T H A M E S V A L L E Y ARCHAEOLOGICAL S E R V I C E S
Ruskin Works, Oakridge Road, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire
Archaeological Watching Brief
by Luis Esteves
Site Code: RWB16/80
(SU 8552 9359) Ruskin Works, Oakridge Road, High Wycombe Buckinghamshire
An Archaeological Watching Brief
For Mr S. Dad
by Luís Esteves
Thames Valley Archaeological Services Ltd
Site Code RWB 16/80
April 2017 Summary
Site name: Ruskin Works, Oakridge Road, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire
Grid reference: SU 8552 9359
Site activity: Watching Brief
Date and duration of project: 30th March to 4th April 2017
Project manager: Steve Ford
Site supervisor: Luís Esteves
Site code: RWB 16/80
Summary of results: Monitoring of new service trenches for the proposal did not reveal any artefacts or deposits of archaeological interest.
Location and reference of archive: The archive is presently held at Thames Valley Archaeological Services, Reading and will be deposited with Buckinghamshire Museum Service in due course.
This report may be copied for bona fide research or planning purposes without the explicit permission of the copyright holder. All TVAS unpublished fieldwork reports are available on our website: www.tvas.co.uk/reports/reports.asp.
Report edited/checked by: Steve Ford 12.04.17 Steve Preston 10.04.17
i Thames Valley Archaeological Services Ltd, 47–49 De Beauvoir Road, Reading RG1 5NR Tel. (0118) 926 0552; Fax (0118) 926 0553; email [email protected]; website: www.tvas.co.uk Ruskin Works, Oakridge Road, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire An Archaeological Watching Brief
by Luís Esteves
Report 16/80b
Introduction
This report documents the results of an archaeological watching brief carried out at Ruskin Works, Oakridge
Road, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire (SU 8552 9359) (Fig. 1). The work was commissioned by Mr Shaf
Dad, 156 West Wycombe Road, High Wycombe, HP12 3AE.
Planning permission (14/08128/FUL) has been granted by Wycombe District Council for the partial demolition of the existing building, conversion of the building to residential apartments and the construction of new house on site. The consent is subject to a condition (7) which requires a programme of archaeological work to be undertaken on the site in the form of a watching brief and building recording prior to refurbishment. The latter has already taken place and has been reported separately (Milbank and Elliott 2016).
This in accordance with the Department for Communities and Local Government’s National Planning
Policy Framework (NPPF 2012) and the Council's policies on archaeology. The field investigation was carried out to a specification approved by Mr Phillip Markham of Buckinghamshire County Archaeological Service.
The fieldwork was undertaken by Luís Esteves and Mike Johnson between 30th March and 4th April 2017, and the site code is RWB16/80.
The archive is presently held at Thames Valley Archaeological Services, Reading and will be deposited at
Buckinghamshire Museum Service in due course.
Location, topography and geology
The site is located to the northwest of the centre of High Wycombe (Fig. 1), in an area which combines residential terraced housing and commercial/industrial buildings. It occupies a triangular parcel of land with
Oakridge Road at the west, the river Wye forming the northeast boundary, and to the south, modern housing.
The site lies at approximately 74m above Ordnance Datum and the underlying geology is recorded as being in the junction of alluvium above the New Pit Chalk Formation (BGS 2005) but on site the natural geology was not observed.
1 Archaeological background
The archaeological potential of the site stems from its location close to the historic (medieval) core of High
Wycombe and some Saxon remains utilising the nearby river with documentary references to the presence of water mills and fishponds. More generally, the site lies in the valley of the river Wye which is generally rich in archaeology of many periods For example, two Roman sites are recorded nearby, a villa at Wycombe Mead just to the east of the town centre and a substantial settlement also possibly of villa status at West Wycombe (Zeepvat and Radford 2010, 83; Cass 2007).
Objectives and methodology
The purpose of the watching brief was to excavate and record any archaeological deposits affected by the groundworks. This was to involve the monitoring of all areas of intrusive groundworks, in particular the stripping of overburden and/or the digging of foundation trenches and service runs.
Results
Two utilities services trenches were observed and recorded during the groundworks (Fig. 3). The first of these, on the south side of the main building, measuring 35.5m long, 0.6m wide and 0.8m deep. The stratigraphy consisted of gravel/hoggin in the west area, and 0.35m of yellow/brown madeground with modern rubble overlying 0.45m of dark stained made ground in the east area (Fig. 4, Pls. 1 and 2). Natural geology was not observed.
The second utilities trench in the north of the building measured 44.5m long, 0.6m wide and 0.7m deep.
The stratigraphy consisted of 0.2m of concrete overlying 0.1m of brown sand with brick/tile overlying 0.4m of made ground (Fig. 4). Again natural geology was not observed.
Finds
No finds of archaeological interest were recovered during the watching brief.
2 Conclusion
All the areas of intrusive groundworks (service runs) were examined and recorded. Due to the shallow depth of these trenches the natural geology was not observed. No archaeological deposits nor artefacts were detected during the watching brief.
References BGS, 2005, British Geological Survey, 1:50000, Sheet 255, Solid and Drift Edition, Keyworth Cass, S, 2007, 473 West Wycombe Road, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, Thames Valley Archaeological Services report 07/154, Reading Milbank and Elliott, 2016, "Ruskin Works, Oakridge Road, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire: a building recording", TVAS report 16/80, Reading NPPF 2012, National Planning Policy Framework, Dept Communities and Local Govt, London Zeepvat, B and Radford, D, 2010, ‘Roman Buckinghamshire, AD43–410’, in M Farley (ed), An Illustrated History of Early Buckinghamshire, Buckinghamshire Archaeol Soc, Aylesbury, 75–108
3 Milton Keynes
Buckingham
Aylesbury
High Wycombe 94000
SITE
SITE
93000
92000 SU85000 86000 RWB 16/80b Ruskin Works, Oakridge Road, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, 2017 Archaeological Watching Brief Figure 1. Location of site within High Wycombe and Buckinghamshire. Reproduced under licence from Ordnance Survey Explorer Digital mapping at 1:12500 Crown Copyright reserved SITE
93600
93500
SU85500 85600
RWB 16/80b N Ruskin Works, Oakridge Road, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, 2017 Archaeological Watching Brief Figure 2. Detailed location of site off Oakridge Road.
Reproduced from Ordnance Survey Digital Mapping under licence. Crown copyright reserved. Scale 1:1250 98
109
a 1 to 12 Cotswold Court
Works
new drainage
ad 93600 o R e g d ri 1 to 12 ak O Ruskin Court
R iv er W ye
27 31
39 38 11 5 10 4
Victoria 93500 House
28 to 32
SU 85500 RWB 16/80b
N Ruskin Works, Oakridge Road, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, 2017 Archaeological Watching Brief
Figure 3. Plan of observed area.
0 50m Southern drainage trenches NW SE
Made ground
made ground
Northern drainage trench NW SE
Concrete
Sand with brick and tile
made ground
RWB 16/80b Ruskin Works, Oakridge Road, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, 2017 Archaeological Watching Brief
Figure 4. Observed sections.
0 1m Plate 1. Southern drainage trench, looking north, Scale: 1m.
Plate 2. Southern drainage trenches, looking south, Scale: 1m.
RWB 16/80b Ruskin Works, Oakridge Road, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, 2017 Archaeological Watching Brief Plates 1 and 2. TIME CHART
Calendar Years
Modern AD 1901
Victorian AD 1837
Post Medieval AD 1500
Medieval AD 1066
Saxon AD 410
Roman AD 43 AD 0 BC Iron Age 750 BC
Bronze Age: Late 1300 BC
Bronze Age: Middle 1700 BC
Bronze Age: Early 2100 BC
Neolithic: Late 3300 BC
Neolithic: Early 4300 BC
Mesolithic: Late 6000 BC
Mesolithic: Early 10000 BC
Palaeolithic: Upper 30000 BC
Palaeolithic: Middle 70000 BC
Palaeolithic: Lower 2,000,000 BC Thames Valley Archaeological Services Ltd, 47-49 De Beauvoir Road, Reading RG1 5NR
Tel: 0118 9260552 Email: [email protected] Web: www.tvas.co.uk
Offices in: Brighton, Taunton, Stoke-on-Trent and Ennis (Ireland)