence was thought to be of uncertain value (Cane and Watson, op.cit. and Newton, op.cit.). Likewise, the aerial photographs of the site SA94 held at the County SMR (SMR SJ5910-A & -F) are unconvincing. A photograph held by the National Monuments record at Swindon (NMR SJ6010/1) does show a linear feature on the same alignment and approximately the same location as SA94. However, its precise nature is unclear, and it could be associated with ridge and furrow ploughing (a continuation of the system in the field to the east) also shown on the photograph. It should be noted that three of these sites (SA2354a & b, and SA94) lie outside the area covered by Rowan Whimster's survey of cropmarks in the Welsh Marches (Whimster, 1989).

9 Salvage Recording along the Uckington to Cluddley Link Main

Whilst evaluation of SA94 prior to the construction of the new main was not an option, adequate archaeological provision for the site was built into the construction programme. The results of the excavation and watching brief on this site, however, demonstrate graphically the need not only for careful interpretation and mapping of such cropmark features, but for fieldwork, whether by means of non-intrusive geophysical survey or by excavation, to supplement and qualify the aerial photographic coverage of the region. These are tasks currently being addressed by the Wroxeter Hinterland Project.

10 Salvage Recording along the Uckington to Cluddley Link Main

7 REFERENCES AND SOURCES CONSULTED Barker, P A, Haldon, R, and Jenks, W E, 1991: "Excavations on Sharpstone Hill near Shrewsbury 1965-71" in Carver (ed) 1991 Buteux, S T E, Gaffney, V, and White, R, 1993: Wroxeter and its Hinterland: a Draft Research Design, BUFAU, unpublished Cane, J, and Watson, M D, 1989: The A5/A49 Shrewsbury By-Pass: An Archaeological Evaluation, Birmingham University Field Archaeology Unit Carver, M O H, (ed), 1991: "Prehistory in Lowland Shropshire", TSAHS LXVII (1991) Ellis, P, Evans, J, Hannaford, H, Hughes, G, and Jones, A, 1994: "Excavations in the Wroxeter Hinterland 1988-1990: the Archaeology of the A5/A49 Shrewsbury Bypass" TSAHS LXIX (1994), 1-119, Gaffney, V, 1994: Wroxeter and its Hinterland: an Investigation of Urban-Rural Relations, University of Birmingham, unpublished research design Hannaford, H R 1991: Excavations on a Romano-British Settlement at Heath Road, Whitchurch, Archaeology Unit Report No. 2, Shropshire County Council Hannaford, H R, and Mason, D J P, 1991: An Excavation at the Roman Roadside Settlement at Heath Road, near Whitchurch, 1991: Site Narrative, Gifford Archaeological Service/Shropshire County Council Hannaford, H R, 1994: "The Salvage Excavation and Watching Brief" in Ellis et al, pp69-72 Hannaford, H R, A Watching Brief on the Construction of the A5 Shrewsbury Bypass, Shropshire County Council, unpublished archive report Houghton, A W J, 1958: "Recent observations and investigations on the Roman road system in Shropshire", Shropshire News Letter, 3, p7 Houghton, A W J, 1966: "A Roman Road from Ashton, North Herefordshire, to Marshbrook, Salop", TSAS LVII Part III (1964) pp185-190 Houghton, A W J, 1978: "The last mile of Watling Street east of Wroxeter", TSAS LIX Part III (1973/1974), pp214-224 Hughes, E G, 1994: "A Romano-British Roadside Settlement at Meole Brace", in Ellis et al, 1994, pp31-55 Johnston, D E, 1979: Roman Roads in Britain, Bourne End (Bucks.) Meeson, R A, 1968: "A Section across Watling St. at Overley Hill, near Wellington" TSAS LVIII Part II (1966) pp111-116 Newton, E, 1994: Shelton-Uckington Pipeline, Shropshire: Archaeological Evaluation, Birmingham University Field Archaeology Unit, Report No. 278 Rowley, T, 1972: The Shropshire Landscape Rowley, T, 1986: The Landscape of the Welsh Marches Stanford, S C, 1980: The Archaeology of the Welsh Marches Toghill, P, 1990: Geology in Shropshire, Swan Hill Press, Shrewsbury Webster, G, 1975: The Cornovii Whimster, R, 1989: The Emerging Past: Air Photography and the Buried Landscape, RCHME

Abbreviations OS Ordnance Survey NMR National Monuments Record, RCHME, Swindon SMR County Sites and Monuments Record, Shire Hall, Shrewsbury TSAHS Transactions of the Shropshire Archaeological and Historical Society RCHME Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England

8 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The writer would like to thank Barry Lowe (Resident Engineer) of Severn Trent Water Ltd. and the staff of Eric Johnson Stubbs & Co. Ltd. and McLoughlin Pipelines Limited (the contractors) for their cooperation during the sample excavation and watching brief. Dave Coup, Rob Johns, Tim Beadle, and Greg Price assisted with the on-site work and finds processing.

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