Holy Trinity Church, Church Lane, Grazeley, Wokingham, Berkshire

T H A M E S V A L L E Y ARCHAEOLOGICAL S E R V I C E S

Archaeological Watching Brief

by Andy Taylor

Site Code: HTG17/84

(SU 6989 6692) Holy Trinity Church, Church Lane, Grazeley, Wokingham, Berkshire

An Archaeological Watching Brief

For Ms Ann Lacey

by Andy Taylor

Thames Valley Archaeological Services Ltd

Site Code HTG 17/84

October 2017 Summary

Site name: Holy Trinity Church, Church Lane, Grazeley, Wokingham, Berkshire

Grid reference: SU 6989 6692

Site activity: Watching Brief

Date and duration of project: 3rd-31st May 2017

Project manager: Steve Ford

Site supervisor: Kyle Beaverstock, Rebecca Constable, Tim Dawson and Andy Taylor

Site code: HTG 17/84

Area of site: 2.82ha

Summary of results: A series of drainage runs were monitored to the north and west of the church building along with two areas intended for septic tanks and soakaways. The first of these areas was found to contain 13 possible graves and was abandoned and backfilled with excavation moving to the second area. The possible graves remained unexcavated.

Monuments identified: Undated but presumably late post-medieval/modern inhumation graves, left in situ.

Location and reference of archive: The archive is presently held at Thames Valley Archaeological Services, Reading and will be deposited at a local museum willing to accept archive material in due course.

This report may be copied for bona fide research or planning purposes without the explicit permission of the copyright holder. All TVAS unpublished fieldwork reports are available on our website: www.tvas.co.uk/reports/reports.asp.

Report edited/checked by: Steve Ford 24.10.17 Steve Preston 24.10.17

i Thames Valley Archaeological Services Ltd, 47–49 De Beauvoir Road, Reading RG1 5NR Tel. (0118) 926 0552; Email [email protected]; Website: www.tvas.co.uk Holy Trinity Church, Church Lane, Grazeley, Wokingham, Berkshire An Archaeological Watching Brief

by Andy Taylor

Report 17/84

Introduction

This report documents the results of an archaeological watching brief carried out at Holy Trinity Church, Church

Lane, Grazeley, Wokingham, Berkshire (SU 6989 6692) (Fig. 1). The work was commissioned by Ms Ann

Lacey, Holy Trinity Church, Church Lane, Grazeley, RG7 1LD.

Planning permission (F/2012/2123) and listed building consent (171152) have been gained from

Wokingham Borough Council for the conversion of the church building to a dwelling, with associated landscaping for a drive and garage structure. The proposal is subject to a condition (13) which requires a watching brief to be carried out during groundworks associated with drainage and cable runs.

This is in accordance with the Department for Communities and Local Government’s National Planning

Policy Framework (NPPF 2012) and the Council’s policies on archaeology. The field investigation was carried out to a specification approved by Ms Kathelen Leary, Archaeology Officer with Berkshire Archaeology, advisers to the Council on matters relating to archaeology. The fieldwork was undertaken by Kyle Beaverstock,

Rebecca Constable, Tim Dawson and Andy Taylor between 3rd and 31st May 2017 and the site code is HTG

17/84.

The archive is presently held at Thames Valley Archaeological Services, Reading and will be deposited at with a local museum willing to accept archive material in due course.

Location, topography and geology

The site is located on the northern side of Church Lane, Grazeley, south west of Reading (Fig. 1). The site is within the churchyard around the former Holy Trinity Church and an orchard immediately to the north. It consists of flat grassed areas in the churchyard (Fig. 2) with a band of trees and undergrowth dividing the main area of the churchyard and an orchard to the north. The underlying geology is mapped as Second Terrace

Deposit gravels, which were observed across the site, and it lies at a height of c.38m above Ordnance Datum.

1 Archaeological background

The archaeological potential of the site stems from its location within an area known to have many sites, discovered via aerial survey (Gates 1975) and field survey (Lobb and Rose 1996) and lies relatively close to known areas of rich prehistoric and Roman deposits (Brossler et al. 2004; Moore and Jennings 1992).

Excavation prior to the A33 road widening scheme to the north east revealed Roman occupation deposits probably representing a farm, with landscape features nearby. The site was in use from the middle of the 1st century AD, or possibly a little earlier, through to the 2nd century when occupation and other activity apparently ceased, except for a single late Roman ditch (Milbank 2010). To the north east of the site, an excavation at

Grazeley Road, Three Mile Cross revealed an unenclosed middle Iron Age occupation site. The main features consisted of two ring gully structures. One structure had been refurbished on several occasions and was associated with iron production..A few sherds of middle Bronze Age pottery and flint flakes point to some earlier activity on or near the site. A charcoal-rich pit also returned a late Saxon radiocarbon date (Ford 2013).

Holy Trinity Church itself was constructed in 1850 and is Grade II Listed Building (listing number 41469), created by the architect Benjamin Ferrey in the Decorated Gothic style, for which he was well known. The graveyard is located to the south, west and north west. The church became redundant and was closed in 2006.

The northern graveyard remained active after the Church closed.

Objectives and methodology

The purpose of the watching brief was to excavate and record any archaeological deposits affected by the groundworks, which were expected to be minimal and comprise drainage and cable runs and associated septic tank and soakaway pits.

Pipe, drainage and cable trenches were to be observed along with a large soakaway area. These were excavated using a small 360°-type machine fitted with a toothless grading bucket. Spoilheaps were monitored for finds and all potential archaeological deposits were cleaned by hand.

In the event of encountering unexpectedly extensive human remains or other complex archaeological deposits, further mitigation was to be determined in consultation with Berkshire Archaeology, which might involve redesign of the works, or further archaeological investigation.

2 Results

Trenches A series of pipe and cable trenches were excavated to the north and west of the former church building (Fig. 2).

Pipe trenches on the northern edge of the church measured 0.40m wide and were dug to a depth of c.0.90m. The stratigraphy observed consisted of 0.12m of topsoil overlying 0.40m of subsoil overlying clay and gravel natural geology (Pl. 1). A cable trench in the same area measured 0.30m wide and was dug to a depth of between 0.50m and 0.70m (Pl. 2). This consisted of 0.20m of topsoil overlying 0.30m of subsoil overlying clay and gravel natural. Further drainage trenches observed were of the same dimensions and stratigraphy as previously observed. These were located linking the main pipe trench to the church building and cutting across the churchyard and into the orchard to connect to the septic tank and soakaway (Fig. 3, Pl. 3). No finds or features of archaeological interest were noted in any of the pipe trenches.

Soakaway The first soakaway area was dug to a depth of c.0.90m and consisted of 0.15m of topsoil overlying 0.30m of subsoil overlying gravel natural geology. This identified the outlines of 13 grave-shaped soil patches, all aligned on an east-west orientation (Fig. 2). All were without headstones but a small investigative excavation in one of the patches confirmed the presence of human bone. Consultation with Berkshire Archaeology and the local

Coroner concluded that, if possible, the remains should not be disturbed and an alternative location for the soakaway be found. The graves were left undisturbed and preserved in-situ.

Therefore the location of that soakaway was abandoned and the area backfilled. It was relocated to a second area, dug in the adjacent orchard to the north to a depth of 0.80m. The pipe trench leading to this area exposed stratigraphy consisting of 0.12m of topsoil overlying 0.46m of subsoil overlying gravel and sandy clay natural

(Pl. 4). The area strip for the soakaway itself was some 4–5m wide and 24m long. Stratigraphy here consisted of

0.15m to topsoil over 0.4m of made ground (black gravelly silt with Victorian or modern brick) over a second layer of made ground, 0.35m deep, consisting of light to mid grey silt with brick and gravel inclusions, above the natural yellow gravel geology. No archaeological finds or features were observed in this area.

Finds

Though some pottery and ceramic building material of 19th and 20th century date was noted, no archaeological finds of interest were noted.

3 Conclusion

Despite the site’s potential for archaeology to be present no archaeological deposits or finds were disturbed. The inhumations encountered within the former churchyard were not excavated and remained in situ and, as such, are archaeologically undated. It is overwhelmingly likely, however, that the graves are contemporary with the church, i.e. mid 19th to mid 20th century, due to their location within the churchyard and east-west orientation.

References BGS, 2000, British Geological Survey, 1:50000, Sheet 268, Solid and Drift Edition, Keyworth Brossler, A, Early, R and Allen, C, Green Park (Reading Business Park); Phase 2 excavations 1995, Neolithic and Bronze Age sites, Oxford Ford, S, Pine, J and Weale, A, 2013, ‘Middle Iron Age occupation and iron production and a late Saxon hearth at Grazeley Road, Three Mile Cross, Reading, Berkshire’, in S Preston (ed) Iron Age Iron Production Sites in Berkshire: Excavations 2003–2012, TVAS Monogr 16, Reading, 36–59 Gates, T, 1975, The Thames Valley, An archaeological Survey of the River Gravels, Berkshire Archaeol Comm Pubn 1, Reading Lobb, S J and Rose, P G, 1996, Archaeological Survey of the Lower Kennet Valley, Berkshire, Wessex Archaeol Rep 9, Salisbury Milbank, D, 2010, ‘The Excavation of Roman occupation deposits at Mereoak Lane, Grazeley, Reading, Berkshire’ in S Preston, (ed) Archaeological investigations to the south of Reading, 2002-2008, Exploring Late Iron Age and Roman settlement south of Reading, Berkshire, TVAS Monogr 13, Reading, 1–19 Moore, J and Jennings, D, 1992, Reading Business Park: a Bronze Age landscape, Thames Valley landscapes: the Kennet Valley Vol 1, Oxford NPPF 2012, National Planning Policy Framework, Dept Communities and Local Govt, London

Slough

READING Maidenhead

Windsor

Hungerford Thatcham Bracknell Newbury Wokingham SITE 68

68 68000

SITE 67

67 67000 66

66 66000

SU 69000 70000 HTG 17/84 Holy Trinity Church, Church Lane, Grazeley, Berkshire, 2017 Archaeological Watching Brief Figure 1. Location of site within Grazeley and Berkshire.

Reproduced under licence from Ordnance Survey Explorer Digital mapping at 1:12500 Crown Copyright reserved

69 70 71 67000

Soakaway

Septic tank

69950

Drainage pipe trenches

Cable trench

Septic tank

Graves Soakaway

E (unexcavated) LAN RCH CHU

SU69900 HTG 17/84

N Holy Trinity Church, Church Lane, Grazeley, Berkshire, 2017 Archaeological Watching Brief

Figure 2. Location of observed areas.

0 25m Northern pipe trench to N soakaway and septic tank

SE NW 44.29m aOD Topsoil

Subsoil

Reddish yellow gravel and sandy clay natural geology

Southerm pipe trench to S soakaway and septic tank

WSW ENE 45.19m

Topsoil

Made ground (black silt with brick and gravel inclusions)

Made ground (light grey silt with brick and gravel inclusions)

Natural clay and gravel geology

HTG 17/84 Holy Trinity Church, Church Lane, Grazeley, Berkshire, 2017 Archaeological Watching Brief

Figure 3. Representative sections.

0 1m Plate 1. Pipe trench parallel to north wall of nave, looking west. Scale: 2m.

Plate 2. Cable trench against north wall of vestry, looking east. Scale: 2m. HTG 17/84 Holy Trinity Church, Church Lane, Grazeley, Berkshire, 2017 Archaeological Watching Brief Plates 1 and 2. Plate 3. General view of the pipe trench which leads to the northern soakawy, looking south-east. Scales: 2m and 1m.

Plate 4. Northern spectic tank reduction, looking south. Scales: 2m and 1m. HTG 17/84 Holy Trinity Church, Church Lane, Grazeley, Berkshire, 2017 Archaeological Watching Brief Plates 3 and 4. TIME CHART

Calendar Years

Modern AD 1901

Victorian AD 1837

Post Medieval AD 1500

Medieval AD 1066

Saxon AD 410

Roman AD 43 AD 0 BC Iron Age 750 BC

Bronze Age: Late 1300 BC

Bronze Age: Middle 1700 BC

Bronze Age: Early 2100 BC

Neolithic: Late 3300 BC

Neolithic: Early 4300 BC

Mesolithic: Late 6000 BC

Mesolithic: Early 10000 BC

Palaeolithic: Upper 30000 BC

Palaeolithic: Middle 70000 BC

Palaeolithic: Lower 2,000,000 BC Thames Valley Archaeological Services Ltd, 47-49 De Beauvoir Road, Reading RG1 5NR

Tel: 0118 9260552 Email: [email protected] Web: www.tvas.co.uk

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