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Northamptonshire Archaeology

An Archaeological Watching Brief

At The SAS Institute

Medmenham, Buckinghamshire

July 2001 – June 2002

Mark Holmes

January 2005

Report 05/13 ______

Northamptonshire Archaeology 2 Bolton House Wootton Hall Park Northampton NN4 8BE w. www.northantsarchaeology.co.uk t. 01604 700493/4 f. 01604 702822 e. [email protected] SAS INSTITUTE, MEDMENHAM

STAFF

Project Manager Steve Parry MA MIFA Text Mark Holmes MA Fieldwork Mark Holmes Steve Hayward BA Peter Masters BA HND PIFA Illustrations Hari Anne Jacklin MA Mark Holmes

QUALITY CONTROL

Print name Signed Date Checked by Steve Parry Verified by Pat Chapman Approved by Andy Chapman

Northamptonshire Archaeology Report 05/013

SAS INSTITUTE, MEDMENHAM

OASIS REPORT FORM

PROJECT DETAILS Project title An Archaeological Watching Brief At The SAS Institute, Medmenham, Buckinghamshire. Short description An archaeological watching brief was undertaken by (250 words maximum) Northamptonshire Archaeology during groundworks connected with construction of new offices and associated sports facilities of the SAS Institute, Medmenham, Buckinghamshire. Scattered pits were found at various locations within the grounds, one of which produced a small quantity of Iron Age pottery.

Project type Watching brief

Previous work Archaeological Desk Top Assessment (Higgins 1998) (reference to organisation Archaeological Trial Trenching CAS 1999.37 or SMR numbers etc) (Northamptonshire Archaeology 1998). Future work Unknown (yes, no, unknown) Monument type Hillfort, Iron Age and period Military, Modern Significant finds Worked Flint, Prehistoric (artefact type and period) Pottery, Iron Age PROJECT LOCATION County Buckinghamshire Site address SAS Institute, Henley Road, Medmenham, Marlow, (including postcode) Bucks, SL7 2EB Easting (use 2-numeral 1817 100km grid square no.) Northing 4846 Height OD PROJECT CREATORS Organisation Northamptonshire Archaeology Project brief originator Bucks County Archaeological Service Project Design originator Northamptonshire Archaeology Director/Supervisor Mark Holmes Project Manager Steve Parry Sponsor or funding body Costain Ltd PROJECT DATE Start date July 2001 End date June 2002 ARCHIVES Location Content (eg pottery, animal bone (Accession no.) etc) Physical Pottery, flint, burnt clay, bone.

Paper Sections, plans, record forms, colour slides, B&W contacts. Digital None

BIBLIOGRAPHY Title Serial title & volume Author(s) Page numbers

Northamptonshire Archaeology Report 05/013

SAS INSTITUTE, MEDMENHAM

Contents

1 INTRODUCTION

2 BACKGROUND

3 OBJECTIVES AND METHODOLOGY

4 THE RECORDED EVIDENCE

5 CONCLUSIONS

BIBLIOGRAPHY

APPENDICES

A1 The worked flint by Andy Chapman A2 The Iron Age pottery by Andy Chapman A3 The fired ceramic by Andy Chapman

Figures Fig 1: Site location Fig 2: Location of features Fig 3: Features [01], [05], [07], [09] Fig 4: Feature [03] Fig 5: Sections

Plates Plate 1: Modern disturbance to the north of the hillfort ramparts Plate 2: Pit [03] Plate 3: Pit [05] Plate 4: Pit [07] Plate 5: Pit [09] Plate 6: Pits [05], [07], [09] looking south-west Plate 7: Top of icehouse exposed during groundworks

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SAS INSTITUTE, MEDMENHAM

AN ARCHAEOLOGICAL WATCHING BRIEF AT THE SAS INSTITUTE MEDMENHAM, BUCKINGHAMSHIRE

July 2001 – June 2002

ABSTRACT

An archaeological watching brief was undertaken by Northamptonshire Archaeology during groundworks connected with construction of new offices and associated sports facilities for the SAS Institute, Medmenham, Buckinghamshire. Scattered pits were found at various locations within the grounds, one of which produced a small quantity of Iron Age pottery.

1 INTRODUCTION

Northamptonshire Archaeology carried out an archaeological watching brief during groundworks connected with construction of new offices and sports facilities for the SAS Institute, Medmenham, Buckinghamshire (NGR SU 817846: Fig 1).

The work was undertaken on behalf of Brocklehurst Architects acting for their client Costain Ltd in order to fulfil the requirements of a brief for archaeological works issued by the Buckinghamshire County Archaeological Service on the 7 June 2001.

An accompanying watching brief was also maintained during associated works within part of the adjacent hillfort known as Danesfield Camp (Scheduled Ancient Monument No 27156). This watching brief was undertaken under the terms of Scheduled Monument Consent issued by the Department for Media Culture and Sport.

2 BACKGROUND

2.1 Location and Topography

The development area comprised c 20ha of land located within the grounds of the former RAF Medmenham and bounded by the A4155 road to the north and west (Fig 1). The SAS Institute and Danesfield Hotel are situated at the east and south respectively. The ground slopes very gently to the south towards the River Thames, which lies c 350m away, and the underlying geology comprises plateau gravels.

Overlooking the River Thames is the large multivallate, Iron Age Hillfort of Danesfield Camp. Parts of the hillfort's northern ramparts encroach into the area as surviving

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earthworks, but were unaffected by the development. However, a former sewage treatment plant within the hillfort’s interior was decommissioned as part of the work.

2.2 Archaeological Background An archaeological evaluation comprising desk-based assessment and trial trenching was carried out prior to development (Higgins 1998, NA1998). The desk-based assessment showed that the development area was originally part of a medieval estate. Following a division of the estate in the mid 17th century, a succession of residences was built on the site. The location of the earliest of these (`Medlycotts') is unknown although it may lie in the same place as its successors (`Danesfield House' I and II) whose position, along with ancillary buildings, is marked on 19th century maps of the area. Danesfield II included the addition of a chapel designed by Augustus Pugin and finished by his son in c 1853. The building survived until c 1901 when the final demolition took place and Danesfield was rebuilt to the south of its predecessors within the interior of the hillfort (Higgins op cit, 4.3). The subsequent trial trenching identified truncated structural remains belonging to Danesfield House, as well as those of a contemporary icehouse. Scattered pits and ditches of probable Iron Age date were also revealed. A further watching brief was undertaken within the Hillfort during a programme of test-pitting, but no archaeological features were present (NA 1999).

3 OBJECTIVES AND METHODOLOGY

The aims of the watching brief were:

1) To identify, record and investigate any prehistoric remains affected by the development in order to establish their character date and extent. Particular attention would be paid to possible outworks associated with the hillfort.

2) To record any remains of the post-medieval manor revealed by the development.

To achieve these aims, the groundworks in five specific areas were archaeologically monitored (Fig 2): 1) Car parks to the east and south of the phase 1 building 2) Associated access roads 3) Cricket pitch 4) Estate compound 5) Contaminated ground adjacent to the hillfort

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A watching brief was also maintained during works within the bounds of the Scheduled Ancient Monument of the hillfort.

Within these areas the removal of soil above the natural geology was undertaken using a mechanical excavator fitted with a toothless ditching bucket and supervised by an archaeologist. Where archaeological features were revealed these were cleaned by hand and then sampled and recorded. A location plan of the features was drawn at 1:200 and related to the Ordnance Survey National Grid. A photographic and written record was maintained for all observations throughout the development.

4 THE RECORDED EVIDENCE

4.1 The development area

Observation of soil stripping throughout the development area revealed the following general stratigraphic sequence: the undisturbed natural geology comprised orange gravels; over this lay a grey loam subsoil, up to 300mm, deep containing frequent gravel and natural flint inclusions. The topsoil across the site was a mid grey loam, between 120mm and 200mm thick. All archaeological features were cut into the natural gravel geology and sealed by the subsoil.

The exception to this general stratigraphic sequence occurred in the area immediately north of the hillfort. Here, extensive areas of modern rubbish dumps, some at least 0.90m deep, lay immediately beneath the topsoil (Plate 1). The material included 19th and early 20th - century ceramics, glass bottles, building material, a cow burial and other detritus set within a dark black humic soil. Similar material was found during the earlier evaluation of the area when it was interpreted as infilling of 20th-century quarry pits (NA 1998, 4.3).

Elsewhere, observation of the groundworks revealed a total of five possible pits:

Pit [01] (Fig 3, Fig 5 Section 1) An isolated, small circular pit or posthole, 0.40m diameter and 0.20m deep. It had a flat base and rounded sides and was filled with brown sandy clay with frequent gravel inclusions. There were no finds.

Pit [03] (Fig 4, Fig 5 Section 2, Plate 2) A pit, 1.20m in diameter and 0.23m deep. It contained a dark grey silty clay with frequent gravel, charcoal and burnt stone inclusions. Twelve sherds of later middle Iron Age pottery

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were recovered from the fill along with some fragments of fired clay (possibly from a loomweight), a burnt flint and a single fragment of animal bone. The feature lay close to one of the former evaluation trenches where two similar pits, also containing later middle Iron Age pottery had been discovered (NA 1998, 5.5). It is likely the features are related.

Pits [05][07][09] (Fig 3, Fig 5 Sections 3, 4 and 5, Plates 3, 4, 5 and 6) A group of three pits were revealed, spaced approximately 1.10m apart. Pits [05] and [07] had flattish bases whilst pit [9] had a more rounded profile. All three had similar single fills comprising a brownish sandy clay with frequent large stones and gravel inclusions. Pit [09] was 1.20m in diameter and 0.24m, Pit [05] was 1.10m in diameter and 0.22m deep; Pit [07] was 1.10m in diameter and 0.26m deep. None of the fills produced any dating evidence.

The Iron Age material from Pit [03] were the only stratified finds recovered during the watching brief, however, two unstratified flint flakes were recovered from the subsoil during machining for the car park at the east of the new Phase 1 building (see Appendix 2).

Other features During ground clearance to the north of the hillfort, the top of an icehouse previously located during the evaluation trenching was exposed (Plate 7). The developers decided to leave the feature in situ and it was therefore reburied and left undisturbed.

4.2 The scheduled area Works involving the scheduled area comprised the demolition and backfilling of former Sewage Treatment Works within the northern part of the hillfort. Observations during this work revealed no archaeological features, but confirmed previous watching brief results that suggested the area had experienced much modern interference which had either destroyed or been dumped upon earlier levels (NA 1999, 3.3)

5 CONCLUSIONS

The watching brief confirmed the results of the original evaluation. The presence of scattered pits, probably of Iron Age date, suggests sporadic undefined activity outside the area of the hillfort. There was no indication that there were ever any additional defences for the hillfort extending into the development area.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Higgins, D A, 1998 SAS Institute, Upper Whittington, Buckinghamshire Archaeological Desk Top Assessment And Specification For Trial Trenching

NA, 1998 SAS Institute, Upper Whittington, Buckinghamshire, Archaeological Evaluation, Northamptonshire Archaeology report

NA, 1999 Danesfield Camp, Medmenham, Bucks Scheduled Ancient Monument No: 27156 Archaeological Watching Brief, Northamptonshire Archaeology report

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APPENDICES APPENDIX 1

The worked flint Andy Chapman

Two pieces of worked flint were recovered as unstratified finds in the car park area (approximately SU 81848469). A large irregular flake, 53mm long, has abrupt retouch along both edges. An oval flake, 39mm long, has been retouched to form an end/side scraper.

APPENDIX 2

The Iron Age pottery Andy Chapman

A total of 12 sherds of pottery, weighing 45g, was recovered from a single context, (4), from Pit [3]. All the sherds are in a similar hard, fine sandy fabric, containing small pieces of quartz. The core is dark grey and while a majority of the sherds have grey surfaces four sherds have an oxidised, brown external surface. It is likely that the material comes from only two vessels.

The sherds with a brown external surface include a sherd from an undecorated bowl with a plain, rounded rim and a heavily burnished external surface. The other sherds also include a plain body sherd with a heavily burnished external surface. While the group is small, the characteristic features indicate that it belongs to the later middle Iron Age and the burnished sherds appear to come from vessels in the southern saucepan pot tradition.

APPENDIX 3

The fired ceramic Andy Chapman

Context (4), Pit [3], contained 73g of poorly fired ceramic, in a soft sandy fabric, oxidised orange throughout and containing sparse pieces of chalk, measuring up to 5mm, and the occasional pieces of grit of similar size. The largest fragment has a roughly smoothed outer surface and a rounded, right-angled corner. This suggests that the fragments have probably come from a triangular fired-clay loomweight. A piece of burnt flint was also recovered from this context.

Northamptonshire Archaeology a service of Northamptonshire County Council 18 January 2005

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Plate 1: Modern disturbance to the north of hillfort ramparts

Plate 2: Pit [03] Plate 3: Pit [05]

Plate 4: Pit [07]

Plate 5: Pit [09]

Plate 6: Pits [05] [07] [09], looking south-west

Plate 7: Top of icehouse exposed during groundworks