Congresbury Yeo Tidal Banks Congresbury North Somerset

Archaeological Watching Brief (addendum)

for Royal Haskoning DHV

on behalf of The Environment Agency

CA Project: 5922 CA Report: 16318

July 2016

Congresbury Yeo Tidal Banks Congresbury North Somerset

Archaeological Watching Brief (addendum)

CA Project: 5922 CA Report: 16318

Document Control Grid Revision Date Author Checked by Status Reasons for Approved revision by A 15 July Martin Derek Evans Internal – Derek 2016 Gillard review Evans B 28 July Martin Derek Evans Curator Revised NGR Derek 2016 Gillard review Evans

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.

CONTENTS

1. INTRODUCTION ...... 2

2. RESULTS ...... 2

3. DISCUSSION ...... 3

4. REFERENCES ...... 3

APPENDIX A: CONTEXT DESCRIPTIONS ...... 4

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Fig. 1 Site location plan (1:25,000) Fig. 2 Monitored groundworks (1:800) Fig. 3 Section (1:20) and photographs

1 © Cotswold Archaeology Congresbury Yeo Tidal Banks, Congresbury, North Somerset, Watching Brief (addendum)

1. INTRODUCTION

1.1 In September 2015, Cotswold Archaeology (CA) carried out an archaeological watching brief for Royal Haskoning DHV during improvement works to tidal embankments at Congresbury Yeo Tidal Banks, Congresbury, North Somerset (centred on NGR: ST 37512 65988; Fig.1). The improvement works were granted permission by North Somerset Council (NSC; ref: 14/P/2188/F). A report on the results of this watching brief was issued in September 2015 (CA 2015a).

1.2 In June 2016, CA was called back to the site to carry out an additional day of watching brief works. The current report presents the results of these works. This report is an addendum to the previous watching brief report (ibid.). The previous report should be referred to for full details of the project and the archaeological background to the site.

1.3 The watching brief was carried out in accordance with a detailed Written Scheme of Investigation (WSI) produced by CA (2015b) and approved by Vince Russett, Archaeologist for NSC. The fieldwork also followed Standard and guidance for an archaeological watching brief (CIfA 2014), Management of Research Projects in the Historic Environment (MoRPHE) PPN 3: Archaeological Excavation (Historic England 2015), and Management of Research Projects in the Historic Environment (MoRPHE): Project Manager’s Guide (Historic England 2015).

2. RESULTS

2.1 This section provides an overview of the watching brief results. Detailed summaries of the recorded contexts are to be found in Appendix A.

2.2 An archaeologist monitored the machine excavation of a 12.7m-long breach in an extant earthwork tidal bank (Figs. 2 and 3).

2.3 The bank was c. 6.8m wide. It was 1.1m high at its tallest point. The bank had a broadly flat top, sloping down to the north and south. The southern slope extended down to a dry floodplain.

2.4 The bank comprised a single deposit of grey-brown silt clay 201, sealed by a topsoil layer, 200. The excavation did not reach the base of layer 201.

2 © Cotswold Archaeology Congresbury Yeo Tidal Banks, Congresbury, North Somerset, Watching Brief (addendum)

2.5 No artefacts were recovered during the watching brief.

3. DISCUSSION

3.1 The watching brief recorded a section across a tidal bank. No artefactual material was recovered during the watching brief, although these banks are known to be post-medieval in date.

3.2 The bank was of one build and had not been repaired. This is consistent with the results of the previous watching brief at the site (CA 2015a).

3.3 The excavation works did not reach the base of the bank; as such, it is unknown if the bank covered a buried topsoil layer, or if it sat directly on the natural substrate. However, the previous watching brief (ibid.) noted that the observed bank lay directly on the underlying alluvial clays, with no indication of a buried soil horizon.

4. REFERENCES

CA (Cotswold Archaeology) 2015a Congresbury Yeo Tidal Banks, Congresbury, North Somerset: Archaeological watching brief CA report 15683

CA (Cotswold Archaeology) 2015b Congresbury Yeo Tidal Banks, Congresbury, North Somerset: Written Scheme of Investigation for an Archaeological Watching Brief

3 © Cotswold Archaeology Congresbury Yeo Tidal Banks, Congresbury, North Somerset, Watching Brief (addendum)

APPENDIX A: CONTEXT DESCRIPTIONS

Context Type Context Description Thickness No. interpretation (m) 200 layer topsoil mid brown-grey, friable clay silt 0.16–0.55 201 deposit bank material Grey-brown, firm silt clay >1

4 3 36 3 37 3 38 3 39 4 40 6 7 8 9 0

6688

6677

6666

6655

6644

STST

Andover 01264 347630 MONMOUTHSHIRE GLOUCESTERSHIRE N Cirencester 01285 771022

TORFAEN Cotswold Exeter 01392 826185

PORTNEATH TALBOT CAERPHI CYNON,RHONDDA, TAFF Archaeology Milton Keynes 01908 564660

A w www.cotswoldarchaeology.co.uk LLY e [email protected] NEWPORT SOUTH GLOUCESTERSHIRE PROJECT TITLE CARDIFF CITY OF THE VALE OF BRISTOL Congresbury Yeo Tidal Banks GLAMORGAN North Somerset NORTH SOMERSET BATH AND NE SOMERSET FIGURE TITLE Site location plan 0 1km

FIGURE NO. SOMERSET Reproduced from the 2011 Ordnance Survey Explorer map with DRAWN BY LM/RP PROJECT NO. 5922 the permission of Ordnance Survey on behalf of The Controller CHECKED BY SS DATE 20.06.16 of Her Majesty's Stationery Office c Crown copyright Cotswold Archaeology Ltd 100002109 APPROVED BY RY SCALE@A4 1:25,000 1 N 2 40m FIGURE NO. 01264 347630 01285 771022 01392 826185 01908 564660 www.cotswoldarchaeology.co.uk [email protected] Andover Cirencester w Exeter Milton Keynes e 20.06.16 5922 1:800 PROJECT NO. DATE SCALE@A3 section location monitored groundworks A RP LM DE 0 A &URZQFRS\ULJKW&RWVZROG$UFKDHRORJ\/WG Ordnance Survey on behalf of The Controller of Her Majesty's Stationery Office Original drawing produced by Team Van Oord. Drawing No. PB1621 - 2071 C1 Reproduced from the Ordnance Survey mapping with the permission of APPROVED BY PROJECT TITLE FIGURE TITLE DRAWN BY Congresbury Yeo Tidal Banks, North Somerset CHECKED BY Monitored groundworks

376

375 374

ST 659 660 P:\5922 Congresbury Yeo Tidal Banks, Somerset - WB continuation\Illustration\Drafts\5922 Congresbury Yeo Tidal Banks WB Fig 02.dwg Fig WB Banks Tidal Yeo Congresbury continuation\Illustration\Drafts\5922 WB - Somerset Banks, Tidal Yeo Congresbury P:\5922 200

201 Section AA

S N 6.5m AOD

01m

Andover 01264 347630 Cirencester 01285 771022 Cotswold Exeter 01392 826185 Archaeology Milton Keynes 01908 564660 w www.cotswoldarchaeology.co.uk e [email protected]

PROJECT TITLE East-facing section through bank 201, looking west (1m scale) General shot of bank prior to excavation, looking west (1m scale) Congresbury Yeo Tidal Banks North Somerset FIGURE TITLE Section and photographs

DRAWN BY RP PROJECT NO. 5922 FIGURE NO. CHECKED BY LM DATE 20.06.16 APPROVED BY DE SCALE@A3 1:20 3