Land Adjacent to Stowell Concrete Arnolds Way Yatton North Somerset
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Land adjacent to Stowell Concrete Arnolds Way Yatton North Somerset Archaeological Evaluation for WYG on behalf of Stowell Concrete Ltd CA Project: 880264 CA Report: 17713 February 2018 Land adjacent to Stowell Concrete Arnolds Way Yatton North Somerset Archaeological Evaluation CA Project: 880264 CA Report: 17713 Document Control Grid Revision Date Author Checked by Status Reasons for Approved revision by A 13 Christina Derek Evans Internal – Derek February Tapply review Evans 2018 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 © Cotswold Archaeology Land adjacent to Stowell Concrete, Arnolds Way, Yatton, North Somerset: Archaeological Evaluation CONTENTS SUMMARY ..................................................................................................................... 2 1. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................ 3 2. ARCHAEOLOGICAL BACKGROUND ................................................................ 4 3. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES ................................................................................... 4 4. METHODOLOGY ............................................................................................... 4 5. RESULTS .......................................................................................................... 5 6. DISCUSSION ..................................................................................................... 6 7. CA PROJECT TEAM .......................................................................................... 6 8. REFERENCES ................................................................................................... 6 APPENDIX A: CONTEXT DESCRIPTIONS .................................................................... 8 APPENDIX B: OASIS REPORT FORM........................................................................... 9 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Fig. 1 Site location plan (1:25,000) Fig. 2 Trench location plan (1:500) Fig. 3 Trench 1: photographs Fig. 4 Trench 6: photographs 1 © Cotswold Archaeology Land adjacent to Stowell Concrete, Arnolds Way, Yatton, North Somerset: Archaeological Evaluation SUMMARY Project Name: Land adjacent to Stowell Concrete Location: Arnolds Way, Yatton, North Somerset NGR: 341750 166000 Type: Evaluation Date: 27–28 November 2017 Planning Reference: 16/P/2725/F Location of Archive: To be deposited with the Somerset Museum Service Site Code: SCY 17 In November 2017, Cotswold Archaeology carried out an archaeological evaluation of land adjacent to Stowell Concrete, Arnolds Way, Yatton, North Somerset. A total of six trenches was excavated within the site. The evaluation recorded no archaeological features or deposits. An area of rubble deposits was associated with the demolition of a late post-medieval/modern farm. 2 © Cotswold Archaeology Land adjacent to Stowell Concrete, Arnolds Way, Yatton, North Somerset: Archaeological Evaluation 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 In November 2017, Cotswold Archaeology (CA) carried out an archaeological evaluation of land adjacent to Stowell Concrete, Arnolds Way, Yatton, North Somerset (centred on NGR: 341750 166000; Fig. 1). The evaluation was commissioned by WYG, on behalf of Stowell Concrete Ltd. 1.2 North Somerset Council has granted full planning permission (ref: 16/P/2725/F) for the erection of a single storey warehouse at the site, as well as a batching plant, stock area, single storey ancillary product development office, associated rainwater attention basin and landscaping. Condition 12 of this planning permission requires a programme of archaeological work. The scope of this evaluation was defined in discussions with Catherine Lodge, Archaeologist, North Somerset Council. 1.3 The evaluation was carried out in accordance with a Written Scheme of Investigation (WSI) produced by CA (2017) and approved by Catherine Lodge. The evaluation was also in line with Standard and guidance for archaeological field evaluation (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). The site 1.4 The evaluation site lies outside of the south-western fringes of Yatton. It is to the west of the existing Stowell Concrete works, which lie to the west of the southern end of Arnolds Way. 1.5 The evaluation site is composed of two areas, comprising c. 4.15ha in the west and c. 0.15ha in the east. It is mainly open grassland, with hardstanding in its north- western corner. It is surrounded by the existing Stowell Concrete works to the east, with the Smart Systems warehouses to the west. 1.6 The underlying bedrock geology of the site is mapped as mudstone and halite-stone of the Mercia Mudstone Group, which formed in the Triassic Period. This is overlain by Tidal Flat Deposits of clay and silt (BGS 2017). 3 © Cotswold Archaeology Land adjacent to Stowell Concrete, Arnolds Way, Yatton, North Somerset: Archaeological Evaluation 2. ARCHAEOLOGICAL BACKGROUND 2.1 The following text is summarised from Catherine Lodge’s comments on the planning application, as well as the results of a previous geophysical survey (Archaeological Surveys Ltd 2017) and data held on the North Somerset Council Historic Environment Record (HER). 2.2 The proposed development site is located c. 1,600m north-east of a minor Roman villa (Historic England List entry no. 1011262). Two sites to the north-east of the evaluation site have been subject to geophysical surveys (GSB 2013; Archaeological Surveys 2014), which recorded a probable trackway. A medieval droveway is known c. 400m to the north-west of the evaluation site (HER ref 46931). A medieval deer park is located c. 600m to the north of the evaluation site (HER ref 08804). 2.3 Holly Lodge Farm (HER ref 46731), extant from the 18th to the 20th centuries, lay within the south-eastern area of the evaluation site. 2.4 The geophysical survey of the evaluation site recorded several anomalies of uncertain/possible natural origin, as well as a single possible ditch-like feature and evidence for drainage channels. An area of magnetic debris in the south-eastern part of the site was considered likely to relate to the former Holly Lodge Farm. 3. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES 3.1 The objective of the evaluation was to provide further information about the likely archaeological resource within the site, including its presence/absence, character, extent, date, integrity, state of preservation and quality, in line with the National Planning Policy Framework (DCLG 2012). 4. METHODOLOGY 4.1 The evaluation fieldwork comprised the excavation of six trenches (Fig. 2). All trenches were 30m long and 2m wide. They were located to target anomalies identified in the geophysical survey (Archaeological Surveys 2017): 4 © Cotswold Archaeology Land adjacent to Stowell Concrete, Arnolds Way, Yatton, North Somerset: Archaeological Evaluation • T1–T4 sampled anomalies of uncertain/possible natural origin; • T5 sampled a possible ditch-like anomaly; and • T6 sampled an area of magnetic debris in the former location of Holly Lodge Farm. 4.2 Trenches were set out on OS National Grid (NGR) co-ordinates using Leica GPS and were surveyed in accordance with CA Technical Manual 4: Survey Manual. All trenches were excavated by a mechanical excavator equipped with a toothless grading bucket. All machine excavation was undertaken under constant archaeological supervision. Investigation and recording was carried out in line with CA Technical Manual 1: Fieldwork Recording Manual. 4.3 CA will make arrangements with Somerset Museum Service for the deposition of the project archive. A summary of information from this project, as set out in Appendix B, will be entered onto the OASIS online database of archaeological projects in Britain. 5. RESULTS 5.1 This section provides an overview of the evaluation results. Detailed summaries of the recorded contexts can be found in Appendix A. 5.2 T1–T5 were excavated to depths of 0.76m–1.4m below present ground level (bpgl; Fig. 3). Natural alluvial clays were exposed 014m–0.24m bpgl and were present to depth. They were sealed by the modern topsoil. 5.3 In T6, alluvial clay was exposed 0.9m bpgl (Fig. 4). It was sealed by 0.4m–0.5m of demolition deposits 602 and 603, which comprised mortar and brick and stone rubble in a silty clay matrix. The demolition deposits were sealed by 0.35m of subsoil 601, which was covered in turn by 0.15m of modern topsoil 600. 5.4 No archaeological features or deposits were uncovered in any of the trenches. 5 © Cotswold Archaeology Land adjacent to Stowell Concrete, Arnolds Way, Yatton, North Somerset: Archaeological Evaluation 6. DISCUSSION 6.1 The evaluation recorded no archaeological features or deposits. This is in line with the geophysical survey results survey (Archaeological Surveys Ltd 2017), which suggested a low potential for archaeological remains. There was no below-ground archaeological feature corresponding to the ditch-like anomaly sampled by T5. 6.2 T6 recorded late post-medieval/modern rubble deposits associated with the demolition of Holly Lodge Farm, which stood in that area of the site from the