Boundary Wall, Barn House, Lower Basildon, Near Pangbourne, West Berkshire

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Boundary Wall, Barn House, Lower Basildon, near Pangbourne, West Berkshire

Building Recording

For Mr John Wakefield

by Andrew Mundin

Thames Valley Archaeological Services Ltd

Site Code BHLB 07/88

August 2007 Summary

Site name: Boundary Wall, Barn House, Lower Basildon, near Pangbourne, West Berkshire

Grid reference: SU 6090 7863

Site activity: Building Recording

Date and duration of project: 23rd July 2007

Site Supervisor: Steve Ford

Project Supervisor: Andrew Weale

Site code: BHLB 07/88

Summary of results: The boundary wall surrounding the site of Barn House was to be breached to allow new access to be created. The remains of the foundation were recorded before removal for sloped access down to road level. It was noted that reinforcement of the wall and rebuilding had occurred with a brick rebuild across a substantial portion.

Location and reference of archive: The archive is presently held at Thames Valley Archaeological Services, Reading and will be deposited with West Berkshire Sites and Monuments Record in due course.

This report may be copied for bona fide research or planning purposes without the explicit permission of the copyright holder

Report edited/checked by: Steve Ford 31.08.07 Steve Preston 31.08.07

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

Boundary Wall, Barn House, Lower Basildon, near Pangbourne, West Berkshire Archaeological Building Recording

by Andrew Mundin

Report 07/88

Introduction

This report documents the results of building recording on the Boundary Wall of Barn House, Lower Basildon, near Pangbourne, West, Berkshire (SU 6090 7863) (Fig. 1). The work was commissioned by Mr John

Wakefield, Sunfield, Beckfords, Upper Basildon, Berkshire, RG8 8PB.

A planning consent (02/00991/House) has been gained on appeal from West Berkshire Council to create a new access and driveway to Barn House. The consent is subject to a condition (5) requiring building recording prior to demolition. The wall had already been breached prior to arriving on site, so the recording action concentrated on the remaining elements including the foundation.

This is in accordance with the Department of the Environment’s Planning Policy Guidance, Planning and the Historic Environment (PPG15 1994), and the policies of the West Berkshire Local Plan. The recording action was carried out by a specification approved by Mr Duncan Coe, Archaeological Officer for West Berkshire

Council. The fieldwork was undertaken by Andrew Weale on 23rd July 2007 and the site code is BHLB 07/88.

The archive is presently held at Thames Valley Archaeological Services, Reading and will be deposited with West Berkshire Museum in due course.

Location, topography and geology

The area affected by this work is a section of the northern boundary wall of Barn House (Fig. 2). At this point the wall was breached for new access to the existing drive from the minor road running around the northern boundary of the site, linking up with the A329 to the east. The underlying geology is a band of Middle Chalk, with Valley Gravel towards the Thames to the north-east of the village (BGS 1946). The site lies approximately

1m higher than the adjacent minor road at 63m above Ordnance Datum, and slopes down to the north.

Archaeological Background

Lower Basildon is located on the side of valley of the River Thames. The Thames valley is considered as archaeologically rich with many sites and finds recorded (e.g., Richards 1978). It is thought that buildings in

Lower Basildon have medieval or post-medieval origins and the boundary wall studied here is of later post- medieval (19th century) date.

Methodology

The building survey was carried out in accordance with guidelines set out by the Royal Commission on Historic

Monuments (England) for a level 2 record (RCHME 1996; EH 2006). The survey comprised three components; a visual study of the remaining foundation for the boundary wall, a photographic survey of building elements of historical interest that would be altered by the development, and summary analysis of the structure using the

Ordnance Survey mapping of the site as a base.

The report highlights what is important about the historic of the remains found, and, if any, alterations to its fabric. The remaining structure has been recorded photographically on 35mm format using colour print, colour slide and black and white media (Appendix 1).

Description

For the area of the new driveway, the wall had been previously demolished and only the lower courses of the foundation remained (Plates 1 and 2). The wall survived intact elsewhere (Fig. 3). This foundation was to be removed to allow the sloped access down to the road and a new drive between here and the existing driveway to be created.

The boundary wall was made with large flint nodules, faced both sides, which would have stood 2.7m from top to the basal course. The wall was 0.25m wide. This was topped with a cap stone and a single course of garden bonded bricks. The bricks were hand made, unfrogged with dimensions of 220mm x 110mm x 70mm.

These bricks seem to be of later post-medieval date. They were mortared with modern cement (which may have been repointed). This mortaring affected most of the western portion of the construct with the brick buttress and brick coursing showing this. Part of the foundation incorporated an arch of uncertain function (Plate 1).

The cut for the wall was visible on the south side of the wall where it cut topsoil and previously undisturbed subsoil and was founded on the top of the natural chalk. The foundation cut was up to 0.53m wide and 1.15m deep on the inside (Fig. 4).

No archaeological deposits were revealed during the fieldwork.

Conclusion

The surviving remains of the boundary wall foundations prior to further damage or removal for the new entranceway were recorded.

References

BGS, 1946, British Geological Survey, 1:50000, Sheet 268, Drift Edition, Keyworth EH, 2006, Understanding Historic Buildings, English Heritage, London PPG 15, 1994, Planning and the Historic Environment, Dept of the Environment Planning Policy Guidance 15, HMSO RCHME, 1996, Recording Historic Buildings: A descriptive Specification (Third Edition), Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England, London Richards, J C, 1978, The Archaeology of the Berkshire Downs, Berkshire Archaeol Comm no 3, Reading

APPENDIX 1: Photographic Catalogue A. Colour prints

No. Description 1 General view, wall, looking north east 2 General view, wall, looking south west 3 Foundation detail, looking north east 4 Foundation detail, looking north east 5 Wall , looking south west 6 Wall, looking north east 7 Wall foundation, looking south 8 Wall foundation, looking south west [Plate 1] 9 Wall foundation detail of arch, looking south 10 Wall foundation detail of arch and buttress, looking south 11 Wall buttress detail looking north east 12 Wall buttress detail looking south 13 Wall buttress detail looking north east [Plate 2]

B. Colour slides

No. Description 1 Foundation detail, looking north east 2 Foundation detail, looking north east 3 Wall , looking south west 4 Wall, looking north east 5 Wall foundation, looking south 6 Wall foundation, looking south west 7 Wall foundation detail of arch, looking south 8 Wall foundation detail of arch and buttress, looking south 9 Wall buttress detail looking north east 10 Wall buttress detail looking south 11 Wall buttress detail looking north east

C. Monochrome images

4 SITE

79000

SITE

78000

SU61000 62000 BHLB 07/88 Boundary Wall, Barn House, Lower Basildon, near Pangbourne, West Berkshire, 2007 Archaeological building recording

Figure 1. Location of site within Lower Basildon and Berkshire.

Reproduced from Ordnance Survey Pathfinder 1172 SU67/77 at 1:12500. Ordnance Survey Licence 100025880 N

78700 Area for new access

78600

78500

SU60800 60900 61000 61100

BHLB 07/88 Boundary Wall, Barn House, Lower Basildon, near Pangbourne, West Berkshire, 2007 Archaeological building recording

Figure 2. Detailed location of site at Barn House.

Reproduced from Ordnance Survey digital mapping under licence. Crown copyright reserved. Scale 1:2500 Boundary Wall, Barn House, Lower Basildon, near N Pangbourne, West Berkshire, 2007

78650

bank levelled brick buttress

section

Foundation recorded Boundary wall

78600

Barn House

78550

SU60850 60900

0 25m

Figure 3. Area on the Boundary Wall observed. BHLB 07/88 Boundary Wall, Barn House, Lower Basildon, near Pangbourne, West Berkshire, 2007

Wall already demolished

63.07mAOD

Topsoil

54 52

Flint and brick foundation Subsoil 50

Natural chalk

01m

Figure 4. Section. BHLB 07/88 Plate 1. Entire exposed boundary wall foundation,looking south west; Vertical scale 2m.

Plate 2. Brick buttress [3] and rebuilt section of wall foundation [2] looking south; horizontal scale 1m, vertical scale 2m.

BHLB 07/88