Historic Environment Record Search
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Worcestershire Archive and Archaeology Service Providing specialist information and advice to the public, local authorities and developers Historic Environment Record Search Parish Search for Birlingham 10/06/2016 Find out more online at www.worcestershire.gov.uk/archaeology 0 Historic Environment Record Search Author: Noke, M. Date of Issue: 10/06/2016 Contents: An Archaeological Summary for your search area Archaeological Summary, Statutory and other Designations Information about the data sent to you Introduction, Guidelines for Access, Copyright, Planning Policy, The HER Data Glossary and Terms Glossary of Commonly used terms, General periods in the HER Modern and Historic Mapping 1774 – Transcription of Birlingham Inclosure map by D. Guyatt, © D Guyatt. 1842– Transcription of Birlingham Tithe map by D. Guyatt, © D Guyatt. 1888-91 - 1st Edition Ordnance Survey map, original scale 1:2500, © Crown Copyright. 1905 - 2nd Edition Ordnance Survey map, original scale 1:2500, © Crown Copyright. 1924 – 3rd Edition Ordnance Survey map, original scale 1:2500, © Crown Copyright. 1954-63 - Ordnance Survey map, original scale 1:10560, © Crown Copyright. Modern OS map showing HER features: Historic Buildings, © Crown Copyright. Modern OS map showing HER features: Monuments © Crown Copyright. Modern OS map showing HER features: Landscape Components © Crown Copyright. Modern OS map showing HER features: Parks and Gardens and Scheduled Monumetns © Crown Copyright. Modern OS map showing HER features: Geology © Crown Copyright. Modern OS map showing HER features: Archaeological Events © Crown Copyright. Modern OS map showing HER features: Historic Landscape Character © Crown Copyright. The HER short report Monuments Lists sorted by period and Scheduled Ancient Monuments List (if present), The HER full reports for each HER record Monument Reports, Scheduled Ancient Monument Reports (if present), Historic Landscape Character Report The HER search results are valid for 3 months from the date of issue as the HER is constantly being updated with new sites of archaeological importance. The Worcestershire Archive and Archaeology Service is a Registered Organisation with the Institute for Archaeologists. Cover Illustration: Eckington Bridge (WSM01415), with Parson's Folly (WSM07535) atop1 Kemerton Camp (WSM03943) Image kindly provided by, and copyright of Adam Stanford of Aerial-Cam (www.aerial-cam.co.uk) Archaeological Summary for the parish of Birlingham This document contains your Historic Environment Record search. The following pages will provide an archaeological summary of the buildings and monuments within your parish, sorted by period. This is followed by an overview of our service alongside an explanation of the documentation included and guidance on its use. The appendix to this document includes the historic and modern mapping for your parish, the record lists organised by period and the full records providing detailed information. An HER search was undertaken on the parish of Birlingham, for a Village Design Statement on 10/06/2016. This returned 168 records including 36 buildings, 16 of them Listed, 68 monument records and 64 other records relating to the parish. One Scheduled Monument record was found for the bridge at Eckington, which crosses the parish boundary. Buildings and Farmsteads: The historic buildings in Birlingham include the Grade II* Listed bridge at Eckington, which is also a Scheduled Monument, rebuilt in 1728 on the site of a medieval bridge. The church in Birlingham has a 15th century tower but was also rebuilt in the 19th century. Other historic buildings in the village range in date from the 17th century timber framed houses, 18th and 19th century brick houses, including a manor house and almshouses, and a 20th century air raid shelter and allotment shed. A project undertaken in 2008, sponsored by Historic England, the Historic Buildings of Worcestershire Project, identified, from the 1st Edition Ordnance Survey map, 125 historic buildings but not all of these are loaded on the HER. These can be significant when considering character for a village setting but these have not been verified for all parishes and it may be that some of these points are the location of buildings since demolished and replaced. The Historic Farmsteads of Worcestershire project was undertaken to chatacterise and record basic details of farmsteads from Ordnance Survey 2nd Edition maps has added to the buildings recorded in Birlingham. These are also recorded in Landscape Component records and all demonstrate the settlement pattern in this area of the county, with the earlier farmsteads within a village environment. Monument Records: Monument records for the parish reveal an earlier past to the area with crop marks showing a possible prehistoric occupation site, a possible henge site, Bronze Age pits and ditches and a Roman trackway, enclosure and occupation site. Although some of these records are just outside the parish of Birlingham it demonstrates that there was activity in this area in much earlier times. Medieval earthworks of ridge and furrow field systems, a pound, trackways, the site of the village stocks and World War II defences are recorded in the parish. Monument records also record the site of buildings which have been demolished, such as farm buildings, a mill, the deserted settlement at Nafford and the site of a Women's Land Army Hostel. General Parish Info: The information recorded in the parish records is made up of information for which there is no detailed location recorded. More research would be necessary to be more precise and it may be that this is not possible. Portable Antiquities: These records have been imported from the Portable Antiquities Scheme database (https://finds.org.uk/ ), mainly from metal detecting finds, and may have been added to more recently. Grid references for this information are not held on the HER. Historic Park of Garden: The formal garden at The Mansion, Birlingham, was recorded as part of a survey undertaken in the 1990s. 2 Geology: These records are for areas of the county which have been identified as part of an Historic England funded project, Putting the Palaeolithic in to Worcestershire's HER. Remains from this period are scarce and are often associated with certain geological deposits and these are what have been mapped in this layer. These areas are highlighted as areas os potential for further finds of this period. In general the geology of the parish of Birlingham (from the British Geological Survey http://mapapps.bgs.ac.uk/geologyofbritain/home.html ) is of the Charmouth Mudstone Formation, overlain with Superficial Deposits of the sands and gravels, in this area from the Wasperton, New Inn and Bretforton Sand and Gravel Members as well as a wide area of Alluvium deposits along the River Avon. The overlying soils are free-draining, slightly acid loamy soils (http://www.landis.org.uk/soilscapes/ ). These all contribute to areas which would have been attractive to settlement in the past and give suitable conditions for the creation of crop marks (providing the 'right' sort of crops are grown) which give information about past land use. Archaeological Events: These are record for where archaeological work, stray finds or research projects have been undertaken in or around the search area. Activities such as watching briefs, evaluations and excavations have been undertaken in advance of development work. The finds records in the parish of Birlingham, both from work undertaken in advance of development and more chance finds. These include stray finds of a surface scatter of Roman potter and a worked flint (a rock type that does not occur naturally in Worcestershire) which has been dated to a period that covering the Mesolithic to the Bronze Age. Human remains, scientifically dated to the Neolithic, are also recorded in the parish. Bronze Age pottery and copper alloy objects as well as Iron Age pottery are recorded. Pottery of this date is not common, as it is not highly fired and therefore does not survive well. Romano British pottery, which is more resilient, is a common find in Worcestershire and generally survives well. Silver and copper alloy Romano-British coins have been found in the area, along with ceramic building materials (brick and tile) and other metal work. An Anglo-Saxon spear head was found in a neighbouring parish in the 19th century but no finds of this date are recorded for Birlingham. Medieval and post medieval finds include pottery, clay pipe, ceramic building materials and metal work. Historic Landscape Character: The Historic Landscape Character of the parish is mainly agricultural with field patterns being classified as resulting from field amalgamation, reorganisation and modern subdivision, some earlier patterns remain resulting from piecemeal and Parliamentary enclosure; the Inclosure Act was passed in 1773. Settlement is mainly nucleated or clustered with later modern expansion. Tithes for the parish are likely to have been commuted to payment by rent charge at the time of the Inclosure Act leaving only Asham Meadow to be accounted for in the tithe map and apportionment. Designated Assets: Within the parish boundaries are a Historic England Designated Assets are also recorded. These sites, monuments and buildings are already protected under planning policy and therefore other undesignated heritage should have a stronger focus within your village design statement. These are: Listed Buildings, Scheduled Monuments and the Conservation Area. * Heritage Assets