Stowe Farm, Lincolnshire: A Multi-Period Archaeological Site in its Landscape By: Andrew John Hatton A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Philosophy The University of Sheffield Faculty of Arts and Humanities, Department of Archaeology July 2019 Acknowledgments Firstly, I would like to thank my thesis supervisor, Doctor Robert Johnston, for his advice and guidance, and for his continued support in the course of this research. Special thanks also go to Professor Mike Parker – Pearson and to Professor Charly French for offering insightful comments. Thanks are due to the staff at Oxford Archaeology East, namely, Gillian Greer, David Brown and Katie Hutton for offering their valuable time during the digitisation of the Stowe Farm site plans. In Addition, I would like to thank Andrew Elliott who volunteered his time to complete the digitisation. Thanks also go to Wayne Granger and Jamie Homewood of University Centre Peterborough for their assistance during the reproduction of the illustrations for this research. Finally, I would like to thank staff at Lincolnshire County Council Historic Environment Record. I would like to dedicate this thesis to my wife, Dr Rebecca Casa. Summary Stowe Farm is located near West Deeping, Lincolnshire, in the Lower Welland Valley, a landscape characterised by the presence of many important archaeological sites discovered during past and more recent gravel extraction. Stowe Farm was one of the many projects instigated by extraction which prompted investigations between 1994 and 2000. However, the analysis of the site was not completed and disseminated. This MPhil project has collated the Stowe Farm archival material and completed the work that was started back in 1994, with the aim to produce a cohesive site narrative and offer further contribution to the characterisation and contextualisation of the rich archaeological landscape of the Lower Welland Valley. In order to construct a more informed narrative, it has included broader comparative information complemented by environmental evidence. One of the major difficulties encountered during this MPhil research project was represented by the paucity of dating evidence. In addition, the loss of the material archive has precluded the possibility to reassess the original generic date range offered for the ceramic assemblages. Despite these issues, a cohesive narrative of the site of Stowe Farm has been constructed. The analysis of the evidence has offered the opportunity to gain further insight into the spatial and chronological development of the Lower Welland Valley landscape during the later prehistoric period. It has also enabled the author to identify Neolithic settlement of regional and national importance, Bronze Age ritual, funerary and agricultural activities and specialisation in livestock management during the Iron Age. The archaeological record from Stowe Farm shows patterns of local and regional variations, as well as patterns of similarities with sites distributed across Britain and Ireland, the interaction of which contributes to the distinct character of the Lower Welland Valley. CONTENTS Chapter 1: General Introduction Page 1 Chapter 2: The Archaeology of the Lower Welland Valley Page 8 Chapter 3: Initial Investigations of the Stowe Farm Site Page 53 Chapter 4: Methodology Page 69 Chapter 5: Open Area Excavation at Stowe Farm: Results Page 78 Chapter 6: Discussion Page 119 Chapter 7: Conclusions Page 148 Bibliography Page 155 Appendix 1: Excavated Feature Details Page 167 Appendix 2: List of Datable Material from Excavated Features Page 185 List of Figures Figure 1: Stowe Farm Location Map Page 3 Figure 2: Leading Sites Mentioned in the Text Page 9 Figure 3: Stowe Farm: HER Monument Location Map Page 56 Figure 4: Layout of Field -Walking Grid Page 57 Figure 5: Location of Core Survey Page 59 Figure 6: Aerial Photographic Plot and Proposed Trench Location Page 62 Figure 7: Location Plan of Trial Trenches Page 64 Figure 8: Plans of Earlier Neolithic Houses at Chigborough Hall; Yarnton; Horton; Landwade Road; Fengate and Lismore Fields Page 83 Figure 9: Curvilinear Field system at Rectory Farm Page 97 Figure 10: Stratigraphic relationships of Middle Bronze Age ditches and Iron Age enclosures ditches Page 106 Figure 11: Monuments referred to in the text Page 120 Figures 12 to 24 are located at the back of this thesis Figure 12: Site Plan Figure 13: Early Neolithic Landscape – Phase 1 Figure 14: Early Neolithic Nucleated Settlement Figure 15: Late Neolithic / Early Bronze Age Landscape – Phase 2 Figure 16: Curvilinear Feature with Associated Postholes (Y127) and Hengiform Monument (E136) Figure 17: Bronze Age Landscape – Phase 3 Figure 18: Bronze Age Enclosure 1 Figure 19: Iron Age Landscape – Phase 4 Figure 20: Iron Age Landscape – Phase 4A Figure 21: Iron Age Landscape – Phase 4B Figure 22: Iron Age Landscape – Phase 4C Figure 23: Roman Landscape – Phase 5 Figure 2: Medieval Landscape – Phase 6 List of Tables Table 1: Extracts from Frere’s Post-excavation Recommendations Page 24 Table 2: Environmental Information for the Lower Welland Valley Page 34 Table 3: Pollen from Sample 10, Etton Causewayed Enclosure. Page 43 Table 4: Historic Environment Record Page 55 Table 5: Period Table Page 79 Table 6: Early Neolithic Structures: Main Characteristics Page 122 Table 7: Percentage difference between cattle and sheep/goat Page 135 Table 8: Major species relative proportions, early first millennium BC sites. Comparative assemblages: Langtoft Area A (Higbee 1998), Billingbrook (IIies 1992), (After Swaysland 2004) Page 144 Table 9: Percentages of main species at Langtoft and other fen-edge Middle – Late Iron Age sites Page 144 CHAPTER 1 GENERAL INTRODUCTION 1.1 INTRODUCTION Stowe Farm is located near West Deeping, Lincolnshire, in the Lower Welland Valley (NGR 509993/311098) (Figure 1). It sits on the edge of the East Anglian Fenland, in a landscape characterised by the presence of many important archaeological sites, with particular reference to the prehistoric period. This landscape stretches from the Etton – Maxey area in Cambridgeshire to the Deepings in Lincolnshire. Gravel quarrying was, and still is, the catalyst for the discovery of many archaeological sites in this area, the investigation of which has offered, and continue to offer, the opportunity to assess large portions of the river valley. Stowe Farm was one of the many projects completed in advance of extraction and funded by the gravel industry. Unlike Etton - Maxey and West Deeping, however, the investigation and analysis of Stowe Farm were not completed and disseminated. Only interim reports were produced, and the archive was not integrated and interrogated. This MPhil project collates the Stowe Farm archival material and completes the work that was started back in 1994, with the aim to produce an informed site narrative and offer further contribution to the characterisation of the rich archaeological landscape in the context of the Lower Welland Valley. Despite the paucity of datable material from the excavated contexts, the author has successfully produced a chronologically framed site narrative based on the re- interpretation of the original site archive. The author has reviewed the available evidence and re-interpreted the original phasing by analysing feature relationships and introducing comparative information from sites in the immediate vicinity and beyond. As a result, he 1 has proposed a new interpretation of the Stowe Farm site, suggesting the presence of an Early Neolithic settlement in the Lower Welland Valley landscape at a time when the river system was particularly active and flooding episodes frequent, followed by the creation of field systems for mixed agricultural activities in the course of the Bronze Age and Iron Age. 2 Figure 1 Stowe Farm Location Map (after Kiberd 1996) 3 1.2 PREVIOUS INVESTIGATIONS AT STOWE FARM Archaeological excavations at Stowe Farm, West Deeping, Lincolnshire (Figure 1) was undertaken in advance of gravel extraction at one of the quarries operated by Redlands Aggregates. The investigation into the development of the local landscape at Stowe Farm began in 1989 with a review of the archaeological potential published in the form of a desk-based assessment (Howlett & Davidson1994). As part of the programme of non- intrusive evaluation, analysis of aerial photographs, historic survey, geophysics and fieldwalking were carried out to identify the likelihood of archaeological remains being present on the site of Stowe Farm. Based on the information gained from the non-intrusive surveys, a programme of evaluation by trial trenching was implemented across the area in late 1994, based on the specification produced by Howlett (1994), in order to characterise the extent of survival, degree of preservation, form, function and date of buried remains. The Local Authority’s brief for the specification of work was not available at the time this thesis was being written. Archaeologically, the site appeared to contain a complex system of ditches and pits dated to the prehistoric period. In addition, the site had the potential to include ceremonial and domestic elements. The archaeological evidence recovered from the evaluation by trial trenching was the basis for the later instigation of open area phased excavation, which commenced in 1995. Initially, the archaeological investigation was undertaken by Tempus Reparatum, who carried out a series of interventions following guidance contained within the