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, ,

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 All TVAS unpublished fieldwork reports are available on our website: www.tvas.co.uk/reports/reports.asp.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 Road, High Wycombe, HP12 3AE.

Planning permission (14/08128/FUL) has been granted by 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: , Taunton, Stoke-on-Trent and Ennis (Ireland)