Aylesbury Historic Town Assessment Draft Report Archive: County Museum different, tighter organisation to the site. AY26: Ellen Road, Aylesbury NGR SP 809 128 (Knowles B, June 1997) Finds Negative features (cut only) Environmental evidence 1 flint flake (Neolithic?) 7 ditches fragments animal bone 1 flint flake (late Bronze Age?) 15 pits 4 oyster shell 7 sherds pottery (late Bronze Age) 1 palaeochannel 26 flint flakes (undated) 5 sherds pottery (Iron Age?) 9 sherds pottery (Belgic) 10 sherds pottery (prehistoric) 3 sherds pottery (Roman) 42 sherds pottery (medieval) 19 sherds pottery (Brill type ware) 1 sherd pottery (Surrey type ware) 13 fragments clay pipe (post medieval) 18 sherds pottery (post medieval) copper alloy fragments Summary of Area Summary of Site Findings Source: Unpublished archaeological report the site uncovered a dispersed pattern of archaeological Archive: County Museum features that likely represent field systems, the relatively few datable finds made accurate dating of the site difficult. 3.5 Environmental Evidence In assessing the potential for environmental remains, it should be remembered that an urban environment can provide extremes in preservation. On the one hand proximity to the groundwater table within a historic core may lead to anoxic conditions and therefore good preservation potential for organic materials whereas on the other hand frequent below ground disturbance as a result of redevelopment and construction combined with modern industrial pollution can also lead to extremely poor preservation of organic materials (French, 2003). The potential for archaeological remains in a waterlogged context should remain high along the flood zones for the Bear Brook and the river Thame (Figure 7), for example waterlogged wood and leather was recorded at the Oxford Road mill site (AY28). These zones have the best potential for the recovery of pollen sequences essential to understanding long-term land use change. They might also provide information on the quality of the town’s water supply. Environmental evidence in the form of animal and human bone and oyster shells have been collected from a number of sites across Aylesbury and Walton demonstrating good preservation of such calcareous materials; although little has yet been done to provide an overall synthesis of the results. Several of the investigations (EG) found the samples taken were contaminated or produced no significant results. (To review results to explain why) Fragments of medieval linen were also recorded a the George Street excavation (AY11). [Carbonised plant remains ….?] The Coldharbour Farm site (AY22) provides an example of good interpretation of environmental remains as it is the conclusion of this report that some degree of flood defenses were in place during the Iron Age as there was no evidence of flooding until after the site was abandoned in the Romano-British period (Bonner D, 1997). 40 Aylesbury Historic Town Assessment Draft Report 1788 Jeffreys Map 1863 Town plan 1779 Walton Enclosure Figure 15: Historic maps 41 Aylesbury Historic Town Assessment Draft Report Figure 16: Listed Buildings in Aylesbury and Walton 42 Aylesbury Historic Town Assessment Draft Report Figure 17: Location and extent of events within the town 43 Aylesbury Historic Town Assessment Draft Report Figure 18: Archaeological events outside the historic cores 44 Aylesbury Historic Town Assessment Draft Report Figure 19: AY18 Orchard Site, Walton Road excavation results 45 Aylesbury Historic Town Assessment Draft Report Figure 20: Prehistoric data from Aylesbury & Walton (extent of excavations to be added to the plans) 46 Aylesbury Historic Town Assessment Draft Report Figure 21: HER records for the Roman period 47 Aylesbury Historic Town Assessment Draft Report 4 Archaeological & Historical Development 4.1 Prehistoric period (c.10,000 BC – AD 43) Palaeolithic to Neolithic (pre 10,000 BC – 2350 BC) There has been little evidence recovered so far that can be reliably dated to the Palaeolithic or Mesolithic periods from Aylesbury. A Mesolithic flint scatter is recorded at Stone to the west of the town but the only find from the town itself is a single blade core of Mesolithic date from xxxxx (AY18) (Ford S et al, 2004: 84). Aylesbury does not seem to have been a focal point for Neolithic occupation - the nearest definite Neolithic monument is an oval barrow on Whiteleaf Hill, Princes Risborough. However there are a few isolated surface finds such as a stone axe found at 13 Thresher Road [HER 0445000000] as well as artefact scatters found as a result of archaeological investigations and fieldwalking surveys as at Coldharbour Farm [HER 0562501000]. Excavations at Coldharbour Farm also indicates a period of tree clearance around the site starting in the Neolithic and continuing into the Iron Age (Bonner D & Parkhouse J, 1997: 79). Bronze Age (c.2350 – 700 BC) Early Bronze Age occupation is implied by a Beaker burial from Bierton [HER 0104700003] but the local focus seems well to the south of the town where a handful of barrows are dotted along the Chiltern scarp with a more substantive concentration around the Saunderton Gap near Princes Risborough. Middle/Late Bronze Age occupation evidence has been uncovered at several sites in Walton including Walton Lodge, the Orchard Site, Walton Lodge Lane and Walton Road Stores. Walton Lodge (AY13) revealed substantial amounts of pottery and artefacts dating largely to the middle to late Bronze Age as well as a large post built, double ringed, structure (Dalwood et al, 1989: 143). The Orchard site (AY18) uncovered large quantities of Middle Bronze Age artefacts as well as four circular post built structures (Figure 19). While spatial analysis carried out following the excavation indicated that the structures did not overlap this was not sufficient in itself to indicate a grouping of four contemporary buildings (Ford et al, 2004: 62). Finally the Walton Lodge Lane (AY19) and Walton Road Stores site, both unpublished, (AY20) recovered evidence for a late Bronze Age cremation site as well as occupational evidence. The information from these two reports are taken from unpublished material by D Bonner (1994b) in the Buckinghamshire HER. Smaller quantities of prehistoric and Bronze Age finds and features have also been identified at the following sites: (Plot finds distribution?) Walton Court (AY2: Farley M, 1976) 13-19 Buckingham Street (AY7: Allen D, 1982) The Bulls Head site (AY8: Allen D, 1982) the Teachers Centre (AY14: Dalwood et al, 1989) the Police Houses (AY15: Dalwood H & Hawkins A, 1987) the Croft Road site (AY16: Dalwood H & Hawkins A, 1987) Ardenham House (AY30: Norton A, 1999) the Aylesbury TA site (AY35: McCulloch P, 2003) Aylesbury High School (AY36: Babtie, 2003) Phase I: Early Bronze Age? The Bronze Age cemetery, at Walton Lodge Lane (AY19) is so far unpublished in detail, however interim reports have indicated the presence of several cremation vessels suggestive of a cemetery site (Bonner D, 1994a). Preliminary excavation results indicated a total of seven cremation deposits on a northeast to south/southwest orientation on the eastern edge of the site [HER 0610700000]. Evidence for three discrete areas of in-situ burning were also identified and interpreted as hearths unrelated to the cremations. The complexity of activity at the site with 48 Aylesbury Historic Town Assessment Draft Report numerous interlinked cremation pits and evidence for animal bone within the pits is indicative of ritual burials of a broadly contemporary nature (Bonner D, 1994b). Phase II: Middle Bronze Age The evidence so far suggests a small unenclosed settlement site at Walton dating to the middle Bronze Age with the focus at Walton Lodge (AY13) where the size and construction of the double ringed structure is indicative of a high status dwelling possibly sited close to the focal point of the settlement (Ford S et al, 2004: 85). The structures uncovered at the Orchard site (AY18) and the Walton Road Stores site (AY20) may also indicate outlying occupation areas (Figure 19). The Walton Bronze Age settlement indicates a closer link between settlements and cemeteries than has been previously thought (Bradley, 1981). The apparent unenclosed nature of the settlement is also unusual, and Walton along with an increasing number of other sites are challenging the long held view that Middle Bronze Age settlement sites were fairly static, nucleated and enclosed (Ford S et al, 2004: 87). Phase III Late Bronze Age The late Bronze Age roundhouse identified at Walton Road Stores appears to have been comprised of two or possible three rings of upright posts with evidence of a hearth and domestic waste within the structure and several pits and a possible occupational layer within the excavated area (Bonner D, 1994b). [ADD - Aylesbury BA hoard] Taken together the evidence suggests that in the later Bronze Age Aylesbury emerged as a new focal point with some of the earliest recognisable domestic buildings in the county, dramatic evidence for ritual activity and the deposition of a hoard to scrap bronze. Iron Age (700 BC – 43 AD) Prehistoric evidence is notably absent from Aylesbury’s historic centre until the late Bronze Age to early Iron Age. The first indications of a substantial ditch in Aylesbury comes from the Temple Street site in the mid 1970s and resulted in the publication of a possible defensive feature, initially thought to be a Saxon burh, encircling the town (Farley M, 1974: 433). Subsequent excavations across Aylesbury have increased our understanding of this original hypothesis, however, and it is now thought the defensive feature was in fact an Iron Age hillfort that was recut at least partially during the Saxon period (Farley M, 2007a). The Prebendal Court site (AY12) has yet to be published in detail, and information is taken from interim reports and the HER. This site revealed a substantial section of the defensive ditch some 15m in length along with four almost complete disarticulated skeletons and a fifth decapitated human skull.