Saredon Hill Quarry Saredon Road, Little Saredon, WV10 7LJ

Planning Application for Extraction of Minerals Beneath Saredon Hill Wood

Heritage Statement

Mark Singlehurst, BA (Hons), DipTP

October 2018 1 1.0 Introduction: Background to Application and Heritage Statement

1.1 Ongoing assessment of the mineral reserves at the site has identified that there are considerable additional reserves of high-quality sand and gravel located beneath the wood and the adjoining area to the east. It is estimated that there is around 500,000 m³ of sand and gravel under these areas. NRS is therefore applying for planning permission to allow the felling of the wood and the extraction of mineral reserves (sand and gravel) beneath the wood and the adjoining area, followed by replanting of woodland as part of the overall restoration of the quarry.

1.2 County Council’s Planning Development Control Team has advised that, bearing in mind the presence of late prehistoric activity in the surrounding area (as recorded on the Historic Environment Record), there does remain the potential for further archaeological evidence to be present within the area of the woodland. It is acknowledged that archaeological remains present within the area may well have been impacted by the past growth and management of the woodland; however, there does still remain the potential for intact remains to be present. Therefore, in view of the demonstrable archaeological potential, as well as recent likely impacts from the development of the woodland, it has been advised that a detailed Heritage Assessment be carried out and submitted as supporting information to the formal planning application. Its results should also inform the design of an appropriate landscape restoration plan. The document might also take into account the results of any site investigation works previously carried out within the woodland, so as to inform discussions regarding the need for and scope of any subsequent archaeological interventions across the site.

2.0 Description of the Wood in its Present Form

2.1 Saredon Hill Wood is described in Turnstone Ecology’s Woodland NVC Report as a discrete block of mature broad-leaved woodland, rectangular in shape, orientated in a north-south direction and approximately 1.5 hectares in extent. A high, wide earth bank occurs several metres into the wood at the southern end. There is arable farmland to the north and east of the wood, with opencast quarrying to the south and west. On the west side, the land has been quarried away to an abrupt vertical cliff beneath the woodland. An electricity pylon has been constructed within the south-eastern corner of the wood. There has been some tree clearance around the pylon and under the wires, and there is evidence that the wood was previously managed for game bird rearing, e.g. a pheasant pen, grain hoppers and non-native shrubs planted as cover. However, the wood appears to have been unmanaged for a number of years.

2.2 The Woodland NVC Report goes on to say that the woodland has a dense, near-continuous canopy dominated by mature broad-leaved trees. The main species are Fraxinus excelsior (Ash) and Acer pseudoplatanus (Sycamore), although Quercus robur (Pedunculate Oak) is locally frequent at the southern end. The trees are approximately 15-20 metres tall and range between about 40 and 80 centimetres in diameter (at breast height), which, given the local growing conditions, suggests they are likely to have established around the early to mid-20th century. The canopy is generally closed, but with breaks associated with the pylon and pheasant pen. There is also an area of Acer pseudoplatanus (Sycamore) coppice directly under the electricity wires at the southern end, established from re-growth of trees felled during construction and maintenance of the pylon and overhead wires. Throughout the wood there is an open to dense understorey of shrubs and young trees, including abundant Acer pseudoplatanus (Sycamore) and Sambucus nigra (Elder) and occasional Crataegus monogyna (Hawthorn), together with small amounts of Betula pubescens (Downy Birch), Fraxinus excelsior (Ash), Quercus robur (Pedunculate Oak), Salix caprea (Goat Willow) and Ulmus glabra (Wych Elm). In addition to these species, there is frequent Prunus laurocerasus (Cherry Laurel) and other non-native shrubs, which are likely to have been

2 planted to provide cover for game birds. The field-layer is species-poor and comprises a rather generic mix of common species characteristic of shady habitats.

2.3 Although the character of the wood is broadly similar throughout, there is a slight shift in species composition from the north to the south of the area. The northern two thirds of the wood are dominated by ash and sycamore, with abundant Elder and Common Nettle in the shrub and field layers, whereas the southern end has occasional to frequent Pedunculate Oak in the canopy with a corresponding decrease in Ash, Elder and Common Nettle. There also appears be an increase in mosses of more acidic, base-poor conditions at the southern end, being especially abundant on the high bank that exists along the inside edge of the wood.

2.4 Turnstone Ecology has concluded that the woodland does not have particularly strong affinities to any one NVC type, although the highest matching sub-community – W8e (Fraxinus excelsior-Acer campestre-Mercurialis perennis) woodland, with Geranium robertianum sub- community – probably best describes the majority of the woodland. This sub-community is a eutrophic type, characterised by species such as Urtica dioica (Common Nettle) and Galium aparine (Cleavers), which fits the profile of the woodland at Saredon. However, the increase in oak and presence of acidophilous mosses at the southern end suggest a transition towards W10 (Quercus robur-Pteridium aquilinum-Rubus fruticosus) woodland.

2.5 The hedge banks bordering the wood on its south and west sides are suspected to be marking the former field boundaries rather than being wood banks. The current dominance of sycamore and ash suggests partial clearances/felling of the timber in northern and central parts of the wood in the past. The presence of goose-grass and nettles indicates that the soil is ‘eutrophicated’; that is, over- enriched with nutrients. According to Wikipedia, “many terrestrial plant species are endangered as a result of soil eutrophication, such as the majority of orchid species in Europe.” Woodland undergrowth affected by run-off from nearby fertilized fields, for example, can be turned into a nettle and bramble thicket. The WA report suggests that it may indicate that animals have used the woodland for shelter in the past (10.7.17).

2.6 In its 2015 Volume 3 Environmental Statement, Wardell Armstrong suggested that the 2.6 hectares of scrub woodland south of the original wood was made up of grey willow, silver birch, hazel, osier and sycamore (10.7.18). A bat survey in April 2013 recorded fairly high levels of bat activity (Common Pipistrelle) along the edges of Saredon Hill Wood and on the southern site boundary (where there are pre-1841, species-rich, traditionally managed hedgerows surviving) (10.7.22, 10.7.38). The scrub woodland to the south was also “important as a habitat for passerine birds and foraging bats” (10.7.47 & 49).

2.7 Despite past felling and a relatively poor range of species, the wood is designated as ‘Native Woodland’ in the Staffordshire Local Biodiversity Action Plan and is therefore considered to be important in the local context. The Wardell Armstrong Environmental Statement prepared for Breedon Aggregates and NRS Wastecare in July 2013, in connection with the eastward extension of Saredon Hill Quarry, stated that the proposed development would destroy the scrub woodland to the south, resulting in the loss of nesting sites for breeding birds and habitat for foraging bats and badgers (10.8.5).

2.8 Despite the isolation of the habitat resulting from the quarry extension, the original part of Saredon Hill Wood was earmarked to be retained (10.8.4, 10.9.1, 10.9.9, 10.10.9, 15.8.30). A condition attached to the planning permission requires tree protection measures and assurances that adequate buffer zones have been allowed around the retained trees and woodland block. Condition 19 of permission SS.EA/7 requires replacement planting for any trees damaged or removed during quarrying operations. Moreover, upon completion of the quarrying activities and the land restoration, the planning permission requires the existing woodland to be extended to the south,

3 west and north-west with broad-leaved, deciduous species, including pedunculate oak, silver birch, field maple, hornbeam and hazel (10.10.6-8, 10.10.10, 10.10.22, 15.6.11). In addition, hedgerows lost in the 1950s are to be replaced with new hedges composed of a species mix including hawthorn, sloe, pedunculate oak, field maple and hazel (10.10.3).

3.0 Underlying Geology

3.1 According to Section 11 of Wardell Armstrong’s Volume 3 Environmental Statement (2015), the made ground and natural superficial deposits on the quarry site are underlain by rock of the Wildmoor Sandstone Formation, which overlies Kidderminster Conglomerate Sandstone Formation strata of Triassic age. The Wildmoor Sandstone Formation is described as ‘Sandstone, brown and reddish brown, micaceous, locally pebbly; interbedded with mudstone’ and is recorded to range in thickness from 20 to 240 metres regionally. The Kidderminster Formation is described as ‘Sandstone, red-brown, pebbly, with interbedded pebble-cobble conglomerate in lower part; sparse mudstone beds and is recorded to range in thickness from 50 to 154 metres regionally.’

3.2 Wardell Armstrong’s drawing ST12713-009 (2012) shows the underlying geology beneath the wood as the Wildmoor Sandstone Formation, with the Bushbury Branch Fault line running along its eastern edge. The north-east corner of the wood, however, lies over the Kidderminster Conglomerate Sandstone Formation. The former triangulation pillar at the top of Saredon Hill (in the quarry’s eastern extension, east of the wood) recorded the land height as 154 metres above sea level.

3.3 The following description is derived from the 1928 Geological Survey of and Wales ‘Memoirs’ volume entitled The Country Between Wolverhampton and Oakengates (p. 125). The ‘Bunter Pebble Beds’ is the old name for what is now known as the Kidderminster Formation.

“The general characters of the [Bunter] Pebble Beds, applicable to the outcrops in the eastern part of the present district, are described by Mr. G. Barrow and Dr. W. Gibson in the Memoir. Actual pebble- beds are evidently less developed than on Chase. In many places the position of the base is in doubt, and is in clear evidence only on high ground. The vagueness of the base on the Coal Measures is difficult to explain, even where it is apparently not under thick drift or downwash. Certain features, simulating junctions, in the high ground are also difficult to explain.

“North of Saredon Brook the [Bunter Pebble Beds] outcrop is almost wholly concealed by drift. To the south it forms the much-dissected ridge that runs from Saredon Hill to Bushbury Hill and beyond, and south of Laney Green it also occurs as outliers, which form a continuation of the line of similar masses running south south- west from Lodge Hill, in the Lichfield Sheet (154). Over all the highest ground beds of pebbles are evident; elsewhere their existence is uncertain.”

4.0 Age and Development of Saredon Hill Wood

4.1 The wood is not ancient. Its extent is represented by the boundaries of an arable field on the 1841 parish tithe map, numbered 117, which was one of several owned at that time by Thomas Perks (the Perks family were associated with Saredon Hall from the 1760s until 1819, but Thomas seems to have lived at Shareshill). It was called ‘The Middle Hill’. This appears to have nothing to do with Middle Hill Farm (beyond the motorway, to the east). As adjacent fields were called ‘The Over Hill’ (116) and ‘The Side Hill’ (118), the name probably signifies nothing more than “the middle part of Saredon Hill”. By the time of the First Edition Ordnance Survey map at 1:2500 (25”) scale, in 1884, the wood had been established within the original field boundaries, although there also seems to be a tiny extension at the north-east corner. More detailed mapping at 25-inch scale from 1882 shows this is a tree-filled, rectangular pit. (See map extracts below, derived from appendices to the 2013 Wardell Armstrong Environmental Statement.)

4

4.2 The wood and surrounding field boundary hedgerows remained largely unaltered on Ordnance Survey revisions of 1902-03 and subsequent editions up until 1958. The 1967 map shows the quarry workings to the west (‘Sand & Gravel Pit’), which had commenced after planning permission was granted in 1962. The same map shows the in place and all the hedgerows around the wood removed; the Wardell Armstrong statement suggests that this may have happened in connection with the motorway construction (paragraph 9.9.19). The 1995 map only shows tree symbols and omits the outline to the wood on the north and east sides, though to the south and west the sand and gravel pit had reached to the very edge of the original woodland block. The symbols used suggest that mature trees only remained in the southern portion of the wood, the rest having been reduced to scrub. As the earliest available Google Earth aerial photography (2003) shows mature trees occupying the whole of the original rectangular extent of the wood, however, it may be assumed that the original boundaries had been respected throughout the quarrying operations.

4.3 By 2003, the quarry workings to the south of the original wood had been infilled and trees were beginning to establish themselves over much of this area. By 2010, these trees had grown to maturity and effectively formed an extension to the original woodland. This situation has apparently continued up until the present time.

4.4 The wood is not named on any edition of the Ordnance Survey map and there is no evidence that the ‘Middle Hill’ field name was ever applied to it, so I have followed Wardell Armstrong’s practice in calling it ‘Saredon Hill Wood’.

5 4.5 This is deciduous woodland, the dominant trees being sycamore and ash, “species typically found in secondary woodland” (WA 10.7.15). Some sessile oaks, beech and English elms are found at the southern end of the wood, which the Wardell Armstrong statement suspects might have originated as hedgerow trees. The shrub layer (understorey) is made up of elder, sloe and bramble, with occasional introduced specimens of rhododendron and cherry laurel. The ground flora is fairly species poor, consisting of nettle, foxglove, goose-grass, broad buckler fern, creeping soft grass, nipplewort and hemp nettle (WA 10.7.16-17).

4.6 There is plentiful newspaper archive evidence that fox hunting with horses and hounds used to take place across this area; it is also asserted locally that bird shooting took place around Saredon Hill, so the wood might originally have been planted as a covert. The Wardell Armstong report mentions vehicle tracks and a disused pheasant pen found within the wood, along with other “signs of regular disturbance”. It is also possible that the farmer who owned and planted the wood intended to use it as a source of timber for farming operations, fuel and/or the construction or maintenance of farm buildings.

4.7 The wood has been associated in recent decades with Saredon Hall Farm. The ownership of its site, together with other fields to the north and east, by the Perks family in 1841 (tithe apportionment schedule) would seem to suggest a longstanding connection with Saredon Hall. The land to the south and west was then owned by members of the Hordern family, who also had a long association with Saredon Hall. However, it was John Perks, a solicitor and attorney, who lived at the Hall, from at least 1763 and until his death in 1819. It is not clear whether Thomas Perks, perhaps his son, had also lived there.

4.8 Initial research revealed several local people with the name Thomas Perks who could potentially have been the 1841 landowner for the Saredon Hill Wood site. Thomas Perks (I) was born in 1796 at Wolverhampton and married Priscilla Butler in October 1819 (at Sedgeley). In the 1841 and 1851 census returns he was living at Shareshill and he died there, aged 63, on 21st July, 1858. It seems he practised as a butcher there as well as running a ‘beer shop’ or public house called ‘The Bull’s Head’. He also had a son, Thomas (II), born at Wolverhampton in 1820, who in turn had another Thomas (III), born in 1857 at Shareshill. Thomas II died at Lodge Hill Farm, Shifnal in September 1864, just six years after his father, aged only 44. It therefore appeared possible that either Thomas I or Thomas II owned the ‘Middle Hill’ field in 1841, though the elder Thomas seemed to be the more likely candidate. The 1841 Shareshill Tithe Map shows Thomas Perks as also owning land and buildings on both sides of the road leading into Great Saredon village from the south; these seem to have been on or near the site of the current Hill Top and Yew Tree Cottages and the field opposite them, on the west side of the road. This does not mean that Thomas Perks lived there; he may have merely owned them and leased or rented them out to others.

4.9 Interestingly, though, the Ancestry UK website holds poll books for the 1838-1843 period which show that a Thomas W. Perks owned a freehold house and land in the township of Saredon, occupied by himself. In 1842 and 1843, he is shown as living at “Sutton Maddock, Salop” but still holding freehold land at ‘Saredon Magna’ = Great Saredon. Further research has revealed that this was Thomas Woodhouse Perks, born in Shareshill in 1780. He married Sarah (Sally) Haslewood at Quatford in May 1819 and then Ann Oliver at Sutton Maddock in November 1829. A brief article in the Oxford University and City Herald for 5th June 1819, describing this marriage, confirms that Thomas W. Perks (“Parkes”) of Sutton Hill was, in fact, the eldest son of the late John Perks (“Parkes”) of Saredon Hall, whilst Sally was the youngest daughter of the Rev. G. Hazlewood of Bridgnorth. The 1851 census shows that he was living with his son, John Perks, who farmed 280 acres at Sutton Hill Farm, Sutton Maddock. He died in the last quarter of 1867 at Shifnal. In the light of the Poll Book evidence it would therefore appear that it was this Thomas Perks who owned the ‘Middle Hill’ field that later became woodland. (There was also a Thomas Watson Perks (1724-1771), who was described as a Gentleman and Attorney-at-Law of Great Saredon or Shareshill and who had at one time owned the Manor of Aspley.)

4.10 An article in the Staffordshire Advertiser for 8th December 1821 described a dwelling-house to be let in Great Saredon that had previously been occupied by Mrs. Perks and a neat cottage nearly adjoining the same, then currently occupied by Mrs. Perks. Particulars were available from Mr. Perks of Sutton Hill, near Shifnal. The property included a coach house, stabling for 17 horses, a garden, well-

6 stocked orchard and nine acres of meadow or pasture land surrounding the house in enclosures, within “a fine sporting country, abounding with game.” This is almost certainly the property shown as belonging to Thomas (Woodhouse) Perks on the 1841 Tithe Map.

4.11 The Saredon Hall farm buildings and most of the surrounding fields belonged to the Rev. John Lewis (Louis) Petit in 1841 and until his death in December 1868. He was a well-known archaeologist, topographical watercolour artist and author of books on ecclesiastical architecture in his day. He had inherited this land and property from his father, the Rev. John Hayes Petit (1770-1822), who lived at Hilton Hall (Hilton Park) near Lichfield, but served for many years as perpetual curate of Shareshill parish. John Louis Petit was the eldest of ten children. Hilton Hall was originally built for Henry Vernon I (1663-1732) and he and his descendants were major landowners in Shareshill and Great/Little Saredon until the eventual sale of the Vernon estate in 1951. It would seem that the Saredon Hall buildings and land had been sold to the Petits prior to 1841, but the Rev. J. H. Petit must have been a tenant at Hilton Hall (from at least 1817).

4.12 Saredon Hall was previously the home of Caleb Martin in 1738 (who allowed his house to be certified as a Presbyterian Meeting House) and later of Joseph Hordern, a yeoman farmer of Bushbury who was born in 1725 and married Margaret Eggington of Featherstone in April 1751 at the age of 26; the couple lived first at and then at Saredon Hall. Joseph died in March 1807 and Margaret in October 1812. Their son William and daughter Lucy died before Joseph’s death; the survivors mentioned in his will were Joseph, James, Henry and Ann. Their third son James and his wife Jane had sons called Alexander and Henry, who expanded the family banking business founded by James and his brother Joseph Jr. around 1791. It was Alexander and Henry Hordern who owned all the land that now forms the western and central parts of the Saredon Hill Quarry site back in 1841.

4.13 Joseph Hordern Senior (I) is first mentioned as farming at Saredon in 1783 (his farming diary for that year has been preserved at Birmingham Reference Library). In 1792 he (or perhaps his son) built a second home, ‘Saredon House’, in Edgbaston, Birmingham, and in 1796 he assisted William Pitt with his published survey of the state of agriculture in Staffordshire. His son, Joseph Junior (II), was born about 1761; he was mentioned in the General View of the Agriculture of the County of in its 1808 and 1815 editions and was described as being both of Edgbaston and Saredon. He married Mary Eggington on 23rd April, 1792. In 1817, William Pitt’s Topographical History of Staffordshire described him as a Wolverhampton banker and a principal landowner in Saredon. In 1825 he was described as “late of Saredon Hall” and had conveyed all his estates to his son, also Joseph, including the townships of and liberties of Great and Little Saredon and (Aris’s Birmingham Gazette, 29/8/1825).

4.14 By April 1826, Joseph II had been declared an insolvent debtor and ended up in the Debtor’s Prison at Stafford. This may explain why he had transferred all his land and property to his son eight months earlier! He was released in 1830 and had moved to Dublin by January 1831 (Staffordshire Advertiser, 15/1/1831). He died on 29th January 1838, described again as both of Saredon House, Edgbaston and Saredon, Staffordshire (Gentleman’s Magazine, Vol. 163), so perhaps he had later been able to return to his old homes. His wife Mary died in August 1843, aged 72. Both appear to have been highly regarded by the poor people who depended on their support. Joseph’s obituary in the Wolverhampton Chronicle for 31st January 1838 said that

“The poor and his immediate dependents ever found in him a kind and indulgent benefactor; and many families now occupying a respectable station in society gratefully trace their comforts and prosperity to his fostering care and disinterested aid.”

Mary’s obituary in Aris’s Birmingham Gazette for 14th August 1843 related:

“In her the poor have lost a sincere friend; ever ready to listen to the tale of woe, her sympathy and her purse were never withheld from the really deserving; while the gentleness and mildness of her character, the humility of her mind, the cheerfulness of her disposition, and the daily exercise of every Christian virtue, endeared her in an extraordinary manner to her family and friends. She lived the life, and died the death, of the righteous. Her end was peace.”

7 4.15 Either Joseph II or possibly his son, Joseph III, was mentioned as farming at Saredon in 1832 and 1834; White’s Directory of Staffordshire for 1834 lists Joseph as a farmer and Henry Hordern as a principal landowner there. In 1827, the tenant occupying Saredon Hall was a certain Alfred Bemetzrieder, a professor of dancing (Staffordshire Advertiser, 29/9/1827). The 1833 Poll Book for Staffordshire lists Joseph Hordern of Saredon as having freehold land at Shareshill, occupied by “Miss Hordern”. No clear references to Joseph III have been found, including his birth and death dates or his continued residence at Saredon after his father’s death in 1838.

4.16 It may have been after Joseph Hordern II’s death that some scattered fields around Saredon Hall Farm became the property of Thomas Perks. When John Perks was living at Saredon Hall in the 1760s and until 1819, he must have been leasing or renting the property from the Horderns. It would appear that the Petit family were the direct purchasers of the Saredon estate after 1838, as they held it in 1841 (Tithe Map). After Rev. J. L. Petit’s death in 1868, the estate was put up for sale in October 1869. Lots 1 to 3 of 69 comprised Saredon Hall Farm and 250 acres of farmland, then let to “Mr. Pratt” (= W. H. Pratt). W. H. Pratt left the farm in March 1870. It is not clear who the new estate owner was, as newspapers and directories only mention the tenant farmers after 1869.

4.17 The farmers after the Horderns included the following, derived from local trade directories and censuses+: John William Short Crockett, who unfortunately committed suicide in August 1846 by hanging himself in the granary, aged 41; F. R. Evans, who left in February 1851; John Wood (listed in the 1851 census as farming 360 acres, but only 245 acres in 1861) until at least June 1866 (also with William Wootton in 1860); W. H. Pratt, to March 1870. The 1871 census does not name the farms, but Henry Bickford farmed 240 acres and Henry Thomas, farm bailiff, held another farm with no acreage given. In 1881, Henry Bickford had 200 acres and James McCulloch, farm bailiff, 232 acres. The 1891 census lists all the house and farm names, but the handwriting is poor and very difficult to decipher. Entry 37 is ‘Hall Farm’ and the farmer is William Stewart (indecipherable in the original, but confirmed by Kelly’s Directory for 1892, see below).

4.18 Kelly’s (Post Office) Directory of Staffordshire reveals that William Hughes, farm bailiff to J. W. Sparrow, Esq., was at Saredon Hall in 1876, succeeded by James McCulloch in 1880 and 1888 and William Stewart in 1892, all still acting for landowner J. W. Sparrow. When the farm had been offered for let in November 1891 (Wellington Journal, 7/11/1891), it comprised some 256 acres, of which 176 acres were arable fields. By November 1903, the tenant farmer was Robert Henry Brisbourne (Derby and Sheffield Daily Telegraph/Nottingham Evening Post), who also appears in the 1892, 1894, and 1896 editions of the Wolverhampton Red Book and in the 1900 and 1904 Kelly’s Directories. He was still there in January 1906 (Lichfield Mercury), but by 1908 had been replaced by William Davis (Kelly). The 1911 census lists both G. H. Gallatley and Henry Walker as living in separate parts of Saredon Hall Farm.

4.19 By 1920, T. A. Hawkins & Sons owned the farm (Lichfield Mercury, 3/9/1920; Tamworth Herald, 25/9/1920). In August 1923 the tenant was R. Arblaster. By May 1924, their tenant was Mr. L. K. Fairley, who had served for 30 years as general manager of the Old Coppice Colliery at nearby Cheslyn Hay, which T. A. Hawkins also owned. They put the farm up for let in March 1930; it is not clear who was the next tenant, but by 1936 it was Arthur Bebb, who had been joined by Harold Francis Adderley in 1940 (Kelly). By October 1942 the farmer was Charles Nathaniel Bebb (probably Arthur’s son), who was still at Saredon Hall until at least January 1953. Thereafter the trail goes cold, although the farm was put up for sale in 1964, with 215 acres of land and two tied cottages (Birmingham Daily Post, 11/4/1964).

4.20 It was sometimes the case during the 18th to early 20th centuries that, when farms were offered for sale by auction or for letting to new tenants, a schedule of the land involved (with field names and acreages) would be included in local newspaper advertisements. The British Newspaper Archive has therefore been searched extensively for any references to the ‘Middle Hill’ field within which the woodland block was created, or to other adjacent fields. The search included Saredon Hall Farm and Saredon Hill House/Farm (New Lane), as well as the name ‘Thomas (Woodhouse) Perks’ (owner of the wood’s site in 1841) and the known owners or occupants of the farms. Unfortunately, no relevant results have been found. Clearly, Thomas Woodhouse Perks owned the site of Saredon Hill Wood, along with

8 other land and buildings in Great Saredon, in the 1830s and 1840s and initially also appears to have lived there himself; but whether he or a later tenant established the wood, or for what original purpose, must remain uncertain. Likewise, a connection with the earlier Perks of Saredon Hall seems likely, but this cannot be proven from the evidence currently available.

4.21 The historic woodland block falls within the Land Registry title Number SF304983; as of June 2015, it belonged to George, Margaret and Wesley Edwards of Great Saredon Farm. George and Margaret originally bought the land in August 1989 from a liquidated company called Barleyfield Limited. Barleyfield had, in turn, bought the land from Julia Wildblood, Ruth Burgess and Oliver Warrington in November 1985. These three seem to have been beneficiaries of a will and obtained the land in June 1981. They entered into a lease agreement with Marshalls Mono Limited and Marshalls Group Plc in January 2008, which was modified in March 2015 for Breedon Aggregates (England) Limited.

5.0 Archaeological Context

5.1 A previous study of the archaeological and cultural heritage context of Saredon Hill Quarry formed chapter 9 (pages 65-80) to Wardell Armstrong’s ‘Volume 3’ Environmental Statement of July 2013, which was associated with the planning application SS.12/15/602 MW. The ‘meat’ of this was found on pages 71-73 (General Historical Background), with an assessment of possible impact on seven nearby listed buildings in tabular form on pages 76-78. The former was really just a listing of recorded heritage assets within a chronological framework. The latter concluded that there would be no adverse impact upon six of the listed buildings (including Saredon Hall Farm) and a low level of impact on Great Saredon Farmhouse. The quarry land within the application site boundary was associated with this farm and therefore formed part of its “contextual setting”, though it was only a minimal part of the farm’s entire land holding.

5.2 The map (Appendix 1) accompanying this Statement has been annotated with 50 archaeological sites and listed buildings in the general locality of Saredon Hill Quarry. It is based partly upon Wardell Armstrong’s drawing ST12173-005 (November 2012) and partly upon my own search of the Historic Environment Record (HER) and similar databases grouped together on the ‘Heritage Gateway’ website. I have excluded those sites in the Wardell Armstrong list that are too far away from the Quarry to be relevant, but have added quite a few additional sites that they overlooked. The HER’s grid references were used to locate these sites on the map, with the aid of the UK Grid Reference Finder website. Where Wardell Armstrong’s plotted locations diverged widely from those pinpointed by the Grid Reference Finder, I have preferred the latter. Limited information on each numbered site on the map is provided on the A3 sheet giving the site names, reference numbers, grid references and basic information. More detailed information on many of the sites, together with some wider historical and geological context, is provided in the accompanying document entitled ‘Historical Notes on Saredon and its Key Buildings’ (Appendix 2). This is fully referenced as to its sources.

5.3 The only sites within the wider quarry area are all at the eastern end, numbers 23 and 48 a-c, with numbers 19, 21 and 49 lying close to its boundary and numbers 21, 22 and 30 not far away. Number 23 is the already removed triangulation pillar and number 48 comprises three cropmark features identified by Wardell Armstrong from 1947 aerial photography (see their ‘005’ drawing for the outlines of these). In paragraph 9.10.2 of their Environmental Statement they state that part of one cropmark may represent a former east-west aligned field boundary seen on the 1841 tithe map. “The cause of the remaining cropmarks is unknown.” This was perhaps one area where some further investigation was justified.

5.4 However, the archaeological “strip, map and sample” excavations carried out in the eastern end of the quarry site between June 2016 and February 2018 by University of Leicester Archaeological Services, to the immediate north and east of the wood and a little further away to the south-east, found very little of interest. During the first phase of the watching brief in 2016, several pit features were recorded dispersed across the area, none of which contained direct dating evidence. One of the pits did

9 contain some fire-cracked pebbles and one clearly preceded a field enclosure ditch and therefore dated from before the 19th Century AD.

5.5 The April 2017 excavation interface was very sharp, and there was good visibility for potential archaeological features. However, the area proved negative for remains, despite good clarity immediately after the strip. The site was visited again after weathering, but still no remains were revealed. The ground was generally undisturbed, with the exception of plough scarring in places. In the area investigated in February 2018, a pit-like feature (approx. 1.2 metres wide) was found at the north-east corner of the stripped area, and this feature was half sectioned. However, the excavated feature was not convincing as an archaeological deposit and no finds were recovered, and no record of the deposit made. In addition, two lengths of ditch feature were recorded; both ditches contained fragments of ceramic brick and post- medieval pottery, none of which was retained. No other archaeological deposits were recorded.

5.6 At the time of writing, new archaeological excavations are ongoing on Saredon Hill, to the south- east of Saredon Hill Wood, at the southern end of the quarry’s eastern extension area. To date, a scattering of pits and postholes have been found, particularly concentrated in the vicinity of the trigonometrical point at the brow of the hill. Part of an enclosure ditch has also been identified to the south-east of the stripped area. The discrete features are being sample excavated, along with segments of the enclosure ditch, in order to characterise and date them. The implication is that the postholes represent the location of timber posts for former timber-framed structures and that these, along with the pits, are evidence of early settlement, possibly pre-Roman. The typical building of pre-Roman Britain was the timber and thatch roundhouse, so possibly this is what is involved here, although it is not currently possible to verify this in the absence of any final report or interim assessment on the findings. Post-medieval field ditches have also been identified further to the north-east of the trig point.

5.7 The remainder of the current quarry site is devoid of any other recorded archaeological features, although the evidence found elsewhere within the parish of Bronze Age, Roman, Anglo-Saxon and medieval settlement sites and farming activities did suggest that any hitherto undisturbed areas within the quarry boundary could have revealed some artefacts or other buried remains from those periods. Although none were found during the 2016-18 investigations, the current excavations on Saredon Hill itself may prove to be more significant. It therefore remains possible that the area directly beneath and to the east of the woodland could also hold other features of interest from the prehistoric/Bronze Age/Iron Age periods. However, given the previous disturbance for the planting, removal and replanting of trees on this site, the potential appears to be comparatively low.

5.8 Site 19 on the map is close to the M6 motorway and marks the general vicinity within which tile fragments and the postulated site for a 16th century tile manufactory are believed to have been found prior to 1844. In the same locality the barrow or tumulus observed in 1784 (thought to be Roman in origin) might have been located. Given the vagueness of the grid reference cited for these features, it was not impossible that these features could have fallen within the eastern end of the quarry site as well, but the 2016-18 investigations did not uncover any evidence of tile manufacture within the eastern area of the quarry site. No mention of such finds has hitherto been made for the current area of investigation, either.

5.9 Sites 21 and 22 are two slightly differing locations suggested for the possible location of a long- lost church, an assumption based upon the fact that a field in this vicinity was named ‘Church Field’ on the 1841 tithe map. As a church in this vicinity would have been isolated from the village centres of both Great and Little Saredon, this seems unlikely, unless the idea was to place it equidistant between both villages, so that it could serve both communities. Site 9 has been identified as a probable Anglo-Saxon settlement site, site 12 as the hub of the ancient settlement of Great Saredon (‘Sardon Magna’) and site 41 as the probable Anglo-Saxon settlement at Little Saredon. None of these are close to the postulated church site. It seems equally possible to me that the ‘Church Field’ was simply a field owned by the church. There is, however, a reference in The Gentleman’s Magazine for 1786 of Great Saredon once having a chapel, “long since decayed”. Both sites are pinpointed beneath the M6 motorway so, if accurate, any archaeological remains of a church or chapel have presumably been destroyed.

10 5.10 Site 26 is “field name evidence for a possible former quarry site, Saredon Hill”. The site lies in a smaller field just south of the Quarry boundary. The HER entry text fails to identify what the said field name was, but notes that any quarrying activity here must have ceased prior to the first detailed Ordnance Survey mapping, published in 1884. It is interesting insofar as it does suggest earlier exploitation of the land in this vicinity for sand and gravel. The current quarrying activity nearby and the proposed extension of this activity beneath Saredon Hill Wood is unlikely to have any impact on any evidence there might be for the former extent of this quarry below ground.

5.11 The historical evidence I have provided separately does also refer to the presence of mines in the surrounding area: see the 1799 entry on page 7, the 1873 entry on page 9 and the 1839 entry at the bottom of page 10. Geological descriptions are quoted from a book of 1869 (page 9).

5.12 Site 30 is the location of the old parish smithy at Windy Arbour, marked on Ordnance Survey maps published in 1884 and 1902-03. A modernized brick and tile building with stone mullioned window surrounds still stands on this site, with an attached outbuilding and a smaller cottage nearby. The former could have been the blacksmith’s house. The quarry operations are unlikely to affect this building (which is not listed), unless unusually heavy blasting took place and shook the ground nearby, which seems unlikely, given the past history of blasting and blast monitoring at the quarry site.

5.13 Finally, site 49 is merely the place where a (since removed) Roman brooch was found during metal detecting activities prior to May 2005 – but it does suggest the presence of Roman settlement or activity very close to the quarry site.

5.14 Although the quarry site itself has just been agricultural land in recent centuries (including a small woodland area, most likely planted for pheasant rearing/cover and farm maintenance purposes), it is clear that the area has been settled since medieval times and possibly in the Romano-British period. Bronze Age settlement remains have been found a little further afield (within a 1-kilometre radius) and it now appears likely that further evidence of pre-Roman settlement will be confirmed at the top of Saredon Hill, south-east of the wood. It therefore remains a possibility that some archaeological remains of significance could exist beneath the Saredon Hill Wood site itself, as well as agricultural implement remains. An archaeological watching brief is therefore justified and would ensure that the examination of the archaeological potential across the whole of the quarry site has been consistently carried out, with no possible source of useful information or finds overlooked.

6.0 Conclusion

6.1 Saredon Hill Wood cannot be more than 176 or less than 134 years old, so one could estimate longevity of around 150 years. Prior to its establishment it was one of several arable fields belonging to Thomas Woodhouse Perks, who appears to have lived in a house on the southern edge of Great Saredon village up until the late 1830s or early 1840s. He retained ownership after moving to Sutton Maddock in Shropshire (the birthplace of his second wife) around 1842. Whether the woodland block, which preserved the boundaries of the field Perks called ‘Middle Hill’, was established by Perks himself or a later tenant or owner cannot now be established. Its most likely purpose, given the evidence of past pheasant rearing and the inclusion of Saredon Hill in the territory once used for foxhunting by the Albrighton Hunt and the Hounds, is as a covert; it could also have provided a source of timber for the farmer/landowner.

6.2 It is therefore not ancient woodland, but just semi-natural broadleaved woodland. Most of the existing trees are less than 80 years old. Only a few trees on the southern edge of the wood might be older (survivors from the previously existing hedgerow). Ordnance Survey map evidence suggests that much of the northern part of the wood may have been felled during the earlier period of sand and gravel extraction and later allowed to re-establish itself (the 1995 mapping, for example, shows mature trees only at the southern end).

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6.3 The historical interest of the site therefore lies mainly in the earlier ownership of the land and the possible associations with Saredon Hall and the Perks family. In archaeological terms, it is not the wood itself but any early remains that might lie beneath it that could be of significance. Wardell Armstrong’s July 2013 assessment of the wider quarry site’s archaeological potential concluded that the site was probably just open agricultural land in the medieval period, with medieval ridge and furrow having been recorded at locations 350 metres east, 450 metres west and 640 metres south of the site (HER references 05416, 20392, 20393). However, there is evidence for Bronze age settlement not far from the site to the east and south and the unconfirmed possibility of deserted Roman settlements to the south-east. The current area of excavation around the former triangulation pillar at the peak of the hill is also revealing what appears to be evidence of early settlement. Anglo- Saxon settlements were established at nearby Great and Little Saredon.

6.4 Even though all previous archaeological investigations within the quarry boundaries have failed to discover any significant remains that can be decisively identified or dated, the current excavations to the south-east of the wood may well provide finds and early settlement evidence that will be of greater importance. A small chance therefore remains that evidence of early human settlement or activity could be found beneath the 3.7 acres of the original wood or the 1.7 acres of scrub and self-sown young woodland to the south-east. If planning permission is subsequently granted to clear the woodland and extract minerals from the ground beneath, it is recommended that an archaeological watching brief be undertaken so that any significant finds can be identified and recorded prior to the extraction of the sand and gravel deposits in these areas.

 Photographic appendix follows

Mark Singlehurst, 31st October 2018

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Summer and winter views of Saredon Hill Wood from the M6 Motorway

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Above and below: Bing Maps ‘Bird’s Eye’ views of Saredon Hill Wood and the adjacent quarry void looking north (above) and east (below), prior to the recommencement of quarrying activity in 2015

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Bing Maps ‘Bird’s Eye’ aerial photographs of Saredon Hill Wood looking south (above) and west (below)

In all these images the presence of the electricity pylon at the south-east corner of the historic wood is very prominent; on the 1967 Ordnance Survey map the electricity transmission line passed well to the south of the wood, but on the 1995 edition it had been diverted northwards at this point – see map extracts on page 16 below.

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Above: 1967 map – the electricity line and pylons pass well south of Saredon Hill Wood Below: 1995 map – the wood lies in the fork on the east side of the gravel pit; the pylon has been moved northwards and now sits within the south-east corner of the woodland block

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Above: current area of archaeological investigation; Saredon Hill Wood can be glimpsed in the top left- hand corner of the map image. Below: latest Google Earth imagery showing Saredon Hill Wood and its current surroundings

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Above: Saredon Hall Farm, former home of the Hordern and Perks families (Geograph)

Below: Hilton Hall, built for Henry Vernon, c. 1720 (www.theraaj.co.uk)

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