Land at Todenham Road Moreton-in-Marsh Gloucestershire

for CALA Homes (Midlands) Ltd

CA Project: 9235 CA Report: 17101

October 2017

Land at Todenham Road Moreton-in-Marsh Gloucestershire

Summary Publication for the Transactions of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society

CA Project: 9235 CA Report: 17101

Document Control Grid Reasons Approved Revision Date Author Checked by Status for by revision

11 September J. Hart Technical Review Martin A D. Stansbie Draft 2017 & QA Watts

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

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ABSTRACT

Middle Bronze Age settlement at Todenham Road, Moreton-in-Marsh: summary report on archaeological investigations in 2015. By Jonathan Hart

Excavation in 2015 revealed evidence for a small Middle Bronze Age settlement. The settlement was apparently unenclosed, in contrast to the Middle Bronze Age settlement previously excavated at Blenheim Farm, 375 m to the west. The excavations also recorded Roman field systems and a single early medieval radiocarbon date provided rare evidence for activity of this date at Moreton-in-Marsh, albeit of an unidentified nature.

Figure captions Fig. 1. Site location plan. (1:20,000) Fig. 2. Detail Plan of Area 2. (1:1000)

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Middle Bronze Age settlement at Todenham Road, Moreton-in-Marsh: summary report on archaeological investigations in 2015

by JONATHAN HART

INTRODUCTION

In 2015 Cotswold Archaeology undertook excavations ahead of a residential redevelopment at the request of CALA Homes (Midlands) Ltd, on Land at Todenham Road, Moreton-in- Marsh (O.S. Nat. Grid 421090 232870; Fig. 1). The site comprised 11 ha of level land, formerly fields, on the northern edge of Moreton-in-Marsh. The underlying geology is mapped as Jurassic Charmouth Mudstone overlain by Quaternary sand, silt and clay to the north and sand and gravels to the south (BGS 2017).

The site is immediately to the east of Blenheim Farm, where excavations in 2003 revealed an enclosed Middle Bronze Age roundhouse settlement (Hart and Alexander 2007; Figs 1 and 2). Further Middle Bronze Age remains were found in 2011 and 2014 to the east of the current site at the Fire Service College, where a cremation grave of this date was one of a number of small features focused around a former pond or barrow (Hart and Weavill, forthcoming; Fig. 1). Roman remains nearby include enclosures at Blenheim Farm, close to the Fosse Way Roman road (Fig. 1); further Roman ditches were found at the Fire Service College. The nearest known Roman town is at Dorn (Scheduled Monument 1018451; Fig. 1), 1 km north-west of the site. Moreton-in-Marsh probably dates from the 11th century (Alexander 2007, 63) and the current site lay within agricultural land until the present development.

Archaeological remains within the site were first identified during a magnetometry survey (GSB 2009) and trial trench evaluation (CA 2010). Based on these findings, two areas (Areas 1 and 2; Fig. 1) were selected for excavation, of which only Area 2 contained significant remains. A summary of the excavation is presented here; full details can be found within the online Excavation Report (CA 2017), which is available via the CA website (http://www.cotswoldarchaeology.co.uk/ , report no. 17100).

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EXCAVATION RESULTS

Period 1: Middle Bronze Age (1600–1200 BC)

The earliest remains related to a Middle Bronze Age settlement that included three structures (Fig. 2). Roundhouse A survived as a single ring of postholes encircling an area 6.8 m in diameter. Structure B consisted of a partial ring of six postholes and may represent the remains of a second roundhouse or semi-circular structure. Structure C, an arc of three postholes, may represent the remains of a third roundhouse, or of a structure such as a windbreak. Two intercutting pits (4050 and 4052) were found within Structure B. The earlier contained charcoal and scorched pebbles, perhaps indicating use for cooking, and was radiocarbon dated to 1412–1265 cal. BC (95.4% probability; SUERC-72771). Approximately 25 m to the south of Structure B, three pits (4063, 4065 and 4089) cut into tree-throw holes were the only features to produce prehistoric pottery and flints, the pottery perhaps having come from a single vessel.

Period 2: Mid to Late Roman (2nd–4th centuries AD)

Roman remains (Fig. 1) comprised ditches (Ditches A–C) and a pit (4017), which produced a small assemblage of 2nd to 4th-century pottery.

Period 3: early medieval (6th–7th centuries AD)

A radiocarbon date from charcoal recovered from Middle Bronze Age posthole 4028 of Structure B (cal. AD 570–651 at 95.4% probability; SUERC-72770) represents the only early medieval evidence from the site, although the material itself was probably intrusive.

Period 4: post-medieval to modern (18th century AD and later)

Post-medieval and later remains comprised field boundaries, Ditches D and E (Fig. 1). Ditch D produced 18th-century pottery, and both are depicted on the 1st Edition Ordnance Survey 1:2,500 map of 1885, and on subsequent mapping through to the 1970s, but are not visible on satellite imagery of 1999.

DISCUSSION

The unenclosed Middle Bronze Age settlement can be placed within the context of the Middle Bronze Age settlement at Blenheim Farm to the west, and Middle Bronze Age

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funerary and ritual activity at the Fire Service College to the east, all situated on a plateau in the Cotswold hills. An obvious difference between the settlements at Todenham Road and Blenheim Farm is that the latter was enclosed whilst that at Todenham Road was apparently not. The reasons for this are not known but could suggest that one settlement was subsidiary or was seasonally occupied, that they were occupied by different kin or status groups, or that the difference relates to chronology. The three pits cut into tree-throw holes may be of note, providing possible evidence for the commemoration of trees within the landscape noted on other Bronze Age sites within Gloucestershire, including Blenheim Farm (Hart and Alexander 2007), Foxcote Hill, Withington (Hart et al. 2016, 198 and fig. 2.13) and Roman Way, Bourton-on-the-Water (Brett and Hart, forthcoming).

The few Roman remains would seem to have been a continuation of the similarly dated and aligned field and enclosure system found to the west at Blenheim Farm, and also to relate to the few Roman ditches found at the Fire Service College to the east. No evidence for Roman settlement has been found at any of these sites and, given the enclosures seen at Blenheim Farm, they are best seen as elements in an agricultural landscape (Hart 2007, 63). The early medieval radiocarbon date (cal. AD 570–651; SUERC-72770 at 95.4% probability) from posthole 4028 came from charcoal that was almost certainly intrusive within a Middle Bronze Age feature. However, it is of some note in providing the first evidence for early medieval activity from the three contiguous sites extending from Blenheim Farm to the Fire Service College. Given the presence of several medieval enclosures from Blenheim Farm it is also worth noting the complete absence of similar enclosures from Todenham Road.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The work was carried out at the request of CALA Homes (Midlands) Ltd, and was directed by Alistair Barber and Ray Holt. The pottery was analysed by E.R. McSloy, the lithics and fired clay by Jacky Sommerville, the faunal remains by Andrew Clarke and the plant macrofossils by Sarah Wyles. The illustrations were prepared by Lucy Martin, Aleksandra Osinska and Esther Escudero. The radiocarbon dating was undertaken by the Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre (SUERC). Richard Young managed the fieldwork and the post-excavation work was managed by Daniel Stansbie. The archaeological work was monitored by Charles Parry, of Gloucestershire County Council.

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REFERENCES

Alexander, M., 2007. ‘Medieval’, in Hart and Alexander 2007, 63–66. Brett, M. and Hart, J., forthcoming. ‘An Early Mesolithic Post Alignment and a Middle Bronze Age Cemetery at Roman Way, Bourton-on-the-Water: summary report of excavations in 2015’, Trans. Bristol Gloucestershire. Archaeol. Soc. 135 BGS (British Geological Survey), 2017. Geology of Britain Viewer http://maps.bgs.ac.uk/geologyviewer_google/googleviewer.html Accessed 12 September 2017. CA (Cotswold Archaeology), 2010. ‘Land at Todenham Road, Moreton-in-Marsh, Gloucestershire: Archaeological Evaluation’, CA report 10038. CA (Cotswold Archaeology), 2017. ‘Land at Todenham Road, Moreton-in-Marsh, Gloucestershire: Archaeological Excavation’. CA report 17100. GSB (GSB Prospection), 2009. ‘Land off Todenham Road, Moreton-in-Marsh, Gloucestershire: Geophysical Survey Report’ GSB report 2009/52. Hart, J. and Alexander, M., 2007. ‘Prehistoric, Romano-British and Medieval Remains at Blenheim Farm, Moreton-in-Marsh, Gloucestershire: Excavations in 2004’, in M. Watts (ed) 2007, Prehistoric and Medieval Occupation at Moreton-in-Marsh and Bishop's Cleeve, Gloucestershire Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Report 5, Cirencester, Cotswold Archaeology. Hart, J., Mudd, A., McSloy, E.R. and Brett, M., 2016. Living near the Edge: Archaeological investigations in the western Cotswolds along the route of the Wormington to Sapperton Gas Pipeline, 2006–2010 Cotswold Archaeology Monograph 9, Cirencester, Cotswold Archaeology. Hart, J. and Weavill, T., forthcoming. ‘A Bronze Age cremation, Roman and later agriculture, and WWII airfield remains at the Fire Service College, Moreton-in-Marsh: summary report on archaeological investigations, 2011 and 2014’, Trans Bristol Glos. Archaeol. Soc.

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Fig. 2. Detail plan of Area 2. (1:1000)

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