Bloody Acre Camp Tortworth Estate Tortworth South Gloucestershire
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Bloody Acre Camp Tortworth Estate Tortworth South Gloucestershire Archaeological Evaluation for Nicholas Pearson Partnership LLP on behalf of Tortworth Estate Company CA Project: 6443 CA Report: 18049 February 2017 Bloody Acre Camp Tortworth Estate Tortworth South Gloucestershire Archaeological Evaluation CA Project: 6643 CA Report: 18049 Document Control Grid Revision Date Author Checked by Status Reasons for Approved revision by A 25 Peter Busby Richard First Cliff February Young issue Bateman 2018 This report is confidential to the client. Cotswold Archaeology accepts no responsibility or liability to any third party to whom this report, or any part of it, is made known. Any such party relies upon this report entirely at their own risk. No part of this report may be reproduced by any means without permission. © Cotswold Archaeology © Cotswold Archaeology Bloody Acre Camp, Tortworth Estate, Tortworth, South Gloucestershire: Archaeological Evaluation CONTENTS SUMMARY ..................................................................................................................... 2 1. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................ 3 2. ARCHAEOLOGICAL BACKGROUND ................................................................ 4 3. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES ................................................................................... 6 4. METHODOLOGY ............................................................................................... 6 5. RESULTS (FIGS 2-6) ......................................................................................... 7 6. THE FINDS ........................................................................................................ 13 7. THE BIOLOGICAL EVIDENCE .......................................................................... 14 8. DISCUSSION ..................................................................................................... 14 9. CA PROJECT TEAM .......................................................................................... 18 10. REFERENCES ................................................................................................... 18 APPENDIX A: CONTEXT DESCRIPTIONS .................................................................... 20 APPENDIX B: THE FINDS .............................................................................................. 24 APPENDIX C: THE PALAEOENVIRONMENTAL EVIDENCE ......................................... 25 APPENDIX D: OASIS REPORT FORM .......................................................................... 26 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Fig. 1 Site location plan (1:25,000) Fig. 2 Trench location plan showing hillfort earthworks and archaeological features (1:250) Fig. 3 Test pits 17, 18, 22 and 24: photographs Fig. 4 Test pits 28 and 30 and Trenches 32 and 35: photographs Fig. 5 Trench 31: plan, section and photograph (1:20) Fig. 6 Plan of Building 1 (1:75) 1 © Cotswold Archaeology Bloody Acre Camp, Tortworth Estate, Tortworth, South Gloucestershire: Archaeological Evaluation SUMMARY Project Name: Bloody Acre Camp Location: Tortworth Estate, Tortworth, South Gloucestershire NGR: 369049 191508 Type: Evaluation Date: 2-12 January 2018 Location of Archive: To be deposited with Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery Site Code: BAC 17 An archaeological evaluation was undertaken by Cotswold Archaeology in January 2018 at Bloody Acre Camp, Tortworth Estate, Tortworth, South Gloucestershire. A total of fifteen test pits and five trenches were excavated within the bounds of Bloody Acre Camp, Scheduled Monument no. 1002483. The evaluation identified archaeological remains dating to the prehistoric and post-medieval periods within the hillfort. Evidence for Iron Age activity consists of a previously unrecognised rampart and quarry ditch on the southern and eastern edges of the hillfort, and a pit and posthole. No Roman artefacts/features were identified during the excavations. A large square post-medieval building was identified within the hillfort rampart. This structure has been interpreted as a hunting lodge or garden/banqueting house, situated in a prominent location and with a commanding view across the landscape. A limestone cobble surface, on the south and west sides of the building, and a carriageway, to the north of the building, were also identified. 2 © Cotswold Archaeology Bloody Acre Camp, Tortworth Estate, Tortworth, South Gloucestershire: Archaeological Evaluation 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 In January 2018 Cotswold Archaeology (CA) carried out an archaeological evaluation for Nicholas Pearson Partnership LLP on behalf of Tortworth Estate Company on land within Bloody Acre Camp, Tortworth Estate, Tortworth, South Gloucestershire (centred at NGR: 369049 191508; Fig. 1). The evaluation was undertaken in response to advice from Historic England and a Conservation Management Plan, produced by the Nicholas Pearson Partnership LLP and Cotswold Archaeology in February 2016 (CA 2016a), which suggested that the management of a tessellated pavement and a potential Roman structure recorded within the Iron Age hillfort known as Bloody Acre Camp, should be informed by a better understanding of their location, character and condition. The historical and cartographic records provide conflicting locations of the pavement and it was proposed that a series of test pits be dug in order to determine its location. 1.2 A detailed Written Scheme of Investigation (WSI) was prepared by CA (2016b) and approved by Melanie Barge, Inspector of Ancient Monuments, Historic England. The fieldwork also followed Standard and guidance: Archaeological field evaluation (CIfA 2014). It was monitored by Melanie Barge, including site visits on 4th and 10th January 2018. The site 1.3 The site is located within Bloody Acre Camp, Scheduled Monument no. 1002483, a hillfort located within the southern part of Tortworth Estate. It is located between the villages of Tortworth to the north-east, Cromhall to the south and Falfield to the north-west, with the M5 Motorway situated to the west. The site had been woodland, but was cleared of trees immediately prior to the evaluation commencing. 1.4 The hillfort is situated on a prominent spur overlooking the valley of a tributary to the Little Avon River and a monumental lake. The site rises from approximately 35m above Ordnance Datum (AOD) alongside the edge of the monumental lake to approximately 75m AOD within the Scheduled Monument. 1.5 The underlying bedrock geology of the area is mapped as Black Rock Limestone Subgroup - Dolostone formed during the Carboniferous Period (BGS 2018). The 3 © Cotswold Archaeology Bloody Acre Camp, Tortworth Estate, Tortworth, South Gloucestershire: Archaeological Evaluation natural substrate encountered during the evaluation comprised decayed and solid limestone, consistent with the mapped deposits. 2. ARCHAEOLOGICAL BACKGROUND 2.1 The following archaeological background is a summary of information provided in the Conservation Management Plan (CA 2016a), which considered the known archaeological and historical resource detailed on the South Gloucestershire Council Historic Environment Record (SGC HER) within the Tortworth Estate. Prehistoric (pre AD 43) 2.2 There is limited evidence for pre-Iron Age (pre-700 BC) prehistoric activity within the environs of the site and this is confined to the find spots of worked flint tools, including a Neolithic hand axe, found at Falfield to the north-west, and an assemblage of prehistoric flint tools found at Tortworth (exact location of the find spot is not known). 2.3 The site is located within the south-eastern part of Bloody Acre Camp Scheduled Monument (List entry 1002483), which represents a small Iron Age multivallate hillfort. The Scheduled Monument is located on a prominent spur overlooking a valley and comprises an irregularly shaped enclosure defined by steep natural scarps to the east and south-east, and a sequence of banks and ditches to the north, west and south-west. It covers an area of approximately 7.7ha. Roman (AD 43 – AD 410) 2.4 Within the south-eastern side of the hillfort, a tessellated pavement is thought to have been discovered in 1768. The pavement is said to have measured approximately 5.4m by 4.5m and has been interpreted as a potential Romano British villa or temple (Bristol Archaeological Research Group 1969). The Roman activity at the hillfort is supposedly further evidenced by the quantities of pottery retrieved from the area over the years, including a box of bagged pottery reportedly found in trial trenches on or near the camp in 1966 (location not known). 2.5 The discovery of the tessellated pavement is mentioned by Rudder in 1779, who assigned a Roman date to Bloody Acre Camp due to ‘some coins which have been found and from a tessellated pavement sometime since discovered there, about 4 © Cotswold Archaeology Bloody Acre Camp, Tortworth Estate, Tortworth, South Gloucestershire: Archaeological Evaluation eighteen feet long and fifteen broad, composed of small cubical bricks or stones of various colours set together with a small cement’ (Rudder 1779; Conder 1909- 1911). 2.6 Within the surroundings of the hillfort there is a long history of discovery of Roman artefacts, with Roman coins and pottery reported from the hillside immediately south-east of the site where vineyard terraces are located (Rudder 1779; Cotteswold Naturalists Field Club 1865) and further pottery find supposedly in trial trenches at or near the camp in 1966. These