Chitty Farm, Wall Lane, Silchester, Hampshire
An Archaeological Watching Brief
For the Englefield Estate
by Stephen Hammond
Thames Valley Archaeological Services Ltd
Site Code CFS 06/136
January 2007 Summary
Site name: Chitty Farm, Wall Lane, Silchester, Hampshire
Grid reference: SU 6372 6293
Site activity: Watching Brief
Date and duration of project: 22nd January 2007
Project manager: Steve Ford
Site supervisor: Stephen Hammond
Site code: CFS 06/136
Summary of results: No finds or archaeological features were identified but two locations contained possible archaeological deposits.
Monuments identified: None
Location and reference of archive: The archive is presently held at Thames Valley Archaeological Services, Reading and will be deposited with Hampshire Museum Service in due course.
This report may be copied for bona fide research or planning purposes without the explicit permission of the copyright holder
Report edited/checked by: Steve Ford9 30.01.07 Steve Preston9 30.01.07
i Thames Valley Archaeological Services Ltd, 47–49 De Beauvoir Road, Reading RG1 5NR Tel. (0118) 926 0552; Fax (0118) 926 0553; email [email protected]; website : www.tvas.co.uk
Chitty Farm, Wall Lane, Silchester, Hampshire An Archaeological Watching Brief
by Stephen Hammond
Report 06/136
Introduction
This report documents the results of an archaeological watching brief carried out on a parcel of land at Chitty
Farm, Wall Lane, Silchester, Hampshire (SU 6372 6293) (Fig. 1). The work was commissioned by Mr Alistair
Blacknell, Englefield Estate, Englefield Office, Theale, Reading, Berkshire, RG7 5DU.
The watching brief was required by Ms A R Middleton on behalf of the Secretary of State for Culture,
Media and Sport, on the advice of Mr Richard Massey, Inspector of Ancient Monuments for English Heritage, as a condition of the granting of Scheduled Ancient Monument Consent (HSD 9/2/8811) for the erection of a steel- framed agricultural building. This new building was to lie within the bounds of a Scheduled Monument (SAM
24336). Planning permission has also been granted (app no BDB/64064) by Basingstoke and Dean Borough
Council.
This is in accordance with the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act (1979), the Department of the Environment’s Planning Policy Guidance, Archaeology and Planning (PPG16 1990), and the council’s policies on archaeology. The field investigation was carried out to a specification approved by Mr Richard
Massey, Inspector of Ancient Monuments for English Heritage. The fieldwork was undertaken by Stephen
Hammond with the assistance of David Platt on the 22nd January 2007 and the site code is CFS 06/136.
The archive is presently held at Thames Valley Archaeological Services, Reading and will be deposited with Hampshire Museum Service in due course.
Location, topography and geology
The site is located on level ground at an approximate height of 96m above Ordnance Datum and is currently used as a yard for the farm (Fig. 2). The farm itself lies towards the northern edge of the plateau on which the Roman town of Silchester stood. The underlying geology according to maps is plateau gravel (BGS 1946). This was observed in the foundation trenches.
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Archaeological background
The site lies between the stone-walled north gate and outer earthwork of the Roman town of Silchester (Calleva
Atrebatum). The projected line of the Roman road to Dorchester on Thames passes close by. An archaeological evaluation (Ford, S 1997) and subsequent watching brief (Ford, A 1997) on the site of an earlier barn at the farm to the north east produced quantities of Roman pottery, tile and metalwork but only one uncharacterized feature.
Objectives and methodology
The purpose of the watching brief was to identify and where necessary excavate and record any archaeological deposits affected by the groundworks. This was to involve the examination of all areas of intrusive groundworks, which in this case would be the excavation of twelve foundation pads. It was anticipated that overburden would be stripped off using a machine excavator down to the top of, then into the natural geology or to the top of any potential archaeology. This would be carried out under constant supervision for each pad. Any identified archaeology would then be excavated before any further machine digging. Sufficient time would be allowed to carry this out within the groundworkers’ schedules but without causing undue delay to the timetable. Each individual pad was to measure 1.80 square and be at least 1.05m deep.
Results
All twelve pads holes were inspected. Each pad was measured to be approximately 1.00m wide and 0.90m long with a depth of 1.05m (Fig. 3). Despite their small size a very high water table made inspection of the pad holes difficult.
Foundation pads 1, 2, 8 and 9 The stratigraphy in these pad holes typically consisted of a dark grey/brown compacted stone yard surface ranging in thickness from 0.18m-0.30m overlying a dark grey/brown clay/silt with frequent gravel and occasional brick and tile 0.19m-0.40m thick, overlying a pale yellow/grey sandy gravel natural. No finds or archaeological features were identified.
Foundation pads 3, 4, 5 The stratigraphy in these pad holes consisted of approximately 0.20m of dark grey/black compacted stone overlying a grey/brown clay/silt with frequent gravel 0.30m thick, which in turn overlay a yellow/brown sandy gravel natural. No finds or archaeological features were revealed.
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Foundation pad 6 The stratigraphy in this pad hole consisted of grey/brown slightly clayey silt 0.30m thick, covering 0.35m of brown clay/silt with frequent gravel, which in turn covered a grey sand with moderate gravel inclusions. No finds or features were recognized.
Foundation pad 7 The stratigraphy in this pad hole consisted of 0.14m of compacted stone overlaying 0.24m of grey/brown clay/silt above a dark grey clay with occasional gravel. No finds or archaeological features were identified.
Foundation pads 10, 11, 12 These pad holes were noted to contain a compacted stone layer 0.20-0.25m thick which covered a brown slightly clayey silt with moderate gravel inclusions 0.15m-0.30m in depth. Below this was a grey/brown slightly clayey silt 0.20-0.45m thick with frequent gravel inclusions which sealed a yellow/grey sandy gravel natural. No finds or features were identified.
Finds
No finds were recovered from the watching brief.
Conclusion
Despite continuous supervision and inspection, the watching brief failed to identify any archaeological finds or features, especially any of Roman date. Two pads (6 and 7) did not reveal the yellow/grey sandy gravel natural geology as observed in all of the other pads. It is uncertain from the very limited nature of the watching brief whether this is due to a change in natural geology or the result of human activity/disturbance. However, there was little to suggest that these deposits were of archaeological origin; both appeared sterile with no dating evidence.
References BGS, 1946, British Geological Survey, 1:63360, Sheet 268, Drift Edition, Keyworth Ford, A, 1997, ‘Chitty Farm Silchester, Hampshire, An Archaeological Watching Brief’, Thames Valley Archaeological Services report 97/7b, Reading Ford, S, 1997, ‘Chitty Farm Silchester (Mortimer West End), Hampshire, An Archaeological Evaluation’, Thames Valley Archaeological Services report 97/7, Reading PPG 16, 1990, Archaeology and Planning, Dept of the Environment Planning Policy Guidance 16, HMSO
3 SITE
SITE
63000
62000
SU63000 64000 CFS 06/136 Chitty Farm, Wall Lane, Silchester, Hampshire, 2007 An archaeological watching brief
Figure 1. Location of site within Silchester and Hampshire.
Reproduced from Ordnance Survey Pathfinder 1188 SU66/76 at 1:12500 Ordnance Survey Licence 100025880 Previous watching brief
63000
SITE
62900
SU63700 63800
CFS 06/136 Chitty Farm, Wall Lane, Silchester, Hampshire, 2007
Figure 1. Location of site within Silchester and Hampshire.
Reproduced from Ordnance Survey Siteplan at 1:1250 Ordnance Survey Licence 100025880 Chitty Farm, Wall Lane, Silchester, Hampshire, 2007 N
62900
Earthworks
6 5 Footprint of 4 new building
3 12 11 2 10 1 9 8 7
Chitty Farm
SU63700
0 50m CFS06/136 Figure 3. Location of foundation pads