Land at Blackberry Hill Hospital Stapleton Bristol

LAND AT BLACKBERRY HILL HOSPITAL STAPLETON BRISTOL

PROGRAMME OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL RECORDING

CA PROJECT: 1584 CA REPORT: 03187

Author: D.Lankstead

Approved: S.Cox

Signed: …………………………………………………………….

Issue: 01 Date: 15 DECEMBER 2003

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.

Blackberry Hill Hospital, Stapleton, Bristol: Programme of Archaeological Recording © Cotswold Archaeology

CONTENTS

SUMMARY...... 4

1. INTRODUCTION ...... 5

The site ...... 5 Archaeological background...... 6 Methodology ...... 6

2. RESULTS ...... 7

3. DISCUSSION...... 9

4. CA PROJECT TEAM ...... 10

5. REFERENCES ...... 10

APPENDIX 1: CONTEXT DESCRIPTIONS...... 11

APPENDIX 2: THE FINDS...... 12

APPENDIX 3: LEVELS OF PRINCIPAL DEPOSITS AND STRUCTURES...... 13

2 Blackberry Hill Hospital, Stapleton, Bristol: Programme of Archaeological Recording © Cotswold Archaeology

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Fig. 1 Site location plan Fig. 2 The site, showing location of groundworks Fig. 3 Plan of The Piggery and lime kiln (1:50) Fig. 4 Section across the lime kiln (1:20) Fig. 5 Lime kiln, viewed from the north-east Fig. 6 Lime kiln, detail of easternmost flue, from above Fig. 7 The Piggery, west elevation, blocked ?doorway and window above Fig. 8 The Piggery, east elevation, original doorways and blocked windows Fig. 9 The Piggery, south elevation, chimney and windows Fig. 10 The Piggery, north elevation, 1897 date above window

3 Blackberry Hill Hospital, Stapleton, Bristol: Programme of Archaeological Recording © Cotswold Archaeology

SUMMARY

Site Name: Blackberry Hill Hospital Location: Blackberry Hill, Stapleton, Bristol NGR: centred at ST 628 763 Type: Programme of Archaeological Recording Date: June-December 2003 Planning References: 02/00426/LC & 02/0425/P/E Location of Archive: to be deposited with Bristol City Museum Accession no. 2003/38 Site Code: BHH 03

A programme of archaeological recording, consisting of an archaeological watching brief and recording of standing buildings, was undertaken by Cotswold Archaeology during the development associated with the construction of a new secure mental health unit on land at Blackberry Hill Hospital. The watching brief took place during the reduction of the ground level over the eastern part of the development area, and the building recording prior to the demolition and alteration of standing buildings.

The only archaeological remains revealed by reduction of the ground level lay immediately to the east of the late 19th-century Piggery. The structure probably represents the remains of a limekiln,, consisting of a substantial Pennant sandstone wall, measuring 5.5m long and 1.2m wide, containing four flues, with a contemporary semi-circular sandstone wall abutting its northern face at either end. Map evidence suggests it is associated with major construction work in the 1860s at the workhouse founded on the site of the former French Prison in the 1830s. Elsewhere, groundworks and geotechnical records suggested earlier quarrying activity had removed any potential archaeological remains over a large area, although no cartographic evidence for quarrying on the site came to light during subsequent research.

A full photographic and illustrative record of the Piggery, built in 1897, was also carried out prior to its demolition. Additionally a photographic record was made of the boundary wall bordering the north of the site, and of small parts of the former Orchard Day Hospital scheduled for alteration and demolition.

4 Blackberry Hill Hospital, Stapleton, Bristol: Programme of Archaeological Recording © Cotswold Archaeology

1. INTRODUCTION

1.1 Between June and December 2003 Cotswold Archaeology (CA) carried out a programme of archaeological recording for Inventures (on behalf of Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership) at Blackberry Hill Hospital, Stapleton, Bristol (centred on NGR: ST 628 763; Fig. 1).

1.2 The programme of archaeological recording, consisting of a watching brief and recording of historic buildings in advance of demolition or alteration, was undertaken to fulfil a condition attached to a planning consent for the construction of a secure mental health unit and associated demolition and groundworks (Bristol City Council Planning refs: 02/00426/LC and 02/0425/P/E). The objectives of the work were to record all archaeological remains exposed during the development and to record all historic buildings prior to demolition or alteration.

1.3 The archaeological fieldwork was carried out in accordance with a Written Scheme of Investigation (WSI), produced by CA (2003) and approved on behalf of the local planning authority by Jon Brett (Bristol City Council Archaeology), who visited the site on 27 October 2003. The fieldwork also followed the Standard and Guidance for an Archaeological Watching Brief issued by the Institute of Field Archaeologists (1999).

The site

1.4 The development area lies to the north-east of Blackberry Hill Hospital complex and included the Fromeside Clinic, Orchard Day Hospital, Maples Rehabilitation Unit and part of an area of former playing fields. A single older building, the former Piggery (SMR No. 2115 and 2116), originally constructed in 1897 and subsequently incorporated within later changing rooms for the playing fields, lay in the south- eastern corner of the site. The site slopes gently, rising to the south-west. A bund, reportedly constructed of material imported during the construction of the M32 lies within the northern boundary of the site which is marked a former boundary wall, beyond which the ground drops sharply down to the River Frome. To the west and south-west of the development site lie Blackberry Hill Hospital and the University of West of England Health and Social Care Faculty.

5 Blackberry Hill Hospital, Stapleton, Bristol: Programme of Archaeological Recording © Cotswold Archaeology

1.5 The underlying geology of the area is mapped as Triassic Keuper Marl underlain by the Pennant series which is part of the Upper Coal measures of Carboniferous Age (Geological Survey 1967).

Archaeological background

1.7 The full background to the site is covered by an Archaeological Desk-Based Assessment of Blackberry Hill Hospital, Stapleton (Leech 2001). The study noted that the site has some potential for archaeological material dating to the prehistoric and Roman periods owing to its topographic position. The site lay within the Forest of Kingswood in the medieval period and there is some evidence that it was enclosed from waste in the 17th century. The first cartographic evidence for the area is a map dating from between 1779 and 1783, which shows the French Prisoner of War Camp (SMR No: 1546) which was sited to the south west of the development area and the surrounding field system. The French Prison is also shown clearly on the 1839 tithe map, which apportions the land contained within the site to arable use. The prison itself was converted to a Workhouse in 1831, which resulted in the demolition of the outer walls and westernmost of the prison blocks between 1861 and 1865 to make way for the new building. A small rectangular structure is visible on the first edition OS Map of 1885, which predates the Piggery and lies to the east of the Piggery, built in 1897, and visible on the second edition OS map of 1916.

Methodology

1.8 The fieldwork followed the methodology set out within the WSI (CA 2003). An archaeologist was present during intrusive groundworks, comprising the mechanical levelling to a height of 51.5m AOD of the area scheduled for development across the eastern part of the site and the demolition of the Piggery (Fig. 2), as well as the photographic, graphic and written recording of the Piggery prior to demolition, and the photographic recording at Orchard Day Hospital of three doorways which were to be altered and a former boilerhouse which was to be demolished. The boundary wall along the northern edge of the site was also recorded photographically, at the request of Jon Brett of Bristol City Council.

1.9 Written, graphic and photographic records were compiled in accordance with the CA Technical Manual 1: Excavation Recording Manual (1996).

6 Blackberry Hill Hospital, Stapleton, Bristol: Programme of Archaeological Recording © Cotswold Archaeology

1.10 Subject to the agreement of the legal landowner the finds and site archive will be deposited with Bristol City Museum under accession number 2003/38.

2. RESULTS

2.1 The natural geological substrate, consisting of a red sandy clay with frequent tabular sandstone fragments (Triassic Keuper Marl), was revealed in the reduced level dig in the eastern portion of the development area at an average depth of 0.4m below present ground level. Outcrops of sandstone bedrock were visible in the south- eastern corner of the site where the reduced level dig involved the excavation to a depth of 1.5m. The western portion of the site comprised solely of made up ground which included redeposited natural clay, lias limestone, light bluish-grey clay and demolition debris. The bund bordering the northern limit of the site comprised modern backfill including redeposisted large concrete bases, brick and tile fragments and redeposited Triassic Keuper Marl.

2.2 The only area of archaeological remains encountered during the monitoring lay directly to the east of the Piggery where a substantial buried structure was revealed in the course of the groundworks (Fig. 3). The main wall of the structure 122 ran east to west and consisted of up to twelve courses of block and tabular Pennant sandstone with occasional pieces of Brandon Hill Grit sandstone bonded by a mid whitish-grey lime mortar containing occasional charcoal fragments (Fig. 5). Contained within and integral to the original build of the wall were four equally spaced flues. The easternmost of these was excavated (Fig. 6) and contained demolition debris containing frequent sandstone fragments. From the base the flues rose vertically within the surviving wall, before splaying to openings 0.9m by 0.4m. Abutting both the western and eastern ends of wall 122 and running in a semi-circle was wall 123. Again this was constructed of Pennant and Brandon Hill Grit sandstone blocks bonded by identical mortar to wall 122. The wall was seen to cut directly into the natural geological substrate. At the base of walls 122 and 123 lay a truncated sandstone surface (126) which survived only patchily across the enclosed area.

2.3 Demolition debris 124 and 125 lay at the structures base above the sporadic sandstone surface 126 (Fig. 4) and it is likely that these two deposits represent the initial demolition of the structure with wall 123 having been being pushed into the

7 Blackberry Hill Hospital, Stapleton, Bristol: Programme of Archaeological Recording © Cotswold Archaeology

base of the structure. Within the deposits overlying this initial demolition was a deposit rich in slag and clinker within a dark brownish black silty sand matrix and at the top of the sequence was a layer of redeposited natural 118 which would seem to be indicative of landscaping prior to the construction of the Piggery.

2.4 The footings of the Piggery to the west of the buried Structure 122 visibly cut deposit 118. The footings themselves consisted of sandstone fragments and rubble within a dark blackish grey mortar. The footings corresponded to the location of the standing walls of the Piggery prior to its demolition, although it was apparent that the internal west to east dividing wall originally ran across the width of the building, but had been altered at a later date (Fig 3).

2.5 The Piggery was originally a simple rectangular building measuring 8m by 5.5m and was constructed of Pennant sandstone with occasional examples of Brandon Hill Grit sandstone being visible within its walls (Figs 7-10). The walls were coursed rubble with ashlar quoin detailing around doors, windows and at building or feature corners. A decorative stone window frame was present high on the north gable, with a date of 1897 on the lintel stone (Fig. 10). The Piggery was apparently originally two separate rooms, on the basis of a continuous wall footing observed in the watching brief running the whole width of the building. The exact pattern of original doorways in unclear due to later alterations, but it seems that each room had its own opening to the outside on the east side. The northern half of the building also appears to have had a wide doorway to the west, visible as blocking within the fabric of the west wall (Fig 7). On the basis of the ashlar jambs of the doorways on the east side which continue up to wall head height, and the continued presence of a window with ashlar jambs above the blocked opening on the west side (Figs 7 and 8), it appears that each original door opening also appears to have a window directly above, with the ashlar door lintel also acting as the sill for the window above. Further windows in the southern gable end also lit the southernmost room, either side of a chimney, visible within the exterior fabric as an integral feature in the gable wall. No internal features contemporary with the original use of the building had survived later alterations.

2.6 The Piggery was considerably altered and extended in the 20th Century and utilised as a changing room and shower block for the disused playing fields to the east. structure. The demolition of these modern additions on the east side of the building revealed substantial alterations. The northernmost doorway was found to be a

8 Blackberry Hill Hospital, Stapleton, Bristol: Programme of Archaeological Recording © Cotswold Archaeology

modern addition, allowing access to the toilets, and the two original entrances (Fig, 3) had been lowered, as the original ashlar door framing extended 1m above the present concrete lintels.

3. DISCUSSION

3.1 The only buried archaeological remains were the semi-circular structure and associated deposit. Although no deposits directly associated with its use were present, the form of the structure and the presence of charcoal, ash, clinker and slag would suggest an industrial usage and it is most likely that the structure was a lime kiln utilised for mortar production. The structure is not represented or apportioned on the 1839 Stapleton Tithe Award, but a small rectangular building is represented on the first edition OS map of 1885; by the time of the second edition of 1916 this structure has been removed and the Piggery is represented in the rectangular form recorded on site slightly to the west. These termini post and ante quem would seem to best correspond with the major works of extension and conversion of the French Prison to a workhouse between 1861 and 1865, which would have required substantial quantities of lime for the production of mortar. The Piggery itself is contemporary with the very late 19th century phase of construction and alteration at the site, with its clear date stone of 1897; beyond the recording of the original external form of the building, no further information regarding its operation was recovered.

3.2 The absence of natural material across the western portion of the site would seem to suggest the substantial truncation of the sediments. The geotechnical survey (Soil Mechanics 2003) shows there to be a maximum of 5m of made up ground at the north west corner with the natural geological substrate being present 40cm below the present ground surface approximately 125m from the eastern limit of the site. This truncation could be attributed to quarrying although the nearest cartographic evidence on the first edition O/S map is to the north west of the area. However quarrying is common in the area especially within the steep escarpment leading to the River Frome and to the south of study area (SMR Nos: 21007, 21008, 21017, 21018, 21019, 21020).

9 Blackberry Hill Hospital, Stapleton, Bristol: Programme of Archaeological Recording © Cotswold Archaeology

4. CA PROJECT TEAM

Fieldwork was undertaken by Darren Lankstead, who also compiled this report. The illustrations were prepared by Lorna Gray . The archive has been compiled by Darren Lankstead, and prepared for deposition by Ed McSloy. The project was managed for CA by Simon Cox.

5. REFERENCES

Geological Survey 1967 England and Wales Bristol District Sheet 1:63360 geological map (solid and drift). Geological Survey of Britain.

Leech RH 2001 An Archaeological Desk Top Evaluation of the Blackberry Hill Hospital Site Options. Stapleton, Bristol. Cultural Heritage Services: Client Report 2001/2002/147.

Soil Mechanics 2003 Unpublished client report. Factual Report on Ground Investigation.

10 Blackberry Hill Hospital, Stapleton, Bristol: Programme of Archaeological Recording © Cotswold Archaeology

APPENDIX 1: CONTEXT DESCRIPTIONS

Trench 1

101 Topsoil. Variable thickness 102 Natural. Triassic Keuper Marl 103 Tarmac road surface. Modern. 104 Make up for 103. 105 Cut for modern haul road 103. 106 Compacted topsoil 107 Demolition debris. 108 Redeposited natural mixed with modern demolition debris. 109 Developers debris 110 Topsoil mixed with demolition debris. 111 Developers debris. 112 Pea grit gravel. Make up layer. 113 Make up layer containing clinker and charcoal fragments. 114 Subsoil. 30cm depth. 115 Subsoil. 30cm depth. 116 Footings of Piggery. 8 visible courses of pennant sandstone bonded by dark whitish grey lime mortar with charcoal flecs. 117 Natural 118 Redeposited natural 119 Slag and charcoal rich deposit overlying demolition debris associated with wall 123. 120 Demolition/ Make up layer contained between walls 122 and 123. 121 Demolition debris , similar to 120. 122 Pennant sandstone wall. Length 5.6m. Width 1.4m. Depth 1.1. Probable face of lime kiln containing four flues. 123 Pennant sandstone wall. Semi circular butting 122 to west and east. Integral part of probable lime kiln. 124 Demolition debris associated with wall 123. 125 Demolition debris associated with wall 123. 126 Truncated pennant sandstone surface visible between walls 122 and 123. 127 Internal plaster coating of flue contained within wall 122. 128 Demolition debris. Fill of easternmost flue of wall 122. 129 Redeposited/Disturbed natural associated with wall 123. 130 Construction cut for wall 123.

11 Blackberry Hill Hospital, Stapleton, Bristol: Programme of Archaeological Recording © Cotswold Archaeology

APPENDIX 2: THE FINDS

A total of 44 sherds of pottery, weighing 659g were recovered and all date to the 19th century. Plain and transfer print decorated white china are dominant, with additional small quantities of stoneware, and glazed or unglazed earthenware. Due to the relatively late date of this material it is deemed non-archaeologically significant and has been discarded.

Finds Concordance:

U/S 10 sherds of pottery (143g); transfer print white china, stoneware 3 clay pipe stems (7g)

101 4 sherds of pottery (46g); white china 2 fragments of vessel glass (132g)

103 6 sherds of pottery (114g); transfer print white china, stoneware

104 6 sherds of pottery (53g); white china, stoneware

106 1 sherd of pottery (9g); glazed earthenware

119 3 fragments of animal bone (44g)

121 15 sherds of pottery (273g); white china, stoneware 1 clay pipe stem (8g) 4 fragments of animal bone (106g) 1 piece of slag (23g) 1 Fe object (115g) 2 pieces of fired clay (31g)

122 1 piece of mortar (111g)

127 4 pieces of mortar (149g)

128 2 sherds of pottery (21g); earthenware, stoneware

APPENDIX 3: LEVELS OF PRINCIPAL DEPOSITS AND STRUCTURES

Levels are expressed as metres below current ground level and as metres above Ordnance Datum, calculated using the temporary benchmark located at the north eastern corner of site (52.02m AOD).

Trench 1 Ground level before groundworks:

North west 54.04m North east 51.61m South west 52.19m South east 53.03m

Limit of excavation

Entire site 51.50m

APPENDIX 4: O/S COORDINATESOF SITE

North west ST 62747 76395 North-east ST 62902 76391 South-west ST 62757 76278 South-east ST 62912 76281

13 site

Fig. 1 Location plan 627 628 629

764

ORCHARD DAY HOSPITAL

763 see Fig. 3

limit of groundworks Reproduced from the 2003 Ordnance Survey 1:1250 map with the permission of Ordnance Survey on behalf of The Controller of Her Majesty's Stationery Office, 0 100m c Crown copyright Cotswold Archaeological Trust AL50196A ST

Fig. 2 The site, showing location of groundworks (1:1250) N N 119 S 51.5m blocked window 129 wall AOD 130 120 122 with 1897 124 date-stone lintel mortar wall 123 125 121

126 slab floor

03m

toilet original wall footing Fig. 4 Section across the lime kiln (1:50)

shower modern door

blocked door with original door window above with window above original wall footing

wall 123 section (see Fig. 4)

changing room

original door with window above

flue flue flue flue blocked blocked chimney window window wall 122

05m modern alterations

Fig. 3 Plan of the piggery and the lime kiln (1:50) Fig. 5 Lime kiln, viewed from the north-east (1m scale)

Fig. 6 Lime kiln, detail of easternmost flue, from above (1m scale) blocked ?doorway

Fig. 7 The Piggery, west elevation, blocked ?doorway and window above (1m scale)

Fig. 8 The Piggery, east elevation, original doorways and blocked windows Fig. 9 The Piggery, south elevation, chimney and windows (1m scale)

Fig. 10 The Piggery, north elevation, 1897 date above blocked window (1m scale)