The Severn Estuary Levels: Ten Years Past and Ten Years Forward
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ORE Open Research Exeter TITLE The Severn Estuary Levels: Ten years past and ten years forward AUTHORS Turner, Rick; Allen, J.; Rippon, Stephen DEPOSITED IN ORE 07 May 2008 This version available at http://hdl.handle.net/10036/24952 COPYRIGHT AND REUSE Open Research Exeter makes this work available in accordance with publisher policies. A NOTE ON VERSIONS The version presented here may differ from the published version. If citing, you are advised to consult the published version for pagination, volume/issue and date of publication Archaeologyin the SevernEstuary 11 (2000), l-12 THE SEVERNESTUARY LEVELS: TEN YEARSPAST AND TEN YEARS FORWARI) By Rick Turner,John Allen and StephenRippon This paper takes a personal view of the highlights and successesof the last ten )/ear's archaeological work in the SevernEstuary Levels.It then attemptsto identify what might happen in the next decade,and how the vast body o.f infbrmation that ha'sbeen accumulated by a successionof multi-disciplinary projects might be co-orclinatedin order to provide a mttch more completeand evolvingpicture of this remarkable region. Introduction shrinkage(e.g. Brunning 1991;Grove and Brunning 1998).Recent discoveries have included two Bronze The wetlandsthat fringe the Sevem Estuaryhave Age pile alignmentssimilar to thoseat FlagFen near producedsome archaeologicaldiscoveries of Peterborough,and it is worth rememberingthat very outstandingimportance, starting in the late 19,h little survey or excavationhas occurredin the centurywith the Glastonburyand Meare 'lake extensivepeatlands south of thePolden Hills, despite settlements'.The work of the SomersetLevels their provenpotential (e.g. Brunning 1997). Projectpioneered wetland archaeologyin Britain Until the 1980s,wetland archaeologyin duringthe 1970sand 80s(Coles and Coles 1986), Somersetwas firmly focusedon the prehistoryof thoughsince the establishmentof the SELRC peatlands,but since then attentionhas widened to attentionhas broadenedto include the North encompassthe extensivealluvial marshestowards SomersetLevels, Gloucestershireand Avon and, the coast,which saw widespreadsettlement during mostnotably, the Gwent Levels.In this paper,some the Romanand medievalperiods. Rippon (1997a) ofthe highlightsof SevemEstuary archaeology will hasprovided an overall review of the evidenceand be summarisedbriefly, beforediscussing various of has sincecompleted a programmeof fieldwork on the many issuesthat need to be addressedin the the previously neglected comingyears. North SomersetLevels (Rippon I99lb: 1998;2000b). This projecthas included extensivedocumentary research and a The Somerset Levels survey of the standingbuildings, reflecting the Wetlandarchaeology around the Severn,and indeed increasinglyinterdisciplinary nature of researchinto in Britain,began in the SomersetLevels with Bullied the Severnwetlands. Discoveries have included andGray's work at the Glastonburyand Meare lake evidencefor Late Iron Age saltproduction,, an early settlements(Bulleid and Gray 19ll; l9l7;1948), Romano-Britishditched enclosure system, and late thoughoccasional wetland discoveriesin that area Romano-Britishreclamation probably associated arerecorded from asearly as the 1850s(e.g. Stradling with the constructionof the well-appointedvilla at 1850).This was followed by thepioneering work of Wemberham.Though work on the reclaimed Harry Godwin (e.g. 1941) on the post-glacial landscapeof the North SomersetLevels has taken vegetationsequences, and John and Bryony Coles' placewithin thecontrolled environment of a research 'Somerset (1986) LevelsProject' which revealedthe project,equally valuable work on interestinglyvery extentand preservationof prehistoricstructures different Romano-Britishlandscapes has occurred withinthe Brue Valley peatlands. Since then the pace elsewhereon the SevernLevels, within the context of destructionthrough commercial peat cutting has of development-ledwork (notablyin advanceof the slowed,though new threats are emerging such as AlternativeBird FeedingGrounds, Gwent Europark, 'improvement', agricultural erosionalong the banks and Nash SewageWorks on the Gwent Levels,and of major watercourses,and drainageand peat SecondSevern Crossing on theAvonmouth Levels). L. Turner,Allen and Rippon Figure l; Map o/'the Set,ern Estuarv Levels show'ing the places referred to in the text. TheSevern Estuary Levels This illustratesa key feature of the Severn by the sea,proved to have the most extraordinary Estuary archaeology:the importanceof integrating affay ofwooden structuresexposed anywhere at any development-relatedwork within research-led onetime (Bell et aL.2000). frameworks. Thesearchaeological excavations have also had Another key themehas been the integrationof a heroic quality,with somethingof the romanceof a wide range of sourcematerial, most notably for thepioneering days of archaeology.Our colleagues the historic period. This was begun by Williams have overcome harsh and unforgiving natural (1970) in his seminalstudy of TheDraining of the conditionsand considerablelogistical barriers to SomersetLevels, and developed by Rippon(1997a) achievetheir goal - thoughwith a cosy pub within in his overview of the SevernLevels during the easyreach at the end of the day! It is hardto forget medievalperiod: it is testimonyto thepace of work NigelNayling's hoarse voice emerging form a mud- aroundthe estuarythat the latter is alreadyin need encrustedwetsuit late one August night when the of revision! Two key themesthat have emerged Magor Pill Boat was finally lifted. Or the teamfrom during the 1990sare the need to camy out further the Glamorgan-GwentArchaeological Trust trying documentaryresearch, and to testthrough fieldwork to rescuethe Iron Age buildingsin advanceof the modelsfor how the historiclandscape has emerged. vastarray of machineryconstructing the foundations Musgrove(1999) has made an importantstart in for the enormous Wilkinson's Distribution looking at the wealth of material left to us by Warehouse(Figure 2). The small team working on GlastonburyAbbey, while analysisof the historic the SecondSevern Crossing will for everremember landscapein the North SomersetLevels, along the the day they had to keep standingin the effluent samelines as that for the Gwent Levels(see Rippon outflow from the SudbrookPaper Mill, to thaw this volume),has led to a programmeof carefully themselvesout sufficiently to sledgeoff the l4th- targettedfieldwork designedto test the modelsfor centuryfish basketthey had recovered (Godbold and landscapedevelopment. Tumer 1994). Oncethe Severnmud haspenetrated into your clothesand your skin, the smell, and The Gwent Levels perhapsthe thrill, neverleaves you. Lessspectacular, but perhapsultimately more The Gwent Levelshave consistentlyproduced the influential,has been the work on the historic mostexciting archaeological discoveriesin Wales landscape.This began with the demonstrationby over the past ten years. Theseremarkable finds JohnAllen andMike Fulford thataRomano- British includethe Bronze Age site at Caldicot with its landscapesurvived in partsof the WentloogeLevel MiddleBronze Age boat,Late Bronze Age landing (Allen andFulford 1986;Fulford et al. t994). This stage principality and the oldest bridge in the potentiallygave a contextto theGoldcliff inscription (Nayling andCaseldine 1997), the Romano-British andrevealed a greatfeat of ancientcivil engineering, boatat BarlandsFarm, apparentlystranded over thoughthe initial visionof all theGwent Levels being 3 km from the (Nayling sea et al. lg94), and the reclaimedby Roman legionaries(Boon 1980)has Iron Age site at Goldcliff, which when sweptclean sincebeen tempered, as it hasbeen revealed that most Figure 2: Excavations at the Wilkinsons Distribution Warehouse Site on the Caldicot Level. Turner,Allen and Rippon Figure 3: A parishmap (Redwick)fromthe Commissionersof Sewersmaps of the Caldicot Level (GwentRecord O/fice D.I365/2). Copyright: Gwent RecordsOffice. if not all of the Caldicot Level remainedas a high that it supported.The ecologicalvalue depended on intertidal marsh. The work of Allen and Fulford theperiodic clearance of thedifferent classes of reens providedthe preliminaryto StephenRippon's study andditches at differentintervals. The surfaceof the of the historic landscapeof the Gwent Levels fields themselveshad no protection,and duckweed (Rippon 1996), which made extensiveuse of a and midgesdo not havethe sameemotive power as remarkableset of mapsproduced in 1830-31by the orchidsand the red kite. If developerscould maintain Commissionersof Sewers,,and now in the Gwent or replacethe total lengthof reenson their proposed Record Office (referencenos D.136511-2and sites, it was hard for CCW to defeat planning D.228211-2:Figure 3). Thevalue of documentary applications,but the historiclandscape provides the evidencein that andother investigations should also key, for it gives meaningto the existing drainage not be forgotten. systemand the landscapeas a whole. Peoplecan It canbe arguedthat this very modestly-funded recognisethe endeavourthat goesinto creatingand project has changedthe fate of the Gwent Levels, sustainingthis landscape;the reasons for its survival from almosttotal destructionby industrialand other are tangible and visible, and mitigation by laying development,to one of the conservationsuccesses out replacementditches within a modern develop- of the decade.Firstly it forged the first real bond ment is no longer sufficient compensationfor the between the Countryside Council for Wales and lossof the historic landscape. the archaeologicalcommunity.