Thames Valley Archaeological Services Ltd

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 All TVAS unpublished fieldwork reports are available on our website: www.tvas.co.uk/reports/reports.asp.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 [email protected]; 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

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

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

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. Detailed location of site off Broadwater Lane (A321). ReproducedOS fromMaste rOrdnanceMap 1250/ 2Survey500/100 0Digital0 scale Mapping under licence. Monday, June 17, 2019, ID: BW1-00807403 mapCrowns.blackw copyrightell.co.uk reserved. Scale 1:1250

1:1250 scale print at A4, Centre: 479552 E, 174044 N

©Crown Copyright Ordnance Survey. Licence no. 100041041 74100

Buttercups (Grade II Listed)

Aylesford Villas

No.2

No.1

Gee Green Jays Leas

footing

new garage

74050

new house outling

Wallnut Tree Cottage

SU79500

RHH 17/247

N Rowan House, Wards Cross, Hurst, Wokingham, Berkshire, 2017 Archaeological Watching Brief

Figure 3. Location of observed areas.

0 25m WSW ENE

Topsoil

Subsoil

Natural

RHH 17/246 Rowan House, Wards Cross, Hurst, Berkshire, 2017 Archaeological Watching Brief

Figure 4. Representative section.

0 1m Plate 1. Trench 1, looking north, Scales: 2m, 1m and 0.3m.

Plate 2. Trench 1 section, looking northwest, Scales: 1m and 0.3m.

RHH 17/246 Rowan House, Wards Cross, Hurst, Berkshire, 2017 Archaeological Watching Brief Plates 1 and 2. TIME CHART

Calendar Years

Modern AD 1901

Victorian AD 1837

Post Medieval AD 1500

Medieval AD 1066

Saxon AD 410

Roman AD 43 AD 0 BC Iron Age 750 BC

Bronze Age: Late 1300 BC

Bronze Age: Middle 1700 BC

Bronze Age: Early 2100 BC

Neolithic: Late 3300 BC

Neolithic: Early 4300 BC

Mesolithic: Late 6000 BC

Mesolithic: Early 10000 BC

Palaeolithic: Upper 30000 BC

Palaeolithic: Middle 70000 BC

Palaeolithic: Lower 2,000,000 BC Thames Valley Archaeological Services Ltd, 47-49 De Beauvoir Road, Reading RG1 5NR

Tel: 0118 9260552 Email: [email protected] Web: www.tvas.co.uk

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