Investigations at the Lacon Childe School Old Wing, Cleobury Mortimer,

by Hugh Hannaford

Archaeology Service

Information and Community Services INVESTIGATIONS AT THE LACON CHILDE SCHOOL OLD WING, CLEOBURY MORTIMER, SHROPSHIRE

by HUGH HANNAFORD

Archaeology Service

Information and Community Services Report Number 114 © Shropshire County Council April 1997 Winston Churchill Building, Radbrook Centre, Radbrook Road, , Shropshire SY3 9BJ Tel. (01743) 254018 Investigations at the Lacon Childe School Old Wing, Cleobury Mortimer, Shropshire

CONTENTS Page No 1 INTRODUCTION 2 2 HISTORY OF THE SITE 2 3 THE INVESTIGATIONS 3 4 DISCUSSION 4 5 REFERENCES AND SOURCES CONSULTED 5 6 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 5

ILLUSTRATIONS Fig. 1: Site plan, showing location of new access

SUMMARY The Lacon Childe Old School Buildings are situated adjacent to the motte of the medieval castle of Cleobury. The school is thought to occupy part of the castle bailey, and is thus a site of potential archaeological significance. An archaeological evaluation of the site in 1993 found significant features and deposits of medieval date. Evidence was also found for occupation of the environs in the late Neolithic/early Bronze Age and Roman periods. The site is currently being redeveloped for residential use. Alterations to the route of the proposed access to the development site necessitated further small scale evaluation. This report details the result of that investigation.

1 1 INTRODUCTION In 1996 work began on the redevelopment of the site of the Old School buildings of the Lacon Childe School in Cleobury Mortimer, Shropshire.

The Old School buildings of the Lacon Childe School are situated in what is believed to be the bailey of the Norman motte and bailey castle. The motte still survives as a substantial mound, although it is now occupied and mutilated by modern domestic buildings and gardens.

An archaeological evaluation of the site in 1993 found significant features and deposits of medieval date. Evidence was also found for occupation of the environs in the late Neolithic/early Bronze Age and Roman periods.

Because of the potential archaeological significance of the site, it was made a condition of planning consent that a programme of archaeological investigation be carried out in response to the proposed development scheme. It was considered that adequate provision for this could be made by a watching brief. However, subsequent amendments to the proposed access for the development scheme resulted in a previously unaffected area of presumed high archaeological potential being threatened. In response to this it was decided to carry out a further rapid archaeological evaluation of the proposed new access.

The Archaeology Service, Shropshire County Council, was commissioned to carry out this evaluation, and this report details the results of that work.

2 HISTORY OF THE SITE 2.1 The Historical Background Cleobury Mortimer is situated in the southernmost part of the county of Shropshire on the west bank of the River Rea, 17km south west of and 15.5km east of . The underlying geology is Old Red Sandstone of the Devonian period (Toghill, 1990, Fig. 4).

Cleobury is mentioned in the Domesday Survey of 1086, although there is no mention of a castle. The castle itself is first mentioned in 1154, when it was destroyed by Henry II after de Mortimer's rebellion (Teare,1986). The Mortimers held Cleobury until 1398, when the manor passed by marriage to the House of York. The castle itself, however, is not referred to again until Leland's record of his visit some time between 1538 and 1545, although apparently by this time there were few structural remains (Teare, ibid).

In the early 18th century a bowling green was laid out on part of the site of the castle. During the course of its construction, walls and foundations were revealed and several coins recovered. In 1740 the Lacon Childe School was founded, according to one account, on the site formerly occupied by the bowling green. A terrier of 1782, however, shows a bowling green on the top of the motte, and it is unclear whether this was the site of the original bowling green referred to above, or a replacement built when the school was erected. The castle mound is shown on the OS 1" 1st edition (Ordnance Survey, 1825), though not on the Tithe Apportionment map of 1846 (Foxall 1981). This latter map also shows housing along the eastern edge of the study area, although by the beginning of the 20th century it had gone (OS 1:2500, 1903).

In 1995, the Lacon Childe School left the premises, and the site was subsequently acquired by its present owner.

2.2 The Archaeological Background The trial excavations in 1993 provided evidence of activity dating back to the late Neolithic/early Bronze Age on or close by the study area. This early occupation was evidenced by the finding of a number of worked flint flakes, including at least two recognisable implements, namely an arrowhead and a thumb-nail scraper. Several sherds of Roman pottery witnessed occupation of the immediate area during this period.

A clay oven was located in a trench in the upper lawn immediately to the north of the Old Wing of the school buildings. The dating of this feature was problematic, as both Roman and medieval pottery were found associated with it. Parallels for similar features come from both Roman and medieval contexts.

Evidence for medieval activity was found in a trench in the eastern part of the site, where a ditch produced pottery of 12th-13th century date, and post holes suggested the existence of a timber structure. A wall located by a trench in the southern part of the site was dated by pottery recovered from its clay bonding to the 12th century or later, whilst the layer sealing the top of the wall dated its destruction to some time before the early 17th century. The wall may have formed part of a bridge across the ditch separating the medieval motte from its bailey.

The post-medieval period was marked over most of the area investigated by traces of gardening activities. The construction of the school in the mid 18th century and its later annexes and additions, were thought likely to have removed any archaeological deposits from the area occupied by those buildings.

3 THE INVESTIGATIONS 3.1 Results The new access to the site from Childe Road was excavated by JCB mechanical excavator under close archaeological supervision. The access was to be about 5m wide, with a splayed entrance onto the road. The access ran southeast from the road for 15m, with a with a return a further 10m long to the southwest along the line of an existing tarmac footpath and ha-ha.

The bedrock, consisting of a yellow and reddish-brown sandstone was seen at a depth of about 0.67m at the western end of the site, sloping down to the east. The bedrock was covered by a layer of yellowish sand and sandstone fragments about 0.25m thick at the western end of the site, increasing slightly in depth to the east, which probably represented weathering of the surface of the sandstone. This was in turn sealed by a layer 0.22m thick of a brown sandy loam, similar to the layer which sealed the hearth found during the 1993 evaluation c. 9m to the south. No finds or features were seen in this layer, which was covered by a further 0.2m of a darker brown loamy topsoil. A tarmac path ran along the eastern edge of the area excavated for the new access. The path had been built up in a foundation cut 0.7m deep, filled with a deposit 0.25m deep of puddled red clay, 0.28m of brown silty sand loam, and 3 successive layers of tarmac surfacing, each c. 0.06m thick.

3.2 Methodology The intended methodology for the evaluation was to monitor the mechanical removal of topsoil and ground along the line of the new access to the level at which significant archaeological deposits occurred. Thereafter, a sample trench would be manually excavated to evaluate the nature, survival and quality of the archaeological remains. In the event, no archaeological remains of any kind were encountered. The mechanical excavation of the access was therefore allowed to proceed under close archaeological supervision.

4 DISCUSSION No significant archaeological features were seen during the excavation of the new access to the site. It would now appear that the hearth seen during the previous 1993 evaluation in the upper lawn on the north side of the Old Wing is in a relatively small area of archaeological deposits isolated by later activity on the site. It is understood that the current redevelopment will not affect this area. 5 REFERENCES AND SOURCES CONSULTED Clarke, H, 1984: "The Archaeology of Medieval ", British Museum Publications Foxall, H D G, 1981: Fieldnames map based on Tithe Apportionment and Map for Cleobury Mortimer Parish - The Township and Liberties, 1846 Hannaford, H R, 1993: An Archaeological Evaluation at the Lacon Childe School, Cleobury Mortimer, Shropshire, Shropshire County Council Archaeology Unit Report No. 39 Hughes, E G, in Hughes, Leach, and Stanford, forthcoming. Hughes, E G, Leach, P J, and Stanford, S : "Excavations at Bromfield, Shropshire 1981-91", forthcoming Ordnance Survey, 1825, 1st Edition 1903: Shropshire Sheet LXXX.2, 1:2500, 2nd Edition Swan, V G, 1984: "The Pottery Kilns of Roman Britain", RCHME Supplementary Series: 5, HMSO Teare, M, 1986: "Cleobury Mortimer Castle" (unpublished report in County SMR Files) Thorn, F and C, eds, 1986: " - Shropshire", Phillimore, Chichester Toghill, P, 1990: "Geology in Shropshire", Swan Hill Press, Shrewsbury

Abbreviations: APs Aerial Photographs OS Ordnance Survey SMR Sites and Monuments Record, Shire Hall, Shrewsbury SRRC Shropshire Records and Research Centre, Castle Gates, Shrewsbury TSAS Transactions of the Shropshire Archaeological Society TSAHS Transactions of the Shropshire Archaeological and Historical Society VCHS Victoria County

6 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The writer would like to thank Paul Williams for his assistance with the watching brief.