Historical and Archaeological Summary
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By NCC PLACE at 1:19 pm, Nov 21, 2017 Historical and Archaeological Summary: Proposed Eastern Extension of Bestwood II Quarry, Papplewick, Nottingham Report Reference: CE-BS1034-RP02 - FINAL (16/55) Produced by Crestwood Environmental Ltd. in conjunction with MOLA 19 September 2016 BESTWOOD QUARRY, NOTTINGHAMSHIRE Contents 1 INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................1 2 BACKGROUND.........................................................................................1 3 THE HISTORY OF THE QUARRY……....................................................3 4 NOTTINGHAMSHIRE HISTORIC ENVIRONMENT RECORD................3 5 HISTORIC MAP REGRESSION...............................................................9 6 PREVIOUS ARCHAEOLOGICAL WORKS.............................................11 7 ARCHAEOLOGICAL POTENTIAL………...............................................11 BIBLIOGRAPHY……………………………..............................................12 Tables Table 1: Nottinghamshire Historic Environment Record data for a 1km search radius, annotated with Historic England List UID numbers where relevant Figures Front cover: Site location on 1:25,000 OS map Fig 1: Site location Fig 2: Undated photo of the monument, from http://www.papplewick.org/local/history/howe.html Fig 3: The monument in its new location, photographed in 2007 © Mr Peter J Ellis, http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/details/default.aspx?id=4289 45 Fig 4: Historic Environment Record (HER) data Report CE-BS1034-RP02 - FINAL (16/55) i Historical and archaeological summary of Bestwood Quarry Nottinghamshire SITE NAME: Bestwood 2 Quarry, Nottinghamshire NATIONAL GRID REF: SK 57380 52512 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Crestwood Environmental Ltd. has been commissioned to produce a summary of the archaeological and historical background of a proposed extension of Bestwood 2 Quarry, Nottinghamshire. A number of sources, including the Historic Environment Record and historical maps, have been examined to determine the history of the proposed extension of Bestwood Quarry up to the present day. No designated or undesignated heritage assets are to be found within the area of the proposed extension, and there is no evidence to suggest that there are any known buried archaeological features within the proposed extension. As such, it can be inferred that the potential of the site to produce buried archaeological remains is low. 1 INTRODUCTION Crestwood Environmental Ltd. has been commissioned to produce an historical and archaeological summary for inclusion as a Technical Appendix in a planning statement for the extension of Bestwood Quarry in Nottinghamshire (Fig 1). The work has been undertaken in conjunction with MOLA. The summary will include a discussion of the historical and archaeological background of the proposed extension area, including a search of the Nottinghamshire Historic Environment Record and a historic map regression exercise. This document does not fulfil the requirements of a full Desk- Based Assessment and should be utilised only as a technical summary. 2 BACKGROUND Location, topography and geology Bestwood Quarry currently occupies a c.30ha area of land. It is situated around 5.5km north of Nottingham, and 1.2km south of the village of Ravenshead in the Gedling district of Nottinghamshire (Fig 1). The quarry area is currently bounded to the west by the route of Mansfield Road (A60). Beyond the road to the west lies a belt of woodland, and to the north, south and east the site is enclosed by arable and pastural agricultural land. Report CE-BS1034-RP02 - FINAL (16/55) Page 1 of 12 \ / \ .135 / / / racks / arm /' -/ 520 Forest Farm Cottages o 0 500m D Eastern expansion area D Extraction areas © Crown Copyright 2016. All rights reserved. Licence Number 100047514 D Site location Scale 1:10000 Site location, extraction areas and expansion areas Fig 1 BESTWOOD QUARRY, NOTTINGHAMSHIRE The land the quarry is situated on slopes down to the north-east, falling from a height of c.127m above Ordnance Datum (aOD) along the southern edge of the site, to c.110m aOD to the north-east. The underlying geology of the area is mapped as Nottingham Castle Sandstone Formation (BGS 2016). Overlying deposits are not recorded. Previous applications for extension were granted in 1997, and 2001, and an application for increase of depth within the area in 2008. The area of the proposed extension lies to the eastern side of the main quarry area. It is centred on SK 57380 52512 in an area of former woodland. An area of approx. 3.3ha will newly be targeted for extraction. 3 THE HISTORY OF THE QUARRY The following history of Bestwood 2 Quarry is drawn from Nottinghamshire’s Adopted Minerals Local Plan (Webster 2005), and previous approved planning applications. Bestwood II Quarry is one of seven permitted mineral extraction sites working the Sherwood Sandstone outcrop. The quarrying of sand at the site of the Bestwood Quarry was being undertaken from at least the 1940s. The quarry changed ownership in the early 1980s, after which it became a major producer of Sherwood Sandstone and red building sand. This product is used in asphalt mortars where it supplies a ready mixed mortar plant on site, and for horticultural use. An extension of the site to this east was granted in 2001, and was undertaken within an area of woodland designated as a SINC (Sites of Importance for Nature Conservation). The loss of a part of this SINC was mitigated through the proposed reclamation scheme, which will create a new area of nature conservation interest, comprising mixed heathland and woodland. In the long term, it is considered that this will increase the biodiversity. 4 NOTTINGHAMSHIRE HISTORIC ENVIRONMENT RECORD A search of the Nottinghamshire Historic Environment Record (HER) was undertaken. The results of the search are described below, detailed in Table 1, and depicted in Fig 4. There are no designated or undesignated heritage assets within the proposed quarry extension, and archaeological remains and findspots in the wider area are limited. The majority of records in the HER relate to boundary stones, plantation monuments or to the buildings of the Papplewick Pumping station. Prehistoric Over 2km to the north-west of the site, a small bronze side-looped spearhead of middle Bronze Age date was found in 1965 while digging house foundations. A small square enclosure, possibly laid around a moat, is situated around 650m to the south-west of the site (SMR L2751). It has been identified through aerial photography, and may date from the prehistoric period. Romano-British Around 1.6km to the west of the site near Newstead Grange, it is recorded that in 1949 around 10 coins were found. These were locally identified as Roman but their location is now unknown (Historic England’s Pastscape Mon ID 318031). No further Romano-British finds or features are known. Report CE-BS1034-RP02 - FINAL (16/55) Page 3 of 12 BESTWOOD QUARRY, NOTTINGHAMSHIRE Medieval A low earthwork bank previously ran along the boundary between the parishes of Newstead (now Ravenshead) and Papplewick (SMR L12154). At the point where it passed along the southern edge of the quarry, the bank is recorded as being c.1.5m across and less than 0.5m high, and it was noted that weathered, randomly pitched stonework was exposed along the bank by erosion. Towards the east, the feature took on the form of a hollow way, with a slight bank on the north marking the parish line, before eventually becoming a substantial terraced trackway with a bank (Challis and Appleton 1998). The previous expansions of the quarry into this area mean it is no longer extant (former location marked on Fig 4). Other indistinct earthworks are noted from within Howe and Longdale Plantations, probably early 20th-century trackways and a possible historic sand pit (ibid). A circular feature, possibly a pond, has been identified from aerial photography around 1km to the south-east of the quarry (SMR L2750). The date of this feature is unknown; it could be a medieval or post-medieval feature. Historic England records the location of a venerable oak, known as Stump Oak, which was situated in the fields to the west of Mansfield Road c.850m west of the site. There was no record of the tree on historic maps after 1959. Post-medieval and modern Around 2.4km south-west of the proposed quarry extension is the Grade I Listed Building of Papplewick Hall (List UID: 1265296), with its Grade II* Registered Park and Garden (List UID 1001084). This building was built or re-built in 1787 for the Hon. Frederick Montague, Lord of the Treasury, and may have stood on the site of an earlier structure (Butler 1953). Montague owned 13.6ha of plantations of oak, ash, elm and other trees and was preparing another 16ha (Challis and Appleton 1998). He was also responsible for establishing much of the plantations in the area, typically naming them after commanders at naval victories. Amongst these are the Howe Plantation, which lies just to the south of the quarry, as well as plantations dedicated to Nelson (dated 1 August 1798), Warren (13 August 1798), St. Vincent (14 February 1797), and Duncan (1797). In each instance, the date of planting was commemorated on an obelisk, although several of these no longer survive (Butler 1953; Challis and Appleton 1998). The Howe Plantation obelisk (SMR M9087, Grade (II) List UID: 1264008) was formerly positioned within the planation to the east of Mansfield Road (A60), originally at SK 56864 52350 (Figs 2 and 3). The obelisk is dedicated to the naval