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T H A M E S V A L L E Y ARCHAEOLOGICAL S E R V I C E S Rowan House, Wards Cross, Hurst, Wokingham, Berkshire Archaeological Watching Brief by Cecilia Galleano and Steven Crabb Site Code: RHH17/246 (SU 7949 7406) Rowan House, Wards Cross, Hurst, Wokingham, Berkshire An Archaeological Watching Brief For Mr Mark Wilkin by Cecilia Galleano and Steven Crabb Thames Valley Archaeological Services Ltd Site Code RHH17/246 January 2018 Summary Site name: Rowan House, Wards Cross, Hurst, Wokingham, Berkshire Grid reference: SU 7949 7406 Site activity: Watching Brief Date and duration of project: 21st December 2017 Project coordinator: Tim Dawson Site supervisor: Cecilia Galleano Site code: RHH17/246 Area of site: 165 sq m Summary of results: Works had commenced on a small potion of the footing trenches of the proposed development. No archaeological deposits were encountered. Location and reference of archive: The archive is presently held at Thames Valley Archaeological Services, Reading and will be deposited when a suitable depository becomes available. This report may be copied for bona fide research or planning purposes without the explicit permission of the copyright holder. All TVAS unpublished fieldwork reports are available on our website: www.tvas.co.uk/reports/reports.asp. Report edited/checked by: Steve Ford xx.xx.19 Steve Preston xx.xx.19 i Thames Valley Archaeological Services Ltd, 47–49 De Beauvoir Road, Reading RG1 5NR Tel. (0118) 926 0552; Fax (0118) 926 0553; email tvas@tvas.co.uk; website: www.tvas.co.uk Rowan House, Wards Cross, Hurst, Wokingham, Berkshire An Archaeological Watching Brief by Cecilia Galleano and Steven Crabb Report 17/246 Introduction This report documents the results of an archaeological watching brief carried out on land associated with Rowan House, Wards Cross, Hurst, Reading, Berkshire, RG10 0DS (SU 79527402) (Fig. 1). The work was commissioned by Mr Mark Wilkin, the land owner. Planning permission has been sort since 2008 for this development, and was past under (F/2013/1757) though ‘As land at Buttercups’ has been gained from Wokingham Borough Council for the construction of a new house and garage. The consent is subject to an archaeological condition (10), that requires an archaeological watching brief to be maintained during groundworks. This is in accordance with the Department for Communities and Local Government’s National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF 2012) and Wokingham Borough Council's policies on archaeology. The field investigation was carried out to a specification approved by Ms Ellie Leary, Archaeology Officer with Berkshire Archaeology, archaeological advisers to the Borough Council on matters pertaining to archaeology in the planning system. The fieldwork was undertaken by Cecilia Galleano on the 21st of December 2017 and the site code is RHH 17/246. The archive is presently held at Thames Valley Archaeological Services, Reading and will be deposited when a suitable depository becomes available. Location, topography and geology The site is located south of Broadwater Lane (A321) at Wards Cross, which sits between the dispersed settlement of Hurst to the south east and the small settlement of Whistley Green to the west. These areas villages are themselves located to the south of Twyford, on the east side of the Loddon river valley. A line of properties south of Broadwater Lane and are of mixed date, and though some are modern, some have older cores such as the adjacent property, known as Rowan House? (Buttercups on Listing, Grade II; 1117399). It also has been re- fronted in the 18th century and extended in the 19th century (Fig. 2 and 3). Two others property further to the east are also heavily modified 17th century properties. by existing properties and by open farmland to the south. The site is currently part of the southern garden of Rowan House, in area to the adjoining properties to the north 1 east. The underlying geology is Kempton Park Gravel Member (2nd terrace floodplain gravel, clay and sand), deposits of the River Loddon, overlying clay (BGS Geoindex; BGS 2000). The site lies at a height of c.37m above Ordnance Datum. Archaeological background Generally, the river valleys of the River Thames, and its tributary, the river gravels of the Loddon are archaeologically rich, with a range of sites yielding artefacts and features of prehistoric to modern date (i.e; Gate 1975; Ford 1987; Ford 1994-7). Three excavations have taken place close to the village prior to gravel extraction, that was extensive in the late 1980’s. A Mesolithic site, west of Whistley Green (Harding and Richards 1993) was located and a another located a Roman trackway, cutting a fragment of a Late Iron Age field system north of Whistley Green (Barnes and Hawkins 1994). Another found late Bronze Age to Roman deposits, with an emphasis on animal husbandry within a pastoral community, found at Lea Farm (Manning and Moore 2011). The manor of Whistley Green existed before the Norman Conquest and was held by 1086 by Abbot Rainald of Abingdon according to the Domesday Book (Williams and Martin, 2002, 144), with the local parish church subject to Sonning (VCH 1923). The eastern Loddon is defined ‘by a narrow strip of alluvial meadow land bordering the river, liable to floods with further east, a slightly raised terrace of gravel on which most of the numerous hamlets and farms are built’ (VCH 1923). Settlement focus was on the Medieval and Post- Medieval ‘mansion house’ that lay south west of Whistley Court Farm, close to the river in area that became pasture land (VCH 1923) before quarrying. Its attached grounds, known as Hurst Park, are shown on John Rocque’s County map (1761). Earthworks for these gardens, and a watermill to the north, were said to exist in areas west of Whistley Green (Farrar, 2005). Seven 16th-17th century properties with later alterations, are Listed (Grade II) on Broadwater Lane (A321) and has contemporality with Hurst Lodge (Grade II*), though this too, was largely remodelled from the 18th century (Tyack et al 2010, 338). Objectives and methodology Excavations for the garage footing had already been undertaken prior to agreement of the scheme of archaeological works. Therefore, the purpose of the watching brief was to excavate and record any archaeological deposits affected by further groundworks. This involved the monitoring of footing trenches excavated for the new development, though it was expected that there was a possibility of to observe the 2 excavation of service trenches. All excavation was undertaken by hand, and all spoilheaps were available to be inspected during the visit. Results A single, footing trench was observed, forming the north wall of the new dwelling, 14.6m long and 0.45m wide. It had been hand excavated to a depth of 0.95m deep. Natural geology had been reached, and had been excavated beyond the base of the trench. This was a yellow-grey course clayey sand. The top of the natural horizon had been reached at 0.75m in section. At the top of the exposed section, there was 0.55m of garden topsoil, with undisturbed subsoil in section beneath. This particular thick layer of topsoil, showed modern deposits in the upper layers, containing small fragments of modern tile and brick with a homogenous fill. The subsoil was a grey-brown sandy silt with gravel inclusions. It was 0.2m thick, and was sterile of finds. No archaeological deposits were encountered. Finds Only modern brick and tile fragments were identified in the topsoil. Conclusion No deposits of archaeological interest were encountered, and finds of interest were identified. References Barnes, I and Hawkes, J W, 1991-3 'Archaeological excavations at Broadwater, Hurst', Berkshire Archaeol J, Vol 74 (for 1991-3), 95-108 BGS, 2000, British Geological Survey, 1:50,000, Sheet 268, Solid and Drift Edition, Keyworth Farrar, H, 2005, ‘The CD-ROM of Hurst’, http://history.woodedhill.org/Hurst/Whistle.htm#WhistleyMill Ford, S, 1994-7, 'Loddon Valley (Berkshire) fieldwalking survey', Berkshire Archaeol J 75, (for 1994-7), 11-33 Harding, PA and Richards, JC, 1991-3, 'Notes: Sample excavation of a Mesolithic flint scatter at Whistley Court Farm', Berkshire Archaeol J 74 (for 1991-3), 145 Manning, A and Moore, C, 2011, 'Excavations at Lea Farm, Hurst, 1998', Berkshire Archaeol J 80 (2011), 31-71 NPPF 2012, National Planning Policy Framework, Dept Communities and Local Govt, London Tyack, G, Bradley, S and Pevsner, N, 2010, ‘The Buildings of England: Berkshire’, Yale Univ Press, New Haven and London VCH, 1923, ‘Parishes: Hurst’, In P H Ditchfield and W Page (eds), A History of the County of Berkshire, Vol. 3, 247-260, British History Online, http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/berks/vol3/pp247-260 [accessed 19th October 2019] Williams, A and Martin, G.H, 2002, ‘Domesday Book: a complete translation’, Penguin Books, London 3 OS 1:25k HD Great Britain 2016. Copyright © 2016 Crown Copyright;79 OS, Licence Number 100034184 80 www.memory-map.com Slough READING Maidenhead Windsor Hungerford Thatcham Bracknell Newbury Wokingham SITE 75 75 75000 SITE 74 74 74000 SU 79000 80000 RHH 17/246 73 73 Rowan House, Wards Cross, Hurst, Berkshire, 2017 Archaeological Watching Brief Figure 1. Location of site within Wokingham and Berkshire. Reproduced under licence from Ordnance Survey Explorer Digital mapping at 1:12500 Crown Copyright reserved 79 80 Broadwater Lane, Hurst 4 4 7 7 9 9 5 6 0 0 0 0 m m 174100m74100 174100m 17 00m SITE 17 00m 40 74000 40 4 4 7 7 SU 795009 796009 5 6 0 0 0 0 m m RHH 17/246 Rowan House, Wards0 5 10Cross,15 20 2 5Hurst,30 35 40 45 50 N m Berkshire, 2017 Archaeological Watching Brief 17/246wb Figure 2.