Cheltenham Race Course Evesham Road, Cheltenham Gloucestershire
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Cheltenham Race Course Evesham Road, Cheltenham Gloucestershire Archaeological Watching Brief during the construction of the Ellenborough Park Hotel – Racecourse Link for MHP Design on behalf of Shetlands Hotel Group CA Project: 3543 CA Report: 11243 November 2011 Cheltenham Race Course Evesham Road, Cheltenham Gloucestershire Archaeological Watching Brief during the construction of the Ellenborough Park Hotel – Racecourse Link CA Project: 3543 CA Report: 11243 prepared by Charlotte Haines, Project Supervisor date 7 November 2011 checked by Richard Young, Project Manager date 7 November 2011 approved by Simon Cox, Head of Fieldwork signed date 8 November 2011 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 Building 11, Kemble Enterprise Park, Kemble, Cirencester, Gloucestershire, GL7 6BQ t. 01285 771022 f. 01285 771033 e. [email protected] © Cotswold Archaeology Cheltenham Race Course: Archaeological Watching Brief CONTENTS SUMMARY........................................................................................................................ 4 1. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................. 5 2. RESULTS (FIG. 2) ............................................................................................... 7 3. DISCUSSION....................................................................................................... 8 4. CA PROJECT TEAM ........................................................................................... 8 5. REFERENCES .................................................................................................... 8 APPENDIX A: CONTEXT DESCRIPTIONS..................................................................... 9 APPENDIX B: OASIS REPORT FORM ........................................................................... 10 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Fig. 1 Site location plan (1:25,000) Fig. 2 The site, showing location of groundworks (1:5000) 3 © Cotswold Archaeology Cheltenham Race Course: Archaeological Watching Brief SUMMARY Project Name: Cheltenham Race Course Location: Evesham Road, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire NGR: SO 9687 2521 Type: Watching Brief Date: 20 – 22 September 2011 Planning Reference: 10/01936/FUL Location of Archive: To be deposited with Cheltenham Art Gallery and Museum Site Code: EPH11 An archaeological watching brief was undertaken by Cotswold Archaeology during groundworks associated with the creation of a private access link between Ellenborough Park Hotel and Cheltenham Racecourse, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire. No features or deposits of archaeological interest were observed during groundworks. 4 © Cotswold Archaeology Cheltenham Race Course: Archaeological Watching Brief 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 In September 2011 Cotswold Archaeology (CA) carried out an archaeological watching brief for MHP Design on behalf of Shetlands Hotel Group at the Cheltenham Race Course, Evesham Road, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire (centred on NGR: SO 9687 2521; Fig. 1). The watching brief was undertaken to fulfil a condition attached to planning consent granted by Cheltenham Borough Council (CBC) for the creation of a private access link between Ellenborough Park Hotel and Cheltenham Racecourse (Planning ref: 10/01936/FUL). The objective of the watching brief was to record all archaeological remains exposed during the development. It should be noted that this report only refers to work within Cheltenham Borough. The construction of the access link within Tewkesbury Borough was not the subject of a planning condition and was not observed. 1.2 The watching brief was carried out in accordance with a detailed Written Scheme of Investigation (WSI) produced by CA (2011a) and approved by CBC acting on the advice of Mr Charles Parry, Senior Archaeological Officer, Gloucestershie County Council (GCC). The fieldwork also followed the Standard and Guidance for an archaeological watching brief (IfA 2008), the Statement of Standards and Practices Appropriate for Archaeological Fieldwork in Gloucestershire (GCC 1995), the Management of Archaeological Projects 2 (English Heritage 1991) and the Management of Research Projects in the Historic Environment (MORPHE): Project Manager’s Guide (English Heritage 2006). The site 1.3 The private access link runs for approximately 615m across a field between Ellenborough Park Hotel and Cheltenham Race Course. The field is currently used for pasture and slopes gently downwards toward Hyde Brook, which lies along its north-eastern limit. 1.4 The natural substrate is mapped as Charmouth Mudstone Formation of the Sinemurian to Pleinsbachian eras, overlain in the southern half of the development area by Cheltenham Sands and Gravels of the Quaternary era (BGS 2011). Natural 5 © Cotswold Archaeology Cheltenham Race Course: Archaeological Watching Brief substrate consisting of compact blue grey clay with patches of orange yellow gravel and sand was exposed in the north-eastern corner of the site. Archaeological background 1.5 The site lies to the south-west of the Ellenborough Park Hotel which is one of the largest Tudor houses in Gloucestershire. Construction of the building started around 1500, for Thomas Goodman. The estate was sold to Sir John Huddleston soon afterwards; the house was completed by his son, also Sir John, in the mid sixteenth century. It was bought by Lord Ellenborough, Governor General of India in 1831; the construction of his additions to the house lasted until 1844 or soon thereafter. The building became a hotel in 1973. The original Tudor house may have had a number of associated ancillary structures. During recent refurbishment of the hotel an archaeological watching brief recorded post-medieval and modern make-up deposits and a number of structures relating to probable 19th and 20th century modernisation of the hotel (CA 2011b). 1.6 The site is located within an area which is known generally for extensive archaeological remains dating to the prehistoric and Roman periods. There are several known Roman and medieval sites within the wider locality (CA 2011b). 1.7 To the immediate east of Cheltenham Race Course is a moated site which is a Scheduled Monument (List Entry No. 1018448). The site comprises two adjoining rectangular, moated enclosures oriented north-west to south east; both of which were originally surrounded by a continuous earthen bank. The moat and banks which divided the two enclosures are still visible, the moat surviving in places up to 6m wide and the banks standing to about 1.5m in height from the bottom of the moat. The manor of Prestbury belonged to the Bishops of Hereford in the later 9th century, and it is possible that there may have been a house on this site from that date, although the earliest excavated evidence dates from the 11th century. The site survives well and contains, in the manor house, evidence of the status of the manor of Prestbury, the second most valuable property of the Bishops of Hereford. The site was located at a stopping point on the journey from London to Hereford, and lay close to the Bishops' deer park, which covered the area now occupied by the race course and beyond (English Heritage List Entry Description). 6 © Cotswold Archaeology Cheltenham Race Course: Archaeological Watching Brief Methodology 1.8 The fieldwork followed the methodology set out within the WSI (CA 2011). An archaeologist was present during intrusive groundworks comprising the excavation of foundations for the access link (Fig. 2). 1.9 Written and photographic records were compiled in accordance with CA Technical Manual 1: Fieldwork Recording Manual (2007). 1.10 The archive and artefacts from the evaluation are currently held by CA at their offices in Kemble. The archive will be deposited with Cheltenham Art Gallery and Museum, whilst the artefacts will be discarded due to their unstratified nature. A summary of information from this project, set out within Appendix C, will be entered onto the OASIS online database of archaeological projects in Britain. 2. RESULTS (FIG. 2) 2.1 As the foundations for the access link were very shallow the natural geological substrate 102, consisting of compact blue grey clay with patches of orange yellow gravel and sand, was only encountered in the north-eastern part of the access link immediately adjacent to the Hyde Brook. It lay at an average depth of 0.25m below present ground level. A layer of light yellow brown, sandy silt subsoil 101 was observed overlying the natural intermittently throughout the site. A spread of dumped rubble and modern ceramic building material 103 was observed overlying the subsoil toward the western end of the access link. This deposit, and elsewhere the subsoil and natural, were sealed by topsoil 100, which across the majority of the site was the only deposit disturbed by the works. 2.2 Four sherds of pottery dating to the Roman period were recovered from the topsoil 100. All are bodysherds in Severn Valley ware, an oxidised-firing type known to be produced throughout the Roman period and common from the north Gloucestershire and wider region. One sherd occurs in a fabric variant characterised by organic (probably charcoal) inclusions, which is thought to be largely confined to the Early Roman (1st