Road East of Plot B Belmont Works Eastside Locks Birmingham
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Road East of Plot B Belmont Works Eastside Locks Birmingham Archaeological Evaluation for Peter Brett Associates on behalf of Goodman Eastside Locks (UK) Ltd CA Project: 6805 CA Report: 6805_1 OASIS ID: cotswold2-334109 May 2019 Road East of Plot B Belmont Works Eastside Locks Birmingham Archaeological Evaluation CA Project: 6805 CA Report: 6805_1 OASIS ID: cotswold2-334109 Document Control Grid Reasons for Approved Revision Date Author Checked by Status revision by 25 April Alex Laurie A Sam Wilson Draft Internal Review 2019 Thomson Coleman This report is confidential to the client. Cotswold Archaeology accepts no responsibility or liability to any third party to whom this report, or any part of it, is made known. Any such party relies upon this report entirely at their own risk. No part of this report may be reproduced by any means without permission. © Cotswold Archaeology © Cotswold Archaeology Road East of Plot B, Belmont Works, Eastside Locks, Birmingham: Archaeological Evaluation CONTENTS SUMMARY ..................................................................................................................... 2 1. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................ 3 2. ARCHAEOLOGICAL BACKGROUND ................................................................ 4 3. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES ................................................................................... 5 4. METHODOLOGY ............................................................................................... 6 5. RESULTS (FIGS 2-10) ....................................................................................... 6 6. THE FINDS ........................................................................................................ 8 7. DISCUSSION ..................................................................................................... 8 8. CA PROJECT TEAM .......................................................................................... 9 9. REFERENCES ................................................................................................... 10 APPENDIX A: CONTEXT DESCRIPTIONS .................................................................... 11 APPENDIX B: THE FINDS .............................................................................................. 11 APPENDIX C: OASIS REPORT FORM .......................................................................... 12 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Fig. 1 Site location plan (1:25,000) Fig. 2 Trench location plan showing archaeological features (1:500 and 1:250) Fig. 3 Trench location plan showing 1889 First Edition Ordnance Survey mapping (1:500) Fig. 4 Photographs 1 © Cotswold Archaeology Road East of Plot B, Belmont Works, Eastside Locks, Birmingham: Archaeological Evaluation SUMMARY Project Name: Road East of Plot B, Belmont Works, Eastside Locks Location: Birmingham NGR: 407980 287458 Type: Evaluation Date: 23-24 April 2019 Planning Reference: Birmingham City Council ref: 2015/07915/PA Location of Archive: To be deposited with Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery Site Code: BELE18 An archaeological evaluation was undertaken by Cotswold Archaeology in April 2019 on land at Plot B, Belmont Works, Eastside Locks, Birmingham. Three trenches were excavated. A wall and cobbled surfaces were identified, probably dating to the 19th century, correlating to structures shown on historic mapping. Evidence for modern disturbance and levelling was also recorded throughout the evaluation trenches. 2 © Cotswold Archaeology Road East of Plot B, Belmont Works, Eastside Locks, Birmingham: Archaeological Evaluation 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 In April 2019 Cotswold Archaeology (CA) carried out an archaeological evaluation for Peter Brett Associates on behalf of Goodman Eastside Locks (UK) Ltd on land at Plot B, Belmont Works, Eastside Locks, Birmingham (centred at NGR: 407980 287458; Fig. 1). The evaluation was undertaken in accordance with a condition attached to outline planning consent for the construction of an access road, granted by Birmingham City Council (BCC, ref: 2015/07915/PA, Condition 16). These works form the first phase of a wider development for which a decision is pending on an application for the part demolition, alteration and extension of the former Belmont Works to provide retail and office space (BCC, ref: 2018/10197/PA). 1.2 The evaluation was carried out in accordance with the requirements of Chris Patrick, City Archaeologist, Birmingham City Council (BCC), and with a subsequent detailed Written Scheme of Investigation (WSI), produced by CA (2019) and covering both planning applications, and approved by BCC. The fieldwork also followed Standard and guidance: Archaeological field evaluation (CIfA 2014). The site 1.3 The area subject to this phase of evaluation measured 840m2 in extent and comprised a parcel of land within the east of the wider site area. The entire proposed development area measures approximately 0.44ha, and comprises the built remains of the Belmont Works and an area of brownfield land to the north. The site lies immediately to the south-east of Jennens Road (A47), the southern boundary of the site comprises Cardigan Street and Belmont Row, the Digbeth Branch Canal runs c. 20m to the north of site and further brownfield space lies to the east of the site. The site lies at approximately 118m AOD. 1.4 The underlying bedrock geology of the area is mapped as sandstone of the Helsby Formation formed during the Triassic Period (BGS 2019). Superficial deposits of Devensian sand and gravel are also recorded, formed during the Quaternary Period (ibid.). The natural geological substrate identified during the course of the evaluation comprised greyish-red clay, and was identified in Trench 10. 3 © Cotswold Archaeology Road East of Plot B, Belmont Works, Eastside Locks, Birmingham: Archaeological Evaluation 2. ARCHAEOLOGICAL BACKGROUND 2.1 The wider site area has previously been the subject of a Desk-Based Assessment (Cook 2001), an archaeological evaluation (ULAS 2007), two phases of archaeological excavation (APS 2008; NPA 2009) and an Archaeological Assessment (CA 2017); the below is a summary thereof. Reference should be made to these documents for further detail. 2.2 There are no archaeological assets recorded within the site that date to between the prehistoric and medieval periods (CA 2017, 12). Evidence of prehistoric finds from Birmingham are largely known from unstratified and chance finds, with much of the area known to be woodland during this period. Clearance activities were likely undertaken from the Mesolithic onwards, with Bronze Age, Iron Age and Roman farming communities likely active in the area (ibid.). However, no clear evidence of such settlements has been recorded within the city. 2.3 The Domesday survey of 1086 recorded the manor of Birmingham as an ‘insignificant agricultural settlement’ (Bassett and Holt, 2016). In 1166, Henry II granted Peter de Birmingham a market charter, at which point Birmingham was granted borough status, and a new town was established, laid out in burgage plots (ibid.). The north-eastern extent of the medieval/post-medieval settlement is located c. 480m to the south-west of site, with the proposed development area lying in the agricultural hinterland thereof, on the fertile floodplain of the River Rea (CA 2017, 14). 2.4 During the 18th and 19th centuries the area became the site of extensive industrial activity. The Belmont Glassworks are depicted on 19th-century mapping, with a number of glass-making cones constructed by the 1850s and 1860s, with the Belmont Row Glassworks built later in the 19th century (ibid, 15). Excavations within the site in 2007 and 2009 found the below-ground remains of an earlier glass- making cone (APS 2008; NPA 2009) and it is possible that there may have been glass-making activities within the site from the late 17th century onwards (CA 2017, 15). Small-scale workshops and industrial buildings occupied much of the area to the south of the glassworks (within the current area proposed for development), along with lodgings for workers. The truncated remains of these structures were recorded during the previous evaluation and excavations. 4 © Cotswold Archaeology Road East of Plot B, Belmont Works, Eastside Locks, Birmingham: Archaeological Evaluation 2.5 Located within the north-western extent of the site, Belmont Row Methodist chapel was opened by the Wesleyans in 1789 and in 1851 provided sittings for 1,085 people (BHO 2018); the chapel and associated class rooms are shown to extend into the western part of the site on the First Edition Ordnance Survey mapping of 1889 (see Fig. 3 of this report). The congregation dwindled through the late 19th and early 20th centuries and the chapel ceased to be registered for public worship in 1932 (ibid.). In 1961 the shell of the building was still standing as part of the premises of the Birmingham Waste Company and it was probably demolished in the middle of the 20th century during the construction of the A47 to the west of site. 2.6 The Belmont Row glassworks were demolished during by the late 19th-century, with some expansion of the smaller scale buildings occurring on the site during this time (CA 2017, 16) and a number of walls, robbed-out wall foundations and floor surfaces were recorded during the preceding fieldwork. 2.7 The site was extensively re-developed during the later 19th century and early 20th century, with large industrial buildings illustrated on the site by contemporary