Bat Roost Buildings Cinderford Northern Quarter Gloucestershire Archaeological Watching Brief
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Bat Roost Buildings Cinderford Northern Quarter Gloucestershire Archaeological Watching Brief for Forest of Dean District Council CA Project: 4516 CA Report: 14443 September 2014 Bat Roost Buildings Cinderford Northern Quarter Gloucestershire Archaeological Watching Brief CA Project: 4516 CA Report: 14443 prepared by Luke Brannlund, Supervisor Designate date 25 September 2014 checked by Richard Young, Project Manager date 26 September 2014 approved by Cliff Bateman, Principal Fieldwork Manager signed date 26 September 2014 issue 01 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 Cirencester Milton Keynes Andover Building 11 Unit 4 Stanley House Kemble Enterprise Park Cromwell Business Centre Walworth Road Kemble, Cirencester Howard Way, Newport Pagnell Andover, Hampshire Gloucestershire, GL7 6BQ MK16 9QS SP10 5LH t. 01285 771022 t. 01908 218320 t. 01264 347630 f. 01285 771033 e. [email protected] © Cotswold Archaeology Bat Roost Buildings, Cinderford Northern Quarter, Gloucestershire: Archaeological Watching Brief CONTENTS SUMMARY ..................................................................................................................... 2 1. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................ 3 The site .............................................................................................................. 3 Archaeological background ................................................................................ 4 Methodology....................................................................................................... 5 2. RESULTS (FIGS 2-4) ......................................................................................... 6 3. DISCUSSION ..................................................................................................... 6 4. CA PROJECT TEAM .......................................................................................... 7 5. REFERENCES ................................................................................................... 7 APPENDIX A: CONTEXT DESCRIPTIONS .................................................................... 8 APPENDIX B: OASIS REPORT FORM........................................................................... 9 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Fig. 1 Site location plan (1:25,000) Fig. 2 The site, showing location of groundworks (1:10,000). Fig. 3 Bat Roost One: plan and section (1:1500, 1:100 and 1:20) Fig. 4 Bat Roost Two: plan (1:2000) 1 © Cotswold Archaeology Bat Roost Buildings, Cinderford Northern Quarter, Gloucestershire: Archaeological Watching Brief SUMMARY Project Name: Bat Roost Buildings Location: Cinderford Northern Quarter, Gloucestershire NGR: SO 63783 15389 (RR1), SO 64089 14776 (RR2) Type: Watching Brief Date: 21 July – 8 August 2014 Planning Reference: P1495/12/FUL (RR1), P0153/13/FUL (RR2) Location of Archive: To be deposited with the Dean Heritage Centre Site Code: BBC 14 An archaeological watching brief was undertaken by Cotswold Archaeology during groundworks associated with the development of two bat roost buildings within Cinderford Northern Quarter, Gloucestershire. Two possible post-medieval gullies were observed at the northern roost site. No other archaeological features were observed. 2 © Cotswold Archaeology Bat Roost Buildings, Cinderford Northern Quarter, Gloucestershire: Archaeological Watching Brief 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 Between July and August 2014 Cotswold Archaeology (CA) carried out an archaeological watching brief for Forest of Dean District Council (FDDC) at Cinderford Northern Quarter, Gloucestershire (centred on NGR: SO 63783 15389 (RR1), SO 64089 14776 (RR2); Fig. 1). The watching brief was undertaken to fulfil a condition attached to planning consents for the construction of two bat roost buildings (FDDC Planning ref: P1495/12/FUL (RR1), P0153/13/FUL (RR2)). 1.2 Following advice from Charles Parry, Archaeologist, Gloucestershire County Council (GCC) planning permission for RR1 (ref: P1495/12/FUL) and RR2 (ref: P0153/13/FUL) was granted by FDDC, conditional on a programme of archaeological work, stating that: “No development shall take place until the applicant… has secured the implementation of a programme of archaeological work in accordance with a written scheme of investigation which has been submitted by the applicant and approved in writing by the local planning authority Reason: to make provision for a programme of mitigation, so as to record and advance understanding of any heritage assets which will be lost, in accordance with paragraph 141 of the National Planning Policy Framework and to accord with Policy CSP.1 of the Core Strategy and Policy 12 of the Cinderford Area Action Plan.” 1.3 A subsequent detailed Written Scheme of Investigation (WSI) was produced by CA (2013) and approved by FDDC acting on the advice of Charles Parry. The fieldwork also followed the Standard and guidance for an archaeological watching brief (IfA 2009), the Statement of Standards and Practices Appropriate for Archaeological Fieldwork in Gloucestershire (GCC 1996), the Management of Archaeological Projects 2 (English Heritage 1991) and the Management of Research Projects in the Historic Environment (MORPHE): Project Manager’s Guide (EH 2006). The site 1.4 The sites of the bat roost buildings are located approximately 675m apart within Birch Wood, a sub-division of the Forest of Dean. RR1 has a footprint area of 3 © Cotswold Archaeology Bat Roost Buildings, Cinderford Northern Quarter, Gloucestershire: Archaeological Watching Brief approximately 8m by 4m. RR2 is a T-shape design and has a footprint area of approximately 12m by 8m. RR1 is located just inside the western limit of the Cinderford Northern Quarter Area Action Plan (CNQAAP), while RR2 is located outside this area to the south-west. The roost sites lie at approximately 170m AOD in dense woodland. 1.5 The underlying bedrock geology of the area is mapped as Cinderford Member- Mudstone, Siltstone and Sandstone of the Carboniferous era with overlying superficial Head deposits comprising gravel, sand, silt and clay (BGS 2014). A clay substrate was observed at both roost sites. Archaeological background 1.6 The Forest of Dean is rich in mineral resources such as iron ore, coal, clay and stone, and the archaeological record indicates that exploitation of these resources has taken place since the Iron Age. Despite this, evidence for settlement activity pre- dating the post-medieval period in the Northern Quarter is minimal (Hoyle 2009); however this may be as much due to poor preservation and a lack of research as to a definite lack of habitation in the area. 1.7 The western part of the Northern Quarter was subject to extensive coal mining in the 19th and 20th centuries. RR1 is located within the area mined as part of the Never Fear Colliery (Hoyle 2009; HER ref. 9980). The colliery was recorded in 1856, but had gone out of use by 1878, when the Ordnance Survey (OS) map recorded an “old coal shaft” on the site, in addition to an old limekiln. In 1835 three shafts labelled “Young Colliers” were shown on the site, however these are not recorded as being part of any documented colliery and were considered unlikely by Hoyle to have been related to the more extensive Young Colliers mine, which was located further to the north-east (Hoyle 2009, 38). 1.8 The OS map of 1878 indicates that with the closure of the Never Fear Colliery the site of RR1 became incorporated into land belonging to the Nelson Brickworks, the main clay extraction pit of which was located approximately 60m south-west of RR1 and is preserved in the modern landscape as a large pond (Old Maps 2013). The OS map from 1902 shows that the Nelson Brickworks had expanded greatly, with additional kilns and a rectangular building close to the site of RR1. By the time of the 1922 OS map however, the brickworks had closed and most of the buildings were no longer recorded. Surviving overgrown earthworks on the site may cover structural 4 © Cotswold Archaeology Bat Roost Buildings, Cinderford Northern Quarter, Gloucestershire: Archaeological Watching Brief remains belonging to the colliery or brickworks (Hoyle 2009). The 1878 map also records the, by then, disused Churchway Colliery, which opened in 1740, immediately to the east of the site (HER ref. 9981). 1.9 Earthworks immediately to the north of RR1 demarcate the route of a dismantled railway. This was a branch of the Forest of Dean Railway (previously the Forest of Dean Tramroad) linking the various industrial complexes of the forest to the tidal docks at Bullo Pill (HER ref. 5704). To the north of the railway was the site of the Northern United Colliery (HER ref. 4357). The colliery opened in 1935, the last of the deep mines in the forest, and was the only surviving deep mine when it closed in 1965. Although the pithead has been demolished, several of the buildings, including the office, canteen and pithead baths survive (Hoyle 2009). The standing remains of the colliery are located approximately 80m north of the site of RR1, but there is no evidence that the Northern United Colliery extended south of the dismantled railway toward the current site. 1.10 The area surrounding RR2 appears to have