Archaeological Evaluation

HISTORIC STRUCTURE RECORD

THE DRY DOCK, BRIDGE COTTAGE, FLATFORD EAST BERGHOLT (HER Ref. EBG 010)

DETAILS OF 1:20 SCALE SURVEY AND DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHIC RECORD

M. Sommers ©Jan 2008

Suffolk County Council Archaeological Service Field Projects Team Lucy Robinson, County Director of Environment and Transport Endeavour House, Russel Road, Ipswich. IP1 2BX.

SCCAS REPORT No. 2008/043

Contents

Summary 1

1. Introduction 2

2. Methodology 3

3. Results 3 Description 3 The 1:20 and 1:10 Scale Plans 4 Digital Photographic Survey 6

List of Figures Figure 1: Location Plan 1 Figure 2: Dock Area as Surveyed by Ordnance Survey in 1900 and 2007 2 Figure 3: Plan of Dry Dock 4 Figure 4: Elevation and Plan of Barge Suport Trestle 1 4 Figure 5: Elevation and Plan of Barge Suport Trestle 2 5 Figure 6: Elevation and Plan of Barge Suport Trestle 3 5 Figure 7: Location and Direction of Camera 6

Plates Plates 1 to 44: Digital Photographs of Flatford Dry Dock

The Dry Dock, Flatford (HER ref. EBG 010) Report No. 2008/043

Summary: The Dry Dock at Bridge Cottage, Flatford (in the parish of East Bergholt), was recorded through the creation of a 1:20 scale plan of the dock itself and 1:10 scale plans of the three barge supports within the dock. A digital photographic survey also was undertaken. The Dock is believed to have been constructed in the 18th century and formed part of a boatyard where barges were built and repaired. It is thought to be the dock featured in John Constable’s 1814 painting ‘Boatbuilding near Flatford Mill’. This report details the nature of the survey with notes regarding materials used in its construction and reduced scale copies of the survey drawings. Reproductions of the digital photographs keyed to a plan of the dock are also included. This dock is recorded in the County SMR under the reference EBG 010. The survey was undertaken by the Suffolk County Council Archaeological Service Field Team who were commissioned and funded by the site owners, The National Trust.

1. Introduction The Dry Dock at Flatford is located in the garden area of Bridge Cottage, immediately to the east of the National Trust shop and tea garden (see figure 1 above). The National Grid Reference for the centre of the dock is TM 0760 3332. Flatford is actually in the parish of East Bergholt, the centre of which is situated c.1km to the north.

The dock comprises an elongated oval-shaped excavation with sides sloping at an angle of approximately 45° down to a flat base. The sides are on the whole unsupported although they are covered in vegetation (grass etc.) which would reduce erosion. Within the base of the dock, which is lined with a neatly laid brick floor, are three wooden trestles upon which a barge under construction or repair would have rested. The dock measures approximately 22.5m in length and 10m in width at the upper edges reducing to 16.5m by 6.5m at the base. It is situated on the northern bank of the River Stour and is approximately perpendicular to the main channel. At its southern end the dock is open to the river although this is closed by a dam constructed of stout upright overlapping planks bearing onto horizontal timbers. A single thick plank forms a footbridge across the dock entrance. In the vicinity of the dock entrance the sides are vertical and are retained with wooden planking. Within the dock and

1 The Dry Dock, Flatford (HER ref. EBG 010) Report No. 2008/043 adjacent to the dam an outlet pipe allows water to drain through a pipe which runs under the river bed and into a ditch south of the river. The water in this ditch is at a lower level than the river which is kept artificially high in order to provide a head of water for the mill. A lock enables navigation past the mill and the ditch drains in to an old channel of the river much further to the south.

The dry dock probably dates from the late 18th century and would have formed part of a boatyard where barges were built and repaired. It is likely to be the dock featured in John Constable’s painting, ‘Boatbuilding near Flatford Mill’ (1814) which shows a barge resting on three wooden beams within a dry dock adjacent a river. The dock appears to have unsupported sides covered in vegetation (grasses and ferns). The floor of the dock is not clear but there is no obvious sign of any prepared surface.

The dock was filled at some point in the first half of the 20th century and its location was lost. In 1985 the National Trust acquired Bridge Cottage and members of the River Stour Trust located and re-excavated the dock along with the remains of a barge which was found in the dock, resting on the timber supports. The barge was removed, after recording by Suffolk Archaeological Unit, and the dock cleared and restored by the National Trust in 1988. During the summer months the dock is kept dry to enable visitors to view the brick floor and the wooden supports although it is flooded every winter in order to protect the brick floor from frost. The dock and the excavation event are recorded in the Suffolk Historic Environment Record under the reference EBG 010.

After nearly 20 years since its restoration the dock was deemed to be in need of further consolidation and repair. In order to record its current condition the Field Projects Team of the Suffolk County Council Archaeological Service were commissioned by the National Trust to undertake a measured survey of the dock and the barge supports in conjunction with a digital photographic record. This reports

2 The Dry Dock, Flatford (HER ref. EBG 010) Report No. 2008/043 details the methods used and presents the results of the survey and photographic record.

2. Methodology The dock was surveyed in order to produce a 1:20 scale plan using 30m tapes and 5m hand tapes. A single datum line was laid lengthways along the centre line of the long axis of the dock and from this offset measurements were taken. A similar method was used for recording 1:10 plan views of the barge supports although the datum line was laid along one edge. The 1:10 scale elevations were constructed from measurements related to the base of the support. The digital photographic survey was carried out using a digital camera with a resolution of 4 megapixels with numerous photographs of each support and general views of the dock being taken.

3. Results The survey was undertaken on the 5th and 6th October 2006 by R. Atfield and M. Sommers of the SCCAS Field Projects Team. A 1:20 scale plan of the dock and 1:10 scale plans and elevations of each of the three barge support trestles was produced of which two copies of each have been supplied to the National Trust.

Upon commencing the survey it was noted that the sides of the dock were heavily overgrown, particularly on the western edge, and had slumped over time obscuring the edges of the brick base. In order to assess the extent of the base a number of small slots were cut by spade into the base of the slope until the edge of the brickwork was revealed, the full extent of the brick base was then extrapolated. The base of the dock, particularly around the bases of the barge supports, was obscured by waterborne mud and silt which was necessary to remove prior to recording. This was achieved using trowels, shovels, brooms and buckets of water to wash away the material.

Description Each trestle comprises a horizontal timber beam supported on two braced upright posts set into a substantial baulk of timber. The uprights rest into holes cut into the timber baulk and are held firm with timber wedges hammered in as required. The baulk is probably laid directly on the original base of the dock and held in place by uprights hammered into the ground until flush with its upper face although these are not evident on all three of the barge supports. The brick floor is then laid up to the edges of the baulk leaving the baulk slightly recessed into the dock base.

The brick floor itself is not entirely flat but slopes gently from the edge of the dock down to a central gully running lengthways along the dock base, which in turn slopes gently towards the dock entrance.

The dock entrance, footbridge and revetting is all a modern reconstruction and presumably relates to the restoration of the dock by the National Trust in 1988.

The 1:20 and 1:10 Scale Plans

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The large scale plans are unannotated and should be viewed in conjunction with the explanatory figures below:

Figure 3. Plan of the Dry Dock

Figure 4. Elevation and Plan of Barge Support Trestle 1

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Figure 5. Elevation and Plan of Barge Support Trestle 2

Figure 6. Elevation and Plan of Barge Support Trestle 3

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Digital Photographic Survey A total of 44 digital photographs (totalling 38.3MB of data) were taken and will be held, unedited, in the archive. Edited versions of these photographs (cropped and in some cases brightened) are reproduced below. See figure 7 for the approximate location and direction the camera was facing.

Figure 7. Location and Direction of Camera

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