Stoke Park Farm Bishopstoke Hampshire
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Stoke Park Farm Bishopstoke Hampshire Archaeological Evaluation for CgMs Consulting Ltd. CA Project: 770225 CA Report: 15774 October 2015 Stoke Park Farm Bishopstoke Hampshire Archaeological Evaluation CA Project: 770225 CA Report: 15774 Document Control Grid Revision Date Author Checked Status Reasons for Approved by revision by A 12.10.15 A. Howard R. Internal General Edit R. Greatorex review Greatorex 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 Stoke Park Farm, Bishopstoke, Eastleigh, Hampshire: an Archaeological Evaluation CONTENTS SUMMARY ..................................................................................................................... 2 1. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................ 3 2. ARCHAEOLOGICAL BACKGROUND ................................................................ 4 3. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES ................................................................................... 4 4. METHODOLOGY ............................................................................................... 5 5. RESULTS (FIGS 2-8) ......................................................................................... 6 6. THE FINDS ........................................................................................................ 7 7. THE BIOLOGICAL EVIDENCE .......................................................................... 7 8. DISCUSSION ..................................................................................................... 7 9. CA PROJECT TEAM .......................................................................................... 7 10. REFERENCES ................................................................................................... 8 APPENDIX A: CONTEXT DESCRIPTIONS ................................................................... 9 APPENDIX B: OASIS REPORT FORM .......................................................................... 15 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Figure 1 Site location plan (1:25,000) Figure 2 Trench location plan showing modern pipe runs and areas of made ground (1:2000) Figure 3 Field 1 Trench 22 photograph Figure 4 Field 1 Trench 24 photograph Figure 5 Field 2 Trench 6 photograph Figure 6 Field 2 Trench 7 photograph Figure 7 Field 3 Trench 42 photograph Figure 8 Field 3 Trench 44 photograph 1 © Cotswold Archaeology Stoke Park Farm, Bishopstoke, Eastleigh, Hampshire: an Archaeological Evaluation SUMMARY Project Name: Stoke Park Farm Location: Bishopstoke, Hampshire NGR: NGR: 447768 120331 Type: Evaluation Date: 21st September – 2nd October 2015 Planning Reference: O/13/73660 Location of Archive: Hampshire Museums Service Accession Number: TBC Site Code: SBE15 An archaeological evaluation was undertaken by Cotswold Archaeology in October 2015 at Stoke Park Farm, Bishopstoke, Hampshire. Forty five trenches were excavated, prior to development for housing, new allotments and the extension of Bishopstoke cemetery. No archaeological features were identified. Two residual flint flakes (possibly Neolithic) and one sherd of residual later prehistoric pottery of were recovered from Field 1, Trench 22. Fields 2 and 3 have been subject to extensive modern disturbance and levelling/landscaping activities. Across Trenches 4 and 22 a palaeo-channel was encountered. It consisted of light grey compact grey silt with no inclusions. This was sealed by a layer of colluvium in Trench 22 which contained some residual later prehistoric pottery (2202). Considerable evidence of modern disturbance, comprising landscaping and levelling activity was identified in Fields Two and Three. The latter activity is thought likely to date to the later post-medieval and modern periods. 2 © Cotswold Archaeology Stoke Park Farm, Bishopstoke, Eastleigh, Hampshire: an Archaeological Evaluation 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 In October 2015 Cotswold Archaeology (CA) carried out an archaeological evaluation for CgMs Consulting at Stoke Park Farm, Bishopstoke, Hampshire, centred on National Grid Reference (NGR: 447768 120331). The development proposed for the site includes: • 60 detached and semi-detached dwellings • An extension to Bishopstoke cemetery • New allotments • Informal open space • Ancillary infrastructure including improved access arrangements, landscaping and drainage 1.2 The evaluation was undertaken to discharge a condition attached to the site planning permission (O/13/73660); Condition 8 of that permission requires that a programme of archaeological works be undertaken in order to inform Eastleigh Borough Council (EBC), the Local Planning Authority, of the site’s archaeological potential. 1.3 The evaluation was carried out in accordance with a detailed Written Scheme of Investigation (WSI) produced by CA (2015) and approved by David Hopkins, Principle Archaeologist for Hampshire County Council. The fieldwork also followed Standard and guidance: Archaeological field evaluation (CIfA 2014), the Management of Archaeological Projects (English Heritage 1991) and the Management of Research Projects in the Historic Environment (MORPHE): Project Manager’s Guide (English Heritage 2006). The site 1.4 The proposed development area is approximately 5.36h. The site lies at between 25 and 35m above Ordnance Datum (aOD), with a marked downward slope from south to north. The site is on the north eastern edge of Bishopstoke, and is currently part of Stoke Park Farm, a medium-sized dairy farm. The farm occupies much of the former medieval deer park of Stoke Park, the boundaries of which remain largely intact on the north and eastern sides (Terence O’Rourke 2015). Bowlake is located 3 © Cotswold Archaeology Stoke Park Farm, Bishopstoke, Eastleigh, Hampshire: an Archaeological Evaluation immediately north of the site. To the south and west, Stoke Park Wood now directly adjoins the built up area of Bishopstoke. The access road to Stoke Park Farm bisects the site, with Stoke Park Farm Cottages on the north side and the 1.2- hectare cemetery on the south adjoining Stoke Park Wood. 1.5 The majority of the underlying bedrock geology of the area is mapped as the London Clay Formation comprising Clay Silt and sand; sedimentary bedrock formed approximately 34 to 56 million years ago in the Palaeogene period. The local environment would have been dominated by deep seas. 2. Archaeological Background 2.1 The site lies to the east of the flood plain of the River Itchen and may have theoretically been exploited by prehistoric populations for the fertile land. However there is nothing in the HER records to suggest that this site was a focus for settlement during the prehistoric period. 2.2 Whilst there have been no archaeological evaluations of any kind in the immediate environs of the site, analysis of aerial photographs has shown a number of possible sites in the study area. To the east of the site and recorded in the location of an existing north-south track way to Stoke Park Farm, are the possible ploughed out remains of a Bronze Age barrow, visible as a cropmark measuring 25 metres in diameter. A possible Iron Age/Romano-British rectilinear enclosure c.40 metres x 56 metres with double ditches and an identifiable small pit is shown on an aerial photograph dated 1962. A subsequent non-intrusive topographic survey of the site, failed to identify any remains in relief. This site lies 325 metres to the east of the site boundary (TOR 2013). 2.3 A Roman road is recorded to the south-west of the site boundaries passing through the Chandlers Ford Industrial Estate (TOR 2013). Investigations along the Roman road in the vicinity of Eastleigh, have identified some Romano-British settlement evidence. The village of Eastleigh or East Lea is first recorded in 952AD with the place name suggesting a clearing in woodland. There are no early medieval find spots in the immediate environs of the site. 4 © Cotswold Archaeology Stoke Park Farm, Bishopstoke, Eastleigh, Hampshire: an Archaeological Evaluation 2.4 Throughout the medieval period the site and its immediate environs was dominated by the two adjacent deer parks of the bishops of Winchester, at Marwell and at Stoke Park. Marwell was the site of the bishop’s residence and was the administrative and manorial centre (the moated site survives at Marwell Manor Farm and is an scheduled monument). By the 13th century, the two deer parks were linked by a sequence of four fishponds along the watercourse that then linked to Fishers Pond to the north. These important landscape features were subsequently enlarged and augmented over subsequent centuries and are still part of the landscape today. There are several other examples of the use of two adjacent parks, with the possible objective having been to separate the more intensively managed European fallow deer from the native red and roe deer (TOR 2013). 3. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES 3.1 The objectives of the evaluation are to provide information about the archaeological resource within the site, including its presence/absence, character, extent, date, integrity, state of preservation and quality, in accordance Standard and guidance: Archaeological field evaluation (CIfA 2014). This information will enable Eastleigh Borough Council (EBC), the Local Planning