31 High Street Chipping Sodbury South Gloucestershire Post-Excavation Assessment
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31 High Street Chipping Sodbury South Gloucestershire Post-Excavation Assessment for MIDAS Retail Limited CA Project: 4160 CA Report: 13535 September 2013 31 High Street Chipping Sodbury South Gloucestershire Post-Excavation Assessment CA Project: 4160 CA Report: 13535 prepared by Sian Reynish, Project Supervisor date 10 September 2013 checked by Simon Cox, Head of Fieldwork date 10 September 2013 approved by Simon Cox, Head of Fieldwork signed date 19 September 2013 issue 01 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 Cirencester Milton Keynes Andover Building 11 Unit 4 Office 49 Kemble Enterprise Park Cromwell Business Centre Basepoint Business Centre Kemble, Cirencester Howard Way, Newport Pagnell Caxton Close, Andover Gloucestershire, GL7 6BQ MK16 9QS Hampshire, SP10 3FG t. 01285 771022 t. 01908 218320 t. 01264 326549 f. 01285 771033 e. [email protected] © Cotswold Archaeology 31 High Street, Chipping Sodbury, South Gloucestershire: Post-Excavation Assessment CONTENTS SUMMARY ..................................................................................................................... 2 1. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................ 3 The site .............................................................................................................. 3 Archaeological background ................................................................................ 4 Archaeological objectives ................................................................................... 5 Methodology....................................................................................................... 5 2. RESULTS (FIGS 2-5) ......................................................................................... 6 3. FACTUAL DATA AND STATEMENTS OF POTENTIAL ..................................... 9 4. SUMMARY STATEMENT OF POTENTIAL ........................................................ 14 5. CA PROJECT TEAM .......................................................................................... 15 6. REFERENCES ................................................................................................... 15 APPENDIX A: CONTEXT DESCRIPTIONS ................................................................... 18 APPENDIX B: THE FINDS ............................................................................................. 20 APPENDIX C: OASIS REPORT FORM .......................................................................... 22 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Fig. 1 Site location plan (1:25,000) Fig. 2 Trench location plan, showing archaeological features (1:100 and 1:250) Fig. 3 General view of Trench 1, looking south (scale 1m) Fig. 4 Hearth 1012 and pit 1023, looking south-east (scale 1m) Fig. 5 Walls 1014 and 1020, looking north (scale 1m) 1 © Cotswold Archaeology 31 High Street, Chipping Sodbury, South Gloucestershire: Post-Excavation Assessment SUMMARY Project Name: 31 High Street Location: Chipping Sodbury, South Gloucestershire NGR: ST 7268 8227 Type: Post-Excavation Assessment Date: 11-28 March 2013 (excavation); 22-25 April, 7-17 May 2013 (watching brief) Planning Reference: PK10/1675/0, PK12/1112/F and PK12/1311/RM Location of Archive: To be deposited with Bristol’s Museums, Galleries and Archives Service Site Code: HPP 13 Archaeological excavation (March 2013) and watching brief (April and May 2013) were undertaken by Cotswold Archaeology at 31 High Street, Chipping Sodbury, South Gloucestershire. Located centrally within the excavation area were the truncated remains of a curving masonry structure, comprising a limestone wall enclosing a pitched stone surface, which may represent the remains of a former circular industrial or domestic hearth or oven structure. Pottery of 14th to 15th-century date was recovered from the deposit immediately beneath the hearth, and from an associated make-up layer for the pitched stone surface, whilst deposits overlying the structure contained 17th to 18th-century pottery, suggesting a broadly late medieval or early post-medieval date for the construction of the structure. A curved gully located in the south of the excavation area also contained 13th to 15th-century pottery. Two undated stone wall footings, to the north-east of the possible hearth/oven structure, were set at right angles to each other. These could be contemporary with the hearth/oven. A robber cut, that removed the relationship between the two walls, contained 16th-century pottery, and was sealed by a spread containing 17th to 18th-century pottery. A further undated masonry structure, possibly a cess-pit, lay to the north of the hearth/oven. This too could be contemporary with the hearth/oven. Its infill contained 17th to 18th-century pottery. A culvert and boundary wall along the western limit of the site, along with an east/west riverside wall to the north, all post-date a truncation event with, 18th-19th century pottery recovered from the associated deposits. 2 © Cotswold Archaeology 31 High Street, Chipping Sodbury, South Gloucestershire: Post-Excavation Assessment 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 In March 2013 Cotswold Archaeology (CA) carried out an archaeological excavation, followed by archaeological watching brief in April and May 2013, at 31 High Street, Chipping Sodbury, South Gloucestershire (centred on NGR: ST 7268 8227; Fig. 1) for MIDAS Retail Limited. The excavation was undertaken to fulfil conditions of planning permission (Refs PK10/1675/0, PK12/1112/F and PK12/1311/RM) for a new footbridge across the River Frome. 1.2 The excavation and watching brief was carried out in accordance with a brief for a programme of archaeological works prepared by David Evans (1st August 2012), the Archaeology and Historic Environment Record Officer for South Gloucestershire Council (SGC). The brief stipulates “In order to mitigate any loss of the archaeological resource an archaeological watching brief augmented by excavation is to be carried in accordance with the terms of this brief”. A subsequent detailed Written Scheme of Investigation (WSI) was produced by Mike Heaton Heritage Consultants (2012) and approved by David Haigh, Senior Archaeology and Historic Environment Officer of SGC. The fieldwork also followed the Standard and Guidance for excavation (IfA 2009), the Standard and Guidance for an archaeological watching brief (IfA 2009), the Management of Archaeological Projects (English Heritage 1991) and the Management of Research Projects in the Historic Environment (MORPHE): Project Manager’s Guide (English Heritage 2006). It was monitored by David Haigh, including a site visit on 24th April 2013. The site 1.3 The town forms the eastern end of the Yate-Chipping Sodbury conurbation. It is nucleated around a crossroads at the centre of its historic commercial core and confined on the north and east by a new ring road and, on the south, by the Bristol- London railway. The site is situated in the north-west quadrant of the historic core, on the north side of High Street and approximately 50m west of St John the Baptist parish church (Heaton 2012). 1.4 The proposed development area encloses an area of approximately 143m², and comprises the rear garden plot of number 31 High Street, which prior to the 3 © Cotswold Archaeology 31 High Street, Chipping Sodbury, South Gloucestershire: Post-Excavation Assessment archaeological excavation comprised an area covered in rough vegetation and exposed topsoil. The site is bordered to the north by the River Frome, to the west and east by rear garden plots of commercial and residential properties, and to the south by Number 31 and the High Street. The site (of 31 High Street) lies at approximately 96.5m AOD across most of the southern part of the site, but drops by c. 5m at the northern end to slope down towards the River Frome. 1.5 The underlying bedrock geology of the area is mapped as Clifton Down Mudstone formation of the Dolomite-Mudstone Carboniferous Period (BGS 2013). A limestone bedrock overlain by a dark orangey-brown clay was observed within the excavation area (Trench 1) and the wall reinforcement pits (Trenches 3-5) during the watching brief. Archaeological background 1.6 The archaeological and historical setting of the site have been described in the desk-study for the adjacent site (Heaton 2007a) and English Heritage’s Extensive Urban Area Survey (La Trobe Bateman 1996), details of which are not repeated here other than in summary. Chipping Sodbury is a ‘planned town’ of probably 13th- century foundation that has retained the broad High Street and long thin ‘burgage’ plots characteristic of other planned towns such as Downton (Wilts) and Winchelsea (Essex). The site boundaries, therefore, are likely to be of 13th-century origin, but the existing buildings within them are of late 19th and 20th-century construction (Heaton 2012). 1.7 Whilst no evidence of in situ stratified medieval remains has yet been retrieved from the centre of the town, the large corpus of data from comparable medieval planned towns suggest that deep, culturally enhanced soil and ‘made ground’ deposits might occur throughout the town, similar to deposits observed in Horse Street at the eastern edge of the town. These would consist