Land at Midgham, Near Thatcham, Berkshire
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LAND AT MIDGHAM, NEAR THATCHAM, BERKSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVALUATION C.A.T. JOB: 1211 C.A.T. REPORT: 01091 SEPTEMBER 2001 This report has been researched and compiled with all reasonable skill, care, and attention to detail within the terms of the project as specified by the Client and within the general terms and conditions of Cotswold Archaeological Trust Ltd. The Trust shall not be liable for any inaccuracy, error or omission in the report or other documents produced as part of the Consultancy and no liability is accepted for any claim, loss or damage howsoever arising from any opinion stated or conclusion or other material contained in this report or other documents supplied as part of the Consultancy. This report is confidential to the Client. Cotswold Archaeological Trust Ltd accept no responsibility whatsoever to third parties to whom this report, or any part of it is made known. Any such party relies upon this report entirely at their own risk. © Cotswold Archaeological Trust Headquarters Building, Kemble Business Park, Cirencester, Gloucestershire, GL7 6BQ Tel. 01285 771022 Fax. 01285 771033 E-mail: [email protected] Land at Midgham, near Thatcham, Berkshire: Archaeological Evaluation CONTENTS LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS ........................................................................................... 2 SUMMARY ..................................................................................................................... 3 1. INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................... 4 1.1 Introduction ................................................................................................... 4 1.2 Landuse, geology and topography ................................................................ 5 1.3 Archaeological background .......................................................................... 5 1.4 Archaeological specification and methodology ............................................ 6 2. EVALUATION RESULTS ........................................................................................ 8 2.1 Geological deposits ....................................................................................... 8 2.2 Palaeochannel ............................................................................................... 8 2.3 Post-medieval or modern feature .................................................................. 8 3. DISCUSSION ............................................................................................................. 9 4. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................................ 9 5. PROJECT TEAM ....................................................................................................... 10 6. BIBLIOGRAPHY ....................................................................................................... 10 APPENDIX 1 ................................................................................................................... 13 Trench Stratigraphy ................................................................................................ 13 1 Land at Midgham, near Thatcham, Berkshire: Archaeological Evaluation LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Figure 1: Location map .................................................................................................... 11 Figure 2: Trench location plan, showing former stream course [804] and ditch [404] ... 12 2 Land at Midgham, near Thatcham, Berkshire: Archaeological Evaluation SUMMARY Site name: Land at Midgham Location: Midgham, near Thatcham, Berkshire NGR: SU 554 665 Type: Evaluation Date of fieldwork: 17th-20th September 2001 Site code: BRM01 Location of Archive: West Berkshire Museum In September 2001 Cotswold Archaeological Trust (CAT) carried out an archaeological evaluation, in advance of proposed gravel extraction, of land adjoining existing works at Midgham Quarry, near Thatcham, Berkshire. The site lies in an area of archaeological potential as identified by previous archaeological fieldwork in the site locality which has recovered stray finds and occupation-related features of Mesolithic date. Evaluation trenching has revealed no features of prehistoric or later date, with the exception of a single ditch noted within trench 4a and a natural palaeochannel within trench 8. The ditch yielded no dating evidence but contained settled topsoil within it, alluding to a probable post-medieval or early-modern date. Natural palaeochannel contained a basal silt fill, containing wood fragments, and a secondary peaty fill. No artefactual material was present, however, from the stream channel fills, or from subsoil and topsoil horizons within the site, to suggest the presence of settlement or activity across the application area. 3 Land at Midgham, near Thatcham, Berkshire: Archaeological Evaluation 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 Introduction 1.1.1 In July 2001 Cotswold Archaeological Trust (CAT) was commissioned by D.K. Symes Associates, on behalf of Marley Building Materials Limited, to carry out an archaeological evaluation of land at Midgham Quarry, near Thatcham, Berkshire (centred on NGR: SU 554 665; Figs. 1 and 2). An application has been made for the extraction of gravel from a site adjoining the existing works. 1.1.2 The local planning authority, West Berkshire Council, has requested that an archaeological field evaluation of the site be carried out in advance of determination of the application. 1.1.3 The fieldwork has been undertaken in accordance with a detailed project design (CAT 2001) approved by Veronica Fiorato, Archaeological Officer, Heritage Section, West Berkshire Council. The fieldwork also followed the Standard and Guidance for Archaeological Evaluations issued by the Institute of Field Archaeologists (IFA 1994) and the Management of Archaeological Projects (MAP2) issued by English Heritage. Notification of the start of site works was made to Ms. Fiorato and the opportunity given to monitor the progress and quality of the fieldwork. 1.1.4 The report is structured as follows. The remainder of section 1 sets the background to the fieldwork, examining the site landuse, geology and topography, the archaeological background and the objectives and adopted methodology of field evaluation. Section 2 summarises the fieldwork results, whilst section 3 presents a discussion of these results. 4 Land at Midgham, near Thatcham, Berkshire: Archaeological Evaluation 1.2 Landuse, geology and topography 1.2.1 The application area lies on the southern side of the A4, between Thatcham and Woolhampton, and to the east of the Midgham to Brimpton Road. The site, approximately 0.8ha in size, is currently rough grassland with evidence for past drainage and water management features visible on the surface of the pasture. 1.2.2 The underlying geology of the site is recorded as river terrace gravels and sands overlying London Clay deposits (O.S 1977; Institute of Geological Sciences 1979). 1.2.3 The proposed extraction area lies on the floodplain of the River Kennet, c. 3m below the level of the terrace gravels, at approximately 61m O.D. 1.3 Archaeological background 1.3.1 The Kennet Valley in this area is particularly noted archaeologically for its evidence of Mesolithic occupation. This generally takes the form of stray finds of worked flint (at SU 5550 6605, SU 5440 6610 and SU 5536 6610) but a Mesolithic occupation site with intact deposits and associated artefactual assemblages was excavated by Wessex Archaeology c. 200m to the south of the application site at Kennetholme Farm (at SU 555 561). 1.3.2 In 1987 Wessex Archaeology carried out a field evaluation of the land immediately to the east of the application site in advance of gravel extraction (Heaton & Lobb 1987). The evaluation suggested that the main river channel may have been further north than its present course and that Mesolithic occupation may have been removed by river action or lay on the higher ground to the south-west. Earthwork features relating to a ?post-medieval water meadow system were noted. 5 Land at Midgham, near Thatcham, Berkshire: Archaeological Evaluation 1.3.3 Another evaluation of land at Midgham Bridge, Brimpton, to the south-east (at SU 537 563) was carried out in 1988 by Wessex Archaeology (Trott & Lobb 1988). A single Mesolithic flint blade was recovered from a former stream channel but no other evidence of settlement was recovered. Again, evidence for several palaeochannels associated with the Kennet river system was recovered, particularly within the northern part of the site. 1.3.4 The application site has previously been the subject of a detailed pilot auger survey carried out by Mike Allen of Wessex Archaeology. This showed the existence of peat and later calcareous deposits associated with palaeochannels and the changing riverine environment, and the possible existence of gravel islands within the river system. It did not prove possible however to map the palaeochannels over any distance to determine the exact extent of the gravel islands within the site, although it was suggested that the islands were less than 175m in extent. 1.3.5 Occupation from the later prehistoric, Roman and historic periods is recorded within the locality but no previous archaeological finds or features are known from the application area. 1.4 Archaeological specification and methodology 1.4.1 The evaluation was designed to establish whether archaeological deposits lay within the study area and, if so, to determine their extent, date,