Land to the Rear of 1-6 Park Lane Cranford Hounslow
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LAND TO THE REAR OF 1-6 PARK LANE CRANFORD HOUNSLOW GREATER LONDON ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVALUATION For OLIVER BRIDGE ARCHITECTURE on behalf of CRANFORD PROJECTS LTD CA PROJECT: 2485 CA REPORT: 08003 DECEMBER 2008 LAND TO THE REAR OF 1-6 PARK LANE CRANFORD HOUNSLOW GREATER LONDON ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVALUATION CA PROJECT: 2485 CA REPORT: 08003 prepared by Mark Brett, Senior Project Officer date 15 January 2008 checked by Laurent Coleman, Project Manager date 30 October 2008 approved by Mark Collard, Head of Contracts signed date 11 December 2008 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 Building 11, Kemble Enterprise Park, Kemble, Cirencester, Gloucestershire, GL7 6BQ Tel. 01285 771022 Fax. 01285 771033 E-mail: [email protected] © Cotswold Archaeology Land to the rear of 1-6 Park Lane, Cranford, Hounslow, Greater London: Archaeological Evaluation CONTENTS SUMMARY........................................................................................................................2 1. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................. 3 2. RESULTS ............................................................................................................ 5 3. DISCUSSION....................................................................................................... 7 4. CA PROJECT TEAM ........................................................................................... 8 5. REFERENCES .................................................................................................... 8 APPENDIX A: CONTEXT DESCRIPTIONS ..................................................................... 10 APPENDIX B: FINDS CONCORDANCE .......................................................................... 11 APPENDIX C: THE PALAEOENVIRONMENTAL EVIDENCE ......................................... 12 APPENDIX D: OASIS REPORT FORM............................................................................ 13 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Fig. 1 Site location plan (1:50,000) Fig. 2 Trench location plan (1:500) Fig. 3 Trench 1; plan and section (1:50 and 1:20) Fig. 4 Trench 3; plan and section (1:50 and 1:20) 1 © Cotswold Archaeology Land to the rear of 1-6 Park Lane, Cranford, Hounslow, Greater London: Archaeological Evaluation SUMMARY Project Name: Land to the rear of 1-6 Park Lane Location: Cranford, Hounslow, Greater London NGR: TQ 1026 7750 Type: Evaluation Date: 19-20 December 2007 Planning Reference: 00855/G/P3 Location of Archive: To be deposited with the London Archaeological Archive and Research Centre (LAARC) Site Code: PLF 07 An archaeological evaluation was undertaken by Cotswold Archaeology in December 2007 at the request of Oliver Bridge Architecture on behalf of Cranford Projects Ltd on land to the rear of 1-6 Park Lane, Cranford, Hounslow, Greater London. Four trenches were excavated. The evaluation identified part of a probable prehistoric ring ditch and a Roman pit. 2 © Cotswold Archaeology Land to the rear of 1-6 Park Lane, Cranford, Hounslow, Greater London: Archaeological Evaluation 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 In December 2007 Cotswold Archaeology (CA) carried out an archaeological evaluation for Oliver Bridge Architecture on behalf of Cranford Projects Ltd on land to the rear of 1-6 Park Lane, Cranford, Hounslow, Greater London (centred on NGR: TQ 1026 7750; Fig. 1). The evaluation was undertaken in compliance with a condition of planning permission for the construction of six houses. 1.2 The evaluation was carried out in accordance with a communication issued by Kim Stabler, Archaeology Advisor to the Greater London Archaeology Advisory Service (GLAAS), English Heritage and with a subsequent detailed Written Scheme of Investigation (WSI) produced by CA (2007) and approved by the LPA acting on the advice of Kim Stabler, archaeological advisor to the LPA. The fieldwork also followed the Standard and Guidance for Archaeological Field Evaluation issued by the Institute of Field Archaeologists (2001), the Archaeological Guidance Papers (GLAAS 1998) and the Management of Archaeological Projects (English Heritage 1991). It was monitored by Kim Stabler, including a site visit on 20 December 2007. The site 1.3 The site lies to the rear of residential properties fronting onto Park Lane and the High Street, to the south and east respectively. It is bounded to the west by the open fields of Cranford Park and to the north by further residential gardens (Fig. 2). The site lies at approximately 23m AOD with a slight rise to the north. 1.4 The site occupies an area of approximately 0.17ha and is currently undeveloped and under heavy vegetation. 1.5 The underlying solid geology of the area is mapped as drift deposits of Taplow Gravel (BGS 1981) the natural substrate, comprising grey silty clay was identified in all four trenches. Archaeological background 1.6 Archaeological interest in the site arises from the close proximity of ridge and furrow earthworks (ADS ref: 050784) as well as an unidentified, possibly medieval, settlement (ADS ref. 054627) both immediately to the west of the site. Aerial photos have identified a series of ditches of possible Bronze Age date within the field 3 © Cotswold Archaeology Land to the rear of 1-6 Park Lane, Cranford, Hounslow, Greater London: Archaeological Evaluation adjacent to the site and there is a strong background of prehistoric activity in the area, including the findspot of a tranchet axe (Stabler, pers. comm.). Archaeological objectives 1.7 The objectives of the evaluation were to provide data on the date, character, quality, survival and extent of the archaeological deposits within the application area in order that an informed decision on their importance in a local, regional or national context can be made. This information will clarify whether any remains are of sufficient importance to warrant consideration for preservation in situ, or alternatively form the basis of mitigation measures that may seek to limit damage to significant remains in accordance with the advice in PPG16. Methodology 1.8 The fieldwork comprised the excavation of 4 trenches (numbered 1-4), each 10m in length and 1.8m in width, in the locations shown on the attached plan (Fig. 2). Trenches 1, 2 and 3 were located within the proposed footprints of the new houses and trench 4 was located within the proposed access road. 1.9 All trenches were excavated by mechanical excavator equipped with a toothless grading bucket. All machine excavation was undertaken under constant archaeological supervision to the top of the first significant archaeological horizon or the natural substrate, whichever was encountered first. Where archaeological deposits were encountered they were excavated by hand in accordance with CA Technical Manual 1: Fieldwork Recording Manual (2007). 1.10 Deposits were assessed for their palaeoenvironmental potential in accordance with CA Technical Manual 2: The Taking and Processing of Environmental and Other Samples from Archaeological Sites (2003) and were sampled and processed. All artefacts recovered were processed in accordance with CA Technical Manual 3: Treatment of Finds Immediately After Excavation (1995). 1.11 The archive and artefacts from the evaluation are currently held by CA at their offices in Kemble. Subject to the agreement of the legal landowner the artefacts will be deposited with the London Archaeological Archive and Research Centre (LAARC), along with the site archive. A summary of information from this project, set out within Appendix D, will be entered onto the OASIS online database of archaeological projects in Britain. 4 © Cotswold Archaeology Land to the rear of 1-6 Park Lane, Cranford, Hounslow, Greater London: Archaeological Evaluation 2. RESULTS (FIGS 3-4) 2.1 This section provides an overview of the evaluation results; detailed summaries of the recorded contexts, finds and environmental samples (palaeoenvironmental evidence) are to be found in Appendices A, B and C respectively. 2.2 Significant archaeological features were identified within trenches 1 and 3. Trench 2 was devoid of any archaeological deposits or features and trench 4 contained a modern posthole. The fills of the archaeological features and the natural substrate were generally overlain overlain by subsoil and topsoil layers. Make-up layers and a buried topsoil were identified in trench 1. Trench 1 (Fig. 3) 2.3 Part of a circular pit 106 was revealed, the majority of which extended beyond the eastern edge of the trench. The single fill 105 of the feature contained sherds of pottery and tile, dating to the 1st to 2nd centuries AD. An environmental sample recovered from this feature contained charcoal, fired clay and pieces of struck flint. Tree root disturbance (one feature containing a sherd of residual Roman pottery) was also identified. Trench 2 2.4 No features of archaeological significance were identified within this trench. Trench 3 (Fig. 4) 2.5 The south-eastern part of irregularly-cut sub-circular gully 303 was identified. The exposed part of the feature measured 4.5m across and the gully itself varied in width and depth and was filled by a single deposit 304, from which numerous sherds of prehistoric pottery were recovered Appendix B. Trench