Cuckoo Hill Farm, Hanslope, Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire
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Cuckoo Hill Farm, Hanslope, Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire An Archaeological Evaluation for Roxton Estates by Simon Cass Thames Valley Archaeological Services Ltd Site Code CHF 07/87 July 2007 Summary Site name: Cuckoo Hill Farm, Hanslope, Milton Keynes Town: Hanslope Parish: Hanslope CP Grid reference: SP 7995 4660 Site activity: Evaluation Date and duration of project: 20th – 24th July 2007 Project manager: Steve Ford Site supervisor: Simon Cass Site code: CHF 07/87 Event Number: 1132 Planning Application number: 05/01291/OUT Client: Roxton Estates Area of site: 0.9ha Landuse: Agricultural Summary of results: A small number of possible archaeological features were examined but were found to be of dubious antiquity and were undated. The site appears to have no archaeological potential. Location and reference of archive: The archive is presently held at Thames Valley Archaeological Services, Reading and will be deposited at Buckinghamshire County Museum in due course. This report may be copied for bona fide research or planning purposes without the explicit permission of the copyright holder Report edited/checked by: Steve Ford9 31.07.07 Steve Preston9 31.07.07 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 Cuckoo Hill Farm, Hanslope, Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire An Archaeological Evaluation by Simon Cass Report 07/87 Introduction This report documents the results of an archaeological field evaluation (event no. 1132) carried out at Cuckoo Hill Farm, Hanslope, Milton Keynes (SP 4799 2466) (Fig. 1). The work was commissioned by Dr Isabel Lisboa of Archaeologica Ltd, 7 Fosters Lane, Bradwell, Milton Keynes, MK13 9HD on behalf of Roxton Estates, Tyringham Park, Tyringham, Milton Keynes, MK16 9ES. Planning permission (05/01291/OUT) has been granted for the construction of 30 houses on a plot of land just to the south of the village of Hanslope, Milton Keynes. This permission was subject to a condition relating to archaeology that required an archaeological mitigation scheme to be devised; this would follow a field evaluation which would establish the archaeological potential of the site prior to the start of the development. This is in accordance with the Department of the Environment’s Planning Policy Guidance, Archaeology and Planning (PPG16 1990), and Milton Keynes Council’s policies on archaeology. The field investigation was carried out to a specification prepared by the project consultant, Dr Isabel Lisboa and approved by Mr Nick Crank, Archaeological Officer for Milton Keynes Council. The fieldwork was undertaken by Simon Cass, James Norbury and Natasha Bennett between the 20th and 24th July 2007, and the site code is CHF 07/87. The archive is presently held at Thames Valley Archaeological Services, Reading and will be deposited at Buckinghamshire County Museum in due course. A desk-based assessment of the village was carried out in 2005. Although remains from several periods were identified as being within the bounds of the parish, nothing was specifically noted in relation to the site at Cuckoo Hill Farm (Cahill 2005). Location, topography and geology The site is located to the south of the village of Hanslope, situated on a hill spur pointing towards the River Tove and the Grand Union Canal to the south-west and lies immediately adjacent to Castlethorpe Road on its south eastern/eastern side (Fig. 1). Prior to this development the land was used for pasture. The underlying geology is listed as Boulder Clay (BGS 1969) and this was observed in the trenches. The site lies at a height of 112m above Ordnance Datum. 1 Archaeological background The archaeological background of this site has been previously examined in a desk-based assessment carried out in 2005 (Cahill 2005). In summary, there were no known archaeological sites extending into the site, although 12th-13th century pottery had been recovered immediately south-east of the site during construction in the 1960s. The desk-based assessment also noted the presence of ridge and furrow earthworks across the site, with an apparent strip of land adjacent to the road clear of ploughing. It was suggested that this could indicate the presence of medieval or post-medieval occupation (ridge and furrow being the traces of medieval cultivation). A settlement known as Cuckolds Hill was also thought to have existed in the vicinity to the site, though an exact location was unknown. 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. In particular the evaluation aimed to establish the presence of prehistoric or later occupation which may be part of the human settlement of the area. In total, twelve trenches were to be opened, each to be 20m long and 1.6m wide and spread across the site investigating the areas which would be affected by building foundations. Two trenches were specifically aimed to investigate the possibly unploughed area adjacent to the road for medieval or post-medieval occupation. All trenches were excavated with a toothless ditching bucket under archaeological supervision and those showing possible features were hand-cleaned where necessary. It was necessary to move some of the trenches from their intended position due to the presence of an overhead power line across the north-eastern part of the site. For most of those trenches only a small adjustment was needed, keeping their approximate location the same. However Trench 11 proved to be located in an area of underground cables and the decision was made to move the trench elsewhere, after consultation with the council archaeological officer. A complete list of trenches giving lengths, breadths, depths and a description of sections and geology is given in Appendix 1. 2 Results Trench 1 This trench was 19.4 m long and 0.58m deep, orientated east-west. The stratigraphy encountered consisted of 0.21m of mid/dark greyish brown clayey silt topsoil above 0.19m of mid reddish brown clayey silt subsoil. This lay above 0.18m+ of light reddish brown silty clay with frequent limestone flecking, interpreted as the natural geology. Trench 2 This trench was 20.2 m long and 0.49m deep, orientated north-south. The stratigraphy encountered consisted of 0.23m of topsoil above 0.23m of mid reddish brown clayey silt subsoil. This lay above light reddish brown silty clay with frequent limestone flecking, interpreted as the natural geology. Trench 3 This trench was 19.5 m long and 0.5m deep, orientated east-west. The stratigraphy encountered consisted of 0.26m of topsoil above 0.13m of mid reddish brown clayey silt subsoil. This lay above the natural geology. A single animal bone (not retained) was found within the subsoil at approximately 14m along the trench. Trench 4 This trench was 20.5 m long and 0.80m deep, orientated east-west. The stratigraphy encountered consisted of 0.30m of topsoil above 0.22m of mid reddish brown clayey silt subsoil. This lay above the natural geology. A modern posthole was noted at 12.9m along the trench and some burnt clay was noted in the subsoil. Trench 5 This trench was 20.4 m long and 0.66m deep, orientated east-west. The stratigraphy encountered consisted of 0.23m of topsoil above 0.35m of mid reddish brown clayey silt subsoil. This lay above the natural geology. Trench 6 This trench was 19.2m long and 0.55m deep, orientated north-south. The stratigraphy encountered consisted of 0.30m of topsoil above 0.20m of mid reddish brown clayey silt subsoil. This lay above the natural geology. Trench 7 This trench was 18.7m long and 0.82m deep, orientated east-west. The stratigraphy encountered consisted of 0.40m of topsoil above 0.30m of mid reddish brown clayey silt subsoil. This lay above the natural geology. An area of modern disturbance was noted at the eastern end of the trench, with brick and tile fragments (not retained), possibly relating to the line of the overhead power cables running into the site. 3 Trench 8 This trench was 20.1m long and 0.85m deep, orientated north-south. The stratigraphy encountered consisted of 0.4m of topsoil above 0.3m of mid reddish brown clayey silt subsoil. This lay above the natural geology. A square modern disturbance was noted at 12.5m along this trench, and a possible gully terminus (3) (Plate 4) was found at 19.8m. This feature was 0.45m wide and 0.25m deep with irregular sides, filled with a mid orange brown silty clay with occasional charcoal flecking. Trench 9 (Plate 1) This trench was 20.0m long and 0.70m deep, orientated approximately east-west. The stratigraphy encountered consisted of 0.22m of topsoil above 0.38m of mid reddish brown clayey silt subsoil. This lay above the natural geology. Trench 10 (Plate 2) This trench was 21.3m long and 0.84m deep, orientated north-south. The stratigraphy encountered consisted of 0.34m of topsoil above 0.31m of mid reddish brown clayey silt subsoil. This lay above the natural geology. A gully (1) was located at 1.5m along the trench. It was 0.73m wide and 0.27m deep, filled with a mid grey brown silty clay with no finds. Trench 11 This trench was 21.0m long and 0.80m deep, orientated northwest-southeast. The stratigraphy encountered consisted of 0.30m of topsoil above 0.35m of mid reddish brown clayey silt subsoil. This lay above the natural geology. This trench contained a dubious gully terminus (2) (Plate 3) at 11m from its south-eastern end.