Parish Church of St Nicholas, Chearsley,

An Archaeological Watching Brief

For the Parochial Church Council

by Stephen Hammond

Thames Valley Archaeological Services Ltd

Site Code CCB 02/100

December 2002 Summary

Site name: The Parish Church of St. Nicholas, Chearsley, Buckinghamshire.

Grid reference: SP 7203 1032

Site activity: Watching Brief

Date and duration of project: 12th - 15th November 2002

Project manager: Steve Ford

Site supervisor: Stephen Hammond

Site code: CCB 02/100

Area of site: 16 sq m

Summary of results: The lowering of the ground within the church tower revealed substantial construction cuts for the tower and a possible earlier western entrance or construction cut. Groundworks observed outside the church revealed that the land has been greatly disturbed over time.

Monuments identified: Possible entranceway.

Location and reference of archive: The site archive is currently held by Thames Valley Archaeological Services Ltd, 47-49 De Beauvoir Road, Reading, Berkshire, RG1 5NR and will be deposited with Buckinghamshire 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 12/12.02 Steve Preston9 12.12.02

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Parish Church of St. Nicholas, Chearsley, Buckinghamshire An Archaeological Watching Brief

by Stephen Hammond

Report 02/100

Introduction

This report documents the results of an archaeological watching brief carried out at The Parish Church of St.

Nicholas, Chearsley, Buckinghamshire (SP7203 1032) (Fig. 1). The work was commissioned by Janet Frost of

Alan J Frost Architects, Windmill House, , , Bucks HP 22 4PD on behalf of the Parochial

Church Council.

A faculty has been granted by the Oxford Diocese for the digging of a new drain between the church tower and the public highway and for the taking up of the tower floor. As a condition of the faculty an archaeological watching brief was to take place during the groundworks. The fieldwork was undertaken by Stephen Hammond during December 2002. The site code is CCB 02/100.

Location, topography and geology

The Parish Church is located in a hollow on the south side of the modern village of Chearsley, to the south of

Church Lane. It lies just to the west of the River and a moated site. The groundwork inspected included the tower area of the church and a service trench running from the tower along the southern edge of the footpath joining Church Lane. The site lies at a height of c. 70m above Ordnance Datum and the underlying geology according to maps (BGS 1993) is on the border between Portland Formations (sands, limestone and marls) and

Kimmeridge clay. This was confirmed during the watching brief.

Archaeological background

The village church often lies close to the historic (medieval) centre of a settlement and can often have late Saxon origins. The village itself is likely to have developed from a conglomeration of small, scattered farmsteads and is mentioned in Domesday Book of 1086. The church contains some elements in its fabric possibly of late Saxon date as well as those of early Medieval date. The tower was probably added in the late 15th century. To the south of the church the remains of a medieval moat can be seen in the field above the . An earlier investigation of the tower floor (Farley 2000) in two small trenches revealed a full sequence of deposition above natural clay and revealed deposits which could reflect original construction features and earlier tower floors.

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Objectives and methodology

The purpose of the watching brief were to observe, excavate and record any archaeological deposits affected by groundworks associated with the alterations to the church tower and in particular during the lifting of the tower floor. Discovery of any human remains that were clearly post-Medieval or modern in date would be summarily recorded but not otherwise archaeologically excavated. Human bone remains would not be retained but returned to the church for re-interment. Discovery of any human remains of Medieval or earlier date would be archaeologically recorded and excavated as necessary. Sufficient time would be allowed to carry this out within the groundworkers’ schedules without causing undue delay. A programme of environmental sampling would take place should suitable, well stratified subsoil deposits be located. The entire project would be carried out in accordance with the Institute of Field Archaeologists’ (IFA) Code of Conduct and following IFA Standards and

Guidance.

Results

Two areas of groundworks were observed; the removal and subsequent lowering of the tower floor levels within the church and the digging of Manhole 1 outside the church and its associated connection into the church tower via a hole in tower wall.

The Tower floor

The brick flooring of the tower was removed to reveal a pale yellow sand/mortar bedding layer typically at a depth of 0.05m. At 0.11m a grey/brown clay silt with occasional brick and tile pieces and charcoal flecking was observed. Below this could be seen an orange/brown natural clay at a depth of 0.21m. In total the area within the church tower was dug down 0.38m.

After hand cleaning the new level, original foundation cuts for the tower could be seen running around the inside of the tower walls (Fig. 3, Pls 1 and 2) with a light grey/brown silty clay fill containing occasional charcoal flecking and frequent limestone (>0.15m) inclusions. It was decided not to investigate these cuts further, so as to avoid unnecessary damage to the deposits, since they were below the depths that would be affected by any further groundwork and thus will be preserved in situ. No dating evidence was recovered although two pieces of iron slag were found on the surface of the eastern wall foundation trench fill.

Towards the western limit of the new tower level, there appears to be evidence of a thinner, earlier wall parallel to the extant western wall. A substantial gap in this wall, approximately 1.00m wide, where the

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foundation would join, and aligned on the centre of the nave, could suggest the position of an earlier entrance.

This is not an unambiguous interpretation, as the groundworkers suggested that the disturbance represented consolidation of a soft, boggy area which would have had to be removed and backfilled with limestone to allow a more solid surface to build upon. However, the boggy area itself could have been caused by erosion within an earlier entranceway since only the middle of the tower area was affected, again in line with the nave. If the area was backfilled with a material that was loose and porous then this would act as kind of sump for the much less porous natural clay.

Manhole 1

Outside the church, manhole 1 and the associated trench dug to allow access for the hole through the tower wall were excavated to a depth of 1.27m. Typically the sections observed consisted of 0.28m of dark grey/brown silty clay topsoil onto disturbed grey/brown silty clay made ground. No natural geology was observed in these trenches although the trench dug up against the tower wall revealed a foundation cut for the tower 0.60m wide cutting through the disturbed ground continuing its entire depth.

Finds

Slag

Two pieces of iron slag were recovered from the surface of the eastern construction cut fill in the church tower weighing 224g.

Conclusion

The removal and subsequent lowering of the ground within the church tower area revealed the original and substantial wall cuts for the tower. Possible evidence of earlier construction work was also present that could represent an earlier entrance way into the church. Outside the tower, observations made in the excavated manhole and the associated trench up against the tower wall failed to locate any undisturbed ‘natural’ clay. This suggests that the ground around the church has, unsurprisingly, been disturbed.

References BGS, 1993, British Geological Survey, 1:50000, Sheet 237, Solid and Drift Edition, Keyworth Farley, M, 2000, An investigation beneath the floor of the tower of St Nicholas Church, Chearsley, Buckinghamshire, Michael Farley Archaeology, Aylesbury PPG 16, 1990, Archaeology and Planning, Dept of the Environment Planning Policy Guidance 16, HMSO

3 12000

SITE

11000

SITE

SP71000 72000 CCB 02/100 Parish Church of St. Nicholas, Chearsley, Buckinghamshire, 2002

Figure 1. Location of site within Chearsley and Buckinghamshire.

Reproduced from Ordnance Survey Pathfinder 1093 SP61/71 1:25000 Ordnance Survey Licence AL523324A0001 10400

SITE

10300

Tower

10200

SP72100 72200

CCB 02/100 Parish Church of St. Nicholas, Chearsley, Buckinghamshire, 2002

Figure 2. Location of site within Chearsley. Church of St. Nicholas, Chearsley, Buckinghamshire, 2002

N

Construction cut for tower

Grey clay manhole 1 Natural Natural

Steps up Modern backfill into nave

Natural

(earlier wall) Stone step

Stones (from earlier wall)

0 5m

Figure 3. Plan of features observed. CCB 02/100 Plate 1. Interior of tower looking west, horizontal scale 0.5m, vertical scale 1m.

Plate 2. Interior of tower looking south, horizontal scale 1m, vertical scale 0.5m. CCB 02/100