English Heritage Extensive Urban Survey An archaeological assessment of Clare Gathercole Somerset County Council County Hall TAUNTON Somerset TA1 4DY 2002 SOMERSET EXTENSIVE URBAN SURVEY TAUNTON ARCHAEOLOGICAL ASSESSMENT by Clare Gathercole CONTENTS I. INTRODUCTION ................................... .................................. 1 II. MAJOR SOURCES ............................... ................................... 1 1. Primary documents ............................ ................................ 1 2. Local histories .............................. .................................. 1 3. Maps ......................................... ............................... 1 III. A BRIEF HISTORY OF TAUNTON . .................................. 2 IV. THE ARCHAEOLOGY OF TAUNTON . .............................. 4 GENERAL COMMENTS ................................... ........................ 4 1. PREHISTORIC .................................. ............................. 5 2. ROMAN ........................................ ............................ 10 3. THE SAXON TOWN ............................... ........................... 13 4. THE MEDIEVAL AND POST-MEDIEVAL TOWN . ....................... 18 5. PRE-1800 SETTLEMENT (OUTLYING AREAS) . .......................... 42 6. INDUSTRIAL (LATE 18TH AND 19TH CENTURY) . .......................... 61 7. 20TH CENTURY ................................. ............................ 69 V. THE POTENTIAL OF TAUNTON ..................... ............................... 71 1. Research interests........................... .................................. 71 2. Areas of potentially exceptional preservation ....................................... 71 3. Limitations .................................. ................................ 71 4. Extent of current protection . .................................... 72 5. Management Proposals ......................... ............................... 72 VI. SOURCES ..................................... ................................... 72 1. General documentary (Somerset/ Wessex) . .................................. 72 2. Taunton ...................................... .............................. 73 3. Maps ......................................... .............................. 77 VII. EXCAVATIONS IN AND AROUND TAUNTON to 1997 . ............................. 78 VIII. COMPONENT INDEXES ......................... ................................ 82 1. Component to map ............................. ............................... 82 2. Component to page ............................ ............................... 83 Appendix: Maps Somerset Extensive Urban Survey - Taunton Archaeological Assessment 1 SOMERSET EXTENSIVE URBAN SURVEY TAUNTON ARCHAEOLOGICAL ASSESSMENT Somerset County Council would like to thank all the people who assisted in the compiling or editing of this report. I. INTRODUCTION This report forms one of a series commissioned by English Heritage and prepared by Somerset County Council with the aim of assessing urban archaeology as part of the Monuments Protection Programme. The work was carried out from 1994 to 1998 by Clare Gathercole and Miranda Richardson (from 1996), managed by Chris Webster. The reports are essentially as completed during that period but have been partially updated by Chris Webster with new archaeological information during 2002. English Heritage has funded two programmes assess the urban archaeological resource - intensive and extensive. The former is restricted to the major historic cities, characterised by a great depth of archaeological remains, a wealth of historical documentation and in many cases, by a great deal of archaeological investigation. The extensive urban surveys cover the smaller towns and are based on information in the local Sites and Monuments Record with limited amounts of new information collected during the project. Once the information has been collected and mapped, attention is focused on the analysis of the town plan and defining topographic units within the town. This will lead to the preparation of guidance for planners, developers and others involved in the management of the town. II. MAJOR SOURCES 1. Primary documents Primary documentary sources for Taunton and its hinterland are of variable quality and quantity. A number of early charters of the 8th, 9th, and 10th century are known, though some of these may be spurious. The association of the manor with the Bishopric of Winchester from the Saxon period onwards has resulted in detailed documentation of certain aspects of the town’s history. The Winchester Pipe Rolls, for example, provide much information on the state of the Castle from the early 13th to the mid 16th centuries. On the other hand, many of the Borough papers have been lost. 2. Local histories Though there is no Victoria County History coverage yet, Taunton has been the subject of local historians’ interest for at least two centuries. This report leans on the work of Robin Bush in particular, though it is also heavily influenced by previous archaeological assessments, more numerous and detailed for Taunton than for other towns in Somerset. The latter include those by the Taunton Research and Excavation Committee (1975) and by Leach (1984). Coverage of the surrounding settlements is limited. Whilst Trull has been the subject of detailed study by both Hallam (1953) and C W Green (1993), there is hardly any easily available material on other parishes All these sources contain more historical and archaeological detail than can be reproduced in this report. 3. Maps A number of early 19th century maps, and a very few 18th century, are available for Taunton and the surrounding area. The earliest detailed map of Taunton town centre located for this report is dated 1791; But though most of the maps are not particularly early, they do include some very high quality examples. The maps used are listed at the end of the report. 2 Somerset Extensive Urban Survey - Taunton Archaeological Assessment III. A BRIEF HISTORY OF TAUNTON Taunton and the settlements of its immediate hinterland lie within the broad, sheltered vale of the River Tone, which contains rich agricultural land on which the economic importance of the area has been based. Converging in the vale are important communications lines from the uplands and the Levels, including the River Tone itself (though the river’s navigable limit has varied over the centuries). Taunton lies at a crossing point of the river, but other historically important settlements in the hinterland (including Norton and Bishop’s Hull) instead overlook the vale. The hillfort of Norton Fitzwarren represents the first known ‘central place’ in the vale, and was in many respects the predecessor of modern Taunton. The site was use in various forms from the Neolithic period onwards, and is believed to have been during the later prehistoric period an important interchange point on the boundary between two tribes. The surrounding settlement and landscape pattern is still not fully understood, but it seems clear that Norton dominated a densely settled and farmed area. A number of settlement sites have already been revealed by excavation (including one in the town centre) and aerial photographic survey, and it is probable that many more existed. The partial abandonment of Norton in the 1st and 2nd centuries AD is the clearest indication in the Taunton area of the impact of the Romans. However, it appears that eventually (in the 3rd and 4th centuries) the site was reoccupied, perhaps representing a resurgence of native British traditions. Elsewhere, continuity of settlement seems likely and, indeed, has been shown on some excavated sites. Ample evidence of Roman activity in the vale has been recovered in the form of coin and pottery finds, though this can not always be linked to specific sites. Whether there was settlement on the site of Taunton itself is not yet known: no structural evidence has yet been recovered, except for the remains of a small number of agricultural drainage ditches. The first historical reference to Taunton is in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle for 722. The entry records the destruction (or demolition) of Taunton, built by Ine, by his wife, Queen Aethelburh. This probably refers to a fortified centre associated with the expansion of Wessex under Ine, which was in 722 slighted by Aethelburh to prevent its use by rebels against her husband. The omission of Taunton from the later Burghal Hidage (c900 AD) appears to indicate that the first site was not refortified. Indeed, it is possible that it was not reoccupied, and that it was not the same site as later Saxon or medieval Taunton occupied. The Tone Vale estates were extensive and it has been suggested that Ine may have had his fort at Norton Fitzwarren, in the hillfort, or at Bishop’s Hull (Dunning & Pearson, 1975). Local traditions also associate the Dragon of Wessex with Norton, though archaeological evidence is lacking. The foundation of a minster at Taunton, probably by the wife of Ine’s successor in the mid 8th century, may mark the beginning of the town of Taunton. The minster, with a limited estate, was granted to the See of Winchester at a very early stage in its history, and lands were subsequently added to the minster estates in the 8th and 9th centuries. However, most of the manor was retained by the kings of Wessex, and it was they who first developed it as an important administrative, judicial and commercial centre for the extensive Tone Vale estate which stretched from the Quantocks to the