Billingbear Golf Course, Billingbear, Bracknell, Berkshire
An Archaeological Evaluation
for Sunaction Ltd
by Jo Pine
Thames Valley Archaeological Services
Site Code BGC00/12
March 2000
Summary
Site name: Billingbear Golf Course, Billingbear, Bracknell, Berkshire
Grid reference: SU 82137256 and SU 82217233
Site activity: Evaluation trenching
Date and duration of project: 7th–10th March 2000
Area of site: 3150 sq. m
Summary of results: Seven trenches (1–5, 7 and 8) were excavated. Trench 6 was not dug due to the presence of a live service. Trench 2 contained a posthole of probable modern origin whilst the remaining trenches did not contain any archaeological deposits and no finds were retrieved from the resultant spoilheaps. The geology encountered was gravel, sand and clay patches.
Site code: BGC00/12
Monuments identified: Posthole – modern.
Location and reference of archive: The archive is currently held by Thames Valley Archaeological Services,
47–49 De Beauvoir Road, Reading, Berkshire, RG1 5 NR. It is anticipated that the archive will be deposited with Reading Museum in due course.
i Billingbear Golf Course, Billingbear, Bracknell, Berkshire An Archaeological Evaluation
by Jo Pine
Report 00/12
Introduction
This report documents the results of an archaeological field evaluation carried out at Billingbear Golf Course,
Billingbear, Bracknell, Berkshire (SU 82137256 and SU 82217233) (Fig. 1). The work was commissioned by Mr
T Platt of TPA, 33A St Luke’s Road, Maidenhead, Berkshire, SL6 7DN, on behalf of Sunaction Ltd. Planning permission (98/34110) has been granted by the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead for the construction of a club house, manager’s bungalow, garage and access road. A field evaluation was requested in accordance with the Department of the Environment’s Policy and Planning Guidance Note Archaeology and Planning (PPG
16 1990) and the Borough’s policies on archaeology. The specification was approved by Mr R Bourn, Senior
Archaeologist of Babtie, who advise the Borough on matters relating to archaeology. The fieldwork was undertaken by Jo Pine, assisted by Nicola Powell between the 7th and 10th of March 2000. The site code is
BGC00/12.
Location, Topography and Geology
The site is located on the west side of Billingbear Park, adjacent to the Straight Mile and the M4 motorway (Fig.
1). The site comprises two areas, one to the south where the bungalow and garage are to be constructed, and an area to the north where the club house and car parking are to be located (Fig. 2). At the time of the fieldwork the proposal site was open land on the fringes of the golf course. Within the northern area of the site was a mound of topsoil and overburden. The site lies on level ground at an approximate height of c. 42m above Ordnance Datum.
The British Geological Survey shows the underlying geology to be London Clay (BGS 1978). This was not encountered in the evaluation trenches but bands of gravel, sand and areas of clay were recorded. This geology was also encountered within a nearby trench for an electricity cable (Mr Blainey pers. comm.).
Archaeological Background
The site lies within the western part of Billingbear Park, a Medieval deer park founded by the Bishops of
Winchester. The land subsequently became part of a formal park landscaped around a mansion built in 1567, but
1 destroyed in 1923. Fieldwalking of the area, undertaken during the extensive East Berkshire Survey, recorded finds of prehistoric, Roman and Medieval date in several locations near to the proposal site (Ford 1987).
Objectives and Methodology
The purpose of the evaluation was to determine the presence/absence, extent, condition, character, quality and date of any archaeological deposits within the area of development. This was to be achieved by excavating six trenches 10m long and 1.6m wide in the area of the club house and car park and two trenches 5m long and 1.6m wide in the area of the bungalow and garage. In the event the location, lengths and number of trenches in the northern area had to be altered slightly due to access and the presence of a live service, which was located where a number of the northern trenches were to be excavated. In total, seven trenches were excavated (numbered 1–5 and 7–8) between 5.20m and 13.50m in length and all 1.6m wide (Fig. 2).
The topsoil and overburden was removed using a JCB-type machine fitted with a toothless ditching bucket.
The natural gravel, sand and clay was truncated slightly to confirm it as natural. The machining was conducted under direct and continuous archaeological supervision and the spoilheaps were monitored for finds. All certain and potential archaeological deposits were hand cleaned and a full written, drawn and photographic record of the trenches and archaeological deposits was made.
A complete list of trenches giving lengths, breadths, depths and a description of sections and geology is given in Appendix 1.
Results
The stratigraphy in all the trenches was relatively uniform apart from those excavated through the mound of topsoil and overburden.
Trenches 1 and 2
The sections of Trenches 1 and 2 illustrate that topsoil 0.30m deep overlay light grey gravel between 0.23m and
0.26m deep. This in turn overlay orange-brown gravel, patches of orange sands and grey-brown clay. A test pit at the northern end of Trench 2 confirmed that the orange brown gravels were over 0.42m deep. Within Trench 2 was a posthole (1), which cut the light grey gravel. The posthole was 0.20m in diameter and 0.17m deep. Its silty clay and gravel fill (51) did not contain any dateable finds but large quantities of burnt wooden post from the fill suggest a modern date for this feature. Trench 1 had been badly truncated by land drains. No finds were recovered from the spoilheaps of these trenches.
2 Trenches 3, 4 and 5
The sections of these trenches showed topsoil between 0.30m and 0.34m deep lying directly over orange-brown gravel, sand and grey-brown clay patches. No archaeological features were recorded and no finds were recovered from the resultant spoilheaps.
Trenches 7 and 8
These trenches were excavated through the mound of topsoil and overburden (Figs 2 and 4). The sections showed topsoil between 0.30m and 0.33m deep overlay a redeposited layer of orange-brown gravel and clay between 0.40m and 0.60m deep. These in turn overlay a buried topsoil of humic dark brown clayey silt. This was between 0.30m and 0.33m deep and sat directly over gravel. No archaeological features were observed in these trenches and no finds were recovered from the resultant spoilheaps.
Finds
No finds were recovered during the evaluation.
Conclusion
A posthole, probably of modern origin, was recorded in Trench 2 but no other archaeological deposits were discovered in the other trenches. No finds were retrieved from the spoilheaps of any of the trenches. On the basis of these results the site would not appear to have any archaeological potential.
References BGS, 1978, British Geological Survey, 1:50 000, Sheet 269, Solid and Drift Edition, Keyworth Ford, S, 1987b, The East Berkshire Archaeological Survey, Berkshire County Council Department of Highways and Planning, Occ Paper 1, Reading PPG 16, 1990, Archaeology and Planning, Department of the Environment Planning Policy Guidance Note 16, HMSO
3
Appendix 1: Trench details
Trench Length (m) Width (m) Depth (m) Comment 1 5.70 1.60 0.80 (max) Topsoil 0.30m deep onto light grey gravels 0.23m deep (max) onto orange-brown gravel, sand and brown-grey clay. Land drains present. 2 5.20 1.60 0.90 (max) Topsoil 0.30m deep onto light grey gravel 0.26m deep (max) onto orange-brown gravel, sand and grey-brown clay. Test pit at northern end. Modern posthole (1). 3 9.50 1.60 0.60 (max) Topsoil 0.30m deep onto gravel, sand and clay patches. 4 6.10 1.60 0.48 Topsoil 0.42m deep onto orange-grey gravel, sand and brownish-grey clay patches. 5 11.00 1.60 0.60 Topsoil 0.30m deep onto orange-brown gravel and sand. 6 - - - Not excavated – area occupied by new electric cable trench. 7 10.10 1.60 1.30 (max) Topsoil 0.33m deep onto orange-brown gravel and brownish-grey clay 0.60m deep. This in turn overlay buried topsoil 0. 33m deep which overlay gravel. 8 13.50 1.60 1.20 (max) Topsoil 0.33m deep onto orange-brown gravel and grey-brown clay between 0.40m – 0.43m deep. This in turn overlay buried topsoil 0.33m deep which overlay gravel.
4 SITE
75000
74000
73000 SITE
72000
71000
SU81000 82000 83000 84000 BGC00/12 Billingbear Golf Course, Billingbear, Bracknell, Berkshire, 2000
Figure 1. Location of site within Billingbear and Berkshire.
Reproduced from Ordnance Survey Pathfinder SU87/97 1:25000 Ordnance Survey Licence AL52324A0001 Billingbear Golf Course, Billingbear, Bracknell, Berkshire, 2000
N
72700
4 M
72600 4 3 Lake 5 7 Section 2 8
72500
T h e S t r a i g h t
M i l e
72400
1
2 1
72300
SU82100 82200 82300 82400
0 200m
Figure 2. Trench location plan showing all archaeological features. BGC00/12
Billingbear Golf Course, Billingbear, Bracknell, Berkshire, 2000 N
Section 3
1 Section 1
1m 2m 3m 4m 5m test pit
0 2m
Figure 3. Plan of trench 2 showing all archaeological features. BGC00/12 Billingbear Golf Course, Billingbear, Bracknell, 2000
Section 1 Section 2 SSN N 42.30mAOD 43.31mAOD
51 topsoil
1
redeposited gravel and clay
buried topsoil
gravel
Section 3 S N
43.87AOD
light grey gravel
redeposited gravel and clay
brown/grey clay orange/brown gravel
0 1m
Figure 4. Representative sections of trenches 2 and 8 and section of posthole 1. BGC00/12 Plate 1. Trench 2 looking north showing posthole 1, scales: 1m and 2m.
Plate 2. Trench 5 looking north, scale: 1m and 2m.
BGC00/12