Archaeological Review No. 40 2015
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Trans. Bristol & Gloucestershire Archaeological Society 134 (2016), 269–302 Archaeological Review No. 40 2015 Edited by JAN WILLS The Archaeological Review presents brief summaries of archaeological research, fieldwork and building recording undertaken during the year. Information is arranged mainly by civil parishes with the parish name followed by the site name or description, and grid reference. For the city of Bristol entries are arranged by street or area. Contributions for the next review should be sent to Jan Wills at [email protected]. Abbreviations ALI Archaeological Landscape Investigation AR Archaeological Review (numbered) in previous Transactions AS Archaeological Surveys ArScn Archeoscan BA Border Archaeology BU Bournemouth University Department of Archaeology, Anthropology and Forensic Science BaRAS Bristol and Region Archaeological Services BWA Bristol and West Archaeology COAS Context One Archaeological Services CA Cotswold Archaeology DAI Deutsches Archäologisches Institut GA Gloucestershire Archaeology GCCAS Gloucestershire County Council Archaeology Service HA Headland Archaeology JMHS John Moore Heritage Services KH Keevil Heritage MA Monmouth Archaeology NT National Trust OA Oxford Archaeology RH Rubicon Heritage TVAS Thames Valley Archaeological Services WA Wessex Archaeology WiltsAFG Wiltshire Archaeology Field Group WorcsArch Worcestershire Archaeology 110Arch One Ten Archaeology ALDERTON, land at Lower Stanley Farm, SO 99753180. An evaluation identified Iron Age to early Roman pits and ditches. They probably represent the westernmost extent of a known but 270 ARCHAEOLOGICAL REVIEW 2015 undated enclosure complex, lying mainly east of the site, and first identified as cropmarks and through geophysical survey. Other remains included a post-medieval to modern ditch, perhaps forming part of an enclosure depicted on the Ordnance Survey 1st edition map of 1884. Tom Weavill, CA AMPNEY CRUCIS and BAUNTON, Abbey Home Farm, SP 04500500. Geophysical survey over 185 ha was carried out as part of a long-term project to survey the whole farm (see also AR 38 and 39); by the end of 2015 85% of the survey will have been completed. The fields examined included: Manitoba, Pond Ground, West Mead, Puzletts, Round Hill, Round Hill Bank, Hill Field, Eldon Cross, Whitecars South, Hitchins, Hitchins Knowle, Hitchins Hedge, Shooters Hill, Barleystones, Ridgeway, Rook Hill, Top Rook Hill, Home Ground, Horse Ground, 17 Acres, Harebushes and Galley Hill. Previously unrecorded features were identified in all the fields examined, including settlement areas, boundaries and linear earthworks, field systems, quarries and enclosures. A small-scale evaluation trench c.25 m long by 2 m wide was hand-excavated across an elongated stony mound at SP 03650533 in a large field known as Sisters. The excavation confirmed earlier suggestions, based on the results of geophysical surveys, that the mound is a Cotswold-Severn type Neolithic long barrow with at least one lateral chamber. Timothy Darvill, BU, and Friedrich Lüth, DAI ANDOVERSFORD, land at Owdeswell Manor, SP 02081920. A detailed magnetometer survey revealed a number of discrete positive responses that appeared to relate to pit-like features possibly of natural origin. A small number of short positive linear anomalies were also located; these lacked a coherent morphology, preventing confident interpretation. A zone of magnetically variable response at the north-western corner of the site indicated former quarrying and related to a depression in the ground surface. Evidence for agricultural activity has also been located. Kerry Donaldson and David Sabin, AS Land at Owdeswell Manor, SP 02101922. A field evaluation confirmed the presence of agricultural furrows previously identified by geophysical survey (see above). No finds or further features of archaeological significance were identified. I. Bennett, HA Land to the rear of Templefields, SP 01941941. A field evaluation identified evidence for ridge and furrow field systems in the north-east of the site, but no finds or features of earlier date. I. Bennett, HA ASHCHURCH RURAL, land off the A46, SO 93673338. An evaluation confirmed the presence of a settlement and trackways previously identified during a geophysical survey (AR 39). The settlement was in use during the 1st to 2nd centuries AD, and lay within a landscape of large rectilinear fields. A crop-drying oven found outside the settlement area contained pottery dating to the 4th century AD. The evaluation also identified furrows associated with medieval to post- medieval agricultural practice as well as former channels of the Tirle Brook. Christopher Leonard, CA BERKELEY, Actrees solar farm, ST 71129795. A field evaluation on land to the south-east of Berkeley identified the location of two in-filled modern ponds and a single undated shallow gully in the centre of the site. No significant archaeological finds or features were identified. I. Bennett, HA ARCHAEOLOGICAL REVIEW 2015 271 BISHOP’S CLEEVE, land at Cleevelands, SO 95002836. A previous evaluation had identified a Bronze Age ditch, small Iron Age enclosures and a zone of Roman settlement, including a possible crop-drying oven and a stone-founded building. The core of this Roman settlement was preserved in situ during the ensuing development work; the remainder of the features were excavated. Earlier prehistoric remains comprised a small isolated pit with late Bronze Age to early Iron Age pottery, and a second area containing shallow pits and a posthole dating to the Bronze Age or early to middle Iron Age. A prehistoric field system and a small post-built roundhouse, 5 m in diameter, were also found. The majority of the remains dated to the late Iron Age to Roman periods. Drainage ditches were established during the late Iron Age to 1st century AD and continued in use into the 1st and 2nd centuries, with frequent re-cuts. During the 1st and 2nd centuries small enclosures (measuring at least 12×10 m) were laid out along with a complex series of intercutting ditches and a larger enclosure measuring at least 51×30 m. There was a change in the pattern of land use in the 3rd and 4th centuries, at which time the earlier enclosures were abandoned. A large dark deposit, interpreted as a metalworking midden, belonged to this period. No in situ metal processing features were found, but the presence of large quantities of slag, much of it with furnace lining attached, suggests that metalworking occurred very close by. This period also saw the creation of new enclosures, and a stone spread may represent the remains of a floor surface belonging to a former Roman building. Undated features included a cluster of seven un-urned cremations, and five inhumation burials comprising a group of three and two isolated burials, one of which was of a neonate. Tim Havard, CA Land behind Millham House, SO 95732846. An evaluation was carried out on land immediately to the north of Bishop’s Cleeve, where ridge and furrow field systems survived as substantial earthworks. Pottery dating to the 12th and 13th centuries was recovered from within and beneath the surviving ridges, but no associated archaeological features were identified. The evaluation confirmed that prehistoric enclosures observed in the adjacent field do not continue into the proposed development area. L. Craddock-Bennett, HA Stoke Road, SO 94512787. Twenty-six evaluation trenches were excavated to assess the survival of potential archaeological features that had been identified by a geophysical survey. The evaluation located two distinct areas of archaeological activity. The most complex was in the central part of the site, where a series of enclosures and other features including a possible corn drier survived. Most of these features dated to the Roman period, although some Iron Age material was also found. To the north-west of the main complex was a second smaller and less complex group of features spanning the Iron Age and Roman periods. Other features included an early Bronze Age cremation and tentative evidence of late Roman or post-Roman activity. Andrew Walsh, WorcsArch BITTON, land near Upton Cheyney, ST 71007000. A series of Roman buildings was identified during an evaluation in 2012 (AR 37). A more extensive evaluation was conducted in 2015, revealing a series of Roman structures situated on a terrace in the centre of an enclosure. The initial interpretation appears to indicate that earlier, possibly 2nd-century, buildings have been remodelled at a later date. In association with the buildings were a number of ovens. These too have been remodelled with stone-lined structures built through the collapse of earlier clay-lined structures. This remodelling was probably undertaken at the same time as the change of use of 272 ARCHAEOLOGICAL REVIEW 2015 the buildings. Several broken rotary querns were found in close proximity to the ovens. The recovery of worked flints, and artefacts from throughout the Roman period, suggest a continuity of settlement on the site. Coins, personal jewellery, bone hairpins and a gaming counter attest to the domestic nature of the Roman occupation. ArScn BLOCKLEY, land at Draycott Lane, SP 17023532. An evaluation recorded Roman ditches and pits which may represent agricultural activity during the 1st and 2nd centuries AD. Pottery of the 3rd to 4th century AD was recovered from the ploughsoil. An undated limestone foundation was perhaps associated with a rubble layer containing Roman, medieval and modern pottery. These remains were heavily truncated by ridge and furrow cultivation. Peter Busby, CA BOURTON-ON-THE-WATER, land north of Roman Way, SP 17272151. Following an evaluation, excavation revealed two crouched inhumation burials, one of which was accompanied by a lead rod bent to form a rough ring. A small sherd of probable late Bronze Age to Iron Age pottery was found within the backfill of the other grave. A loose cluster of 11 cremation burials was found near the inhumations. The cremated remains had been deposited without urns in small pits, along with pyre debris. A posthole found close to the cremations may have been a cemetery feature.