Land at Hengrove Park Bristol
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LAND AT HENGROVE PARK BRISTOL ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVALUATION CA PROJECT: 1953 CA REPORT: 05072 Author: Allen Wright Approved: Simon Cox Signed: ……………………………………………………………. Issue: 01 Date: 28 APRIL 2005 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, Cirencester, Gloucestershire, GL7 6BQ Tel. 01285 771022 Fax. 01285 771033 E-mail: [email protected] Land at Hengrove Park, Bristol: Archaeological Evaluation © Cotswold Archaeology CONTENTS SUMMARY........................................................................................................................2 1. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................. 3 The site ................................................................................................................ 3 Archaeological background.................................................................................. 3 Archaeological objectives .................................................................................... 4 Methodology ........................................................................................................ 4 2. RESULTS ............................................................................................................ 5 Trench 6............................................................................................................... 5 3. DISCUSSION....................................................................................................... 5 4. CA PROJECT TEAM ........................................................................................... 6 5. REFERENCES .................................................................................................... 6 APPENDIX 1: CONTEXT DESCRIPTIONS...................................................................... 7 APPENDIX 2: LEVELS OF PRINCIPAL DEPOSITS AND STRUCTURES...................... 8 APPENDIX 3: TRENCH CO-ORDINATES ....................................................................... 8 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Fig. 1 Site location plan (1:25,000) Fig. 2 Trench location plan (1:5000) 1 Land at Hengrove Park, Bristol: Archaeological Evaluation © Cotswold Archaeology SUMMARY Site Name: Land at Hengrove Park Location: Bristol NGR: ST 5954 6847 Type: Evaluation Date: 21-25 April 2005 Planning Reference: 05/00461/PB/S Location of Archive: To be deposited with Bristol Museum Site Code: HGB 05 An archaeological evaluation was undertaken by Cotswold Archaeology in April 2005 at Hengrove Park, Bristol. In compliance with an approved Written Scheme of Investigation, six trenches were excavated across the development area. No archaeological features or finds were present within the trenches. The results of the evaluation suggest that the archaeological remains, had they been present within the site, would have been removed by the construction activity associated with the creation of the airfield of Whitchurch Airport in the 1930s. 2 Land at Hengrove Park, Bristol: Archaeological Evaluation © Cotswold Archaeology 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 In April 2005 Cotswold Archaeology (CA) carried out an archaeological evaluation for Arup, (on behalf of Bristol City Council) at Hengrove Park Bristol (centred on NGR: ST 59540 68470; Fig. 1). The evaluation was undertaken prior to determination of a planning application (ref 05/00461/PB/S) for redevelopment of an informal open space to create a mixed-use development with new public amenity space. 1.2 The evaluation was carried out in accordance with a brief for archaeological recording (BCC 2005) prepared by Mr Robert Jones, City Archaeologist, Bristol City Council and with a subsequent detailed Written Scheme of Investigation (WSI) produced by CA (2005). This was approved by Mr Jones. The fieldwork also followed the Standard and Guidance for Archaeological Field Evaluation issued by the Institute of Field Archaeologists (1999). It was monitored by Mr Peter Insole, Archaeological Officer, Bristol City Council, including a site visit on 22 April 2005. The site 1.3 The proposed redevelopment area encloses approximately 76ha, and comprises a large open area bounded by Hengrove Way to the north, Whitchurch Lane to the west and Bamfield and associated residential properties to the east (Fig.1). The proposed development site also includes the athletics track in the south-east corner of the park but excludes the new leisure complex in the northern part of the park (BCC 2005).The site lies at approximately 59.5m above Ordnance Datum (m AOD), with the ground dropping away to the west. Archaeological background 1.4 Archaeological interest in the site arises from the identification of Roman remains within 1-2km of the site, including settlement evidence discovered and excavated at Filwood Park during landscaping works in 1982 (Williams 1983). The excavation revealed 2nd to 4th-century AD remains, including stone-founded buildings, and the excavator considered it likely that Roman occupation extended to the south and southeast towards Hengrove Park. Roman material has also been recovered immediately east of the park from the locality of houses fronting Bamfield. In 3 Land at Hengrove Park, Bristol: Archaeological Evaluation © Cotswold Archaeology addition, excavations at Inns Court, approximately 600m to the north-west of Hengrove Park, recorded evidence of Late Iron Age occupation as well as the foundations of Roman buildings constructed in the late 3rd-century AD and occupied until the mid 4th-century AD (Jackson 1999). 1.5 Settlement at Whitchurch (also known as ‘Filton’) is recorded at the time of the Domesday Survey in 1086, and the area appears to have been farmed during the medieval period. It remained agricultural land until the creation of Whitchurch Airport on the site in the 1930s. The former airport runway survives within the centre of the park. Archaeological investigations prior to construction of the leisure centre in the northern part of the park (BaRAS 1994, 1995; Curtis 1997; Stansbie & Curtis 1997) recorded twentieth-century landscaping that had removed any earlier archaeology from the majority of the northern area. A desk-based assessment concluded, however, that the eastern part of the site, adjoining Bamfield, had a high potential for surviving Romano-British remains, and noted the presence of a crop mark south of the runway on an air photograph of the site taken in the 1940s (BaRAS 1997). Archaeological objectives 1.6 The objectives of the evaluation were to establish the character, quality, date, significance and extent of any archaeological remains or deposits surviving within the site. This information will assist Bristol City Council in making an informed judgement on the likely impact upon the archaeological resource by the proposed development. Methodology 1.7 The fieldwork comprised the excavation of six trenches. (Trenches 1 to 3 each measuring 15m x 2.5 and trenches 4 to 6 each measuring 15m x 1.5m) in the locations indicated on Figure 2. 1.8 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 4 Land at Hengrove Park, Bristol: Archaeological Evaluation © Cotswold Archaeology deposits were encountered they were excavated by hand in accordance with the CA Technical Manual 1: Excavation Recording Manual (1996). 1.9 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 site archive (including artefacts) will be deposited with Bristol City Museum. 2. RESULTS (FIGS 1 & 2) 2.1 This section provides an overview of the evaluation results; detailed summaries of the recorded contexts are to be found in Appendix 1. Details of the relative heights of the principal deposits and features expressed as metres above Ordnance Datum (m AOD) appear in Appendix 2 and Ordnance Survey co-ordinates for the trenches can be found in Appendix 3. 2.2 No archaeological features or deposits were identified or finds recovered from trenches 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5. A broadly similar stratigraphic sequence was identified in each of these trenches. Between 0.15m and 0.3m of mid grey-brown topsoil overlay a light greyish-yellow natural clay (see Appendix 1 for details). Trench 6 2.3 Natural clay 604 was sealed by buried topsoil 603. This deposit was sealed by layer 602, consisting of 0.3m of re-deposited topsoil, subsoil and natural clay with frequent inclusions of brick and stone. All deposits were sealed by modern topsoil 601. 3. DISCUSSION 3.1 Despite the apparent archaeological potential of the site (see archaeological background above) no archaeological remains were present. The absence of subsoil and ploughsoil within trenches 1 to 5, and the thin nature of the covering topsoil, suggests the site was levelled prior to the construction of the airfield of Whitchurch Airport. A similar sequence was present within trench 6, and the overlying rubble and topsoil may have resulted from construction of a nearby housing estate at a later date.