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

New slurry lagoon, Lower Hill Farm, Aston Tirrold, Oxfordshire

Archaeological Recording Action

by Kyle Beaverstock and Andy Taylor

Site Code: LHF17/117

(SU 5513 8347) New slurry lagoon, Lower Hill Farm, nr Aston Tirrold, Oxfordshire

An Archaeological Recording Action

for DC and RJ Allen and Partners

by Kyle Beaverstock and Andy Taylor

Thames Valley Archaeological Services Ltd

Site Code LHF 17/117

October 2017 Summary

Site name: New slurry lagoon, Lower Hill Farm, Aston Tirrold, Oxfordshire

Grid reference: SU 5513 8347

Site activity: Recording Action

Date and duration of project: 10th and 11th September 2017

Project manager: Steve Ford

Site supervisor: Kyle Beaverstock

Site code: LHF 17/117

Area of site: strip area = 1025 sq m

Summary of results: No deposits or finds of an archaeological nature were observed.

Location and reference of archive: The archive is presently held at Thames Valley Archaeological Services, Reading and will be deposited with Oxfordshire Museum Service 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 All TVAS unpublished fieldwork reports are available on our website: www.tvas.co.uk/reports/reports.asp.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

Thames Valley Archaeological Services Ltd, 47–49 De Beauvoir Road, Reading RG1 5NR

Tel. (0118) 926 0552; Fax (0118) 926 0553; email [email protected]; website: www.tvas.co.uk New slurry lagoon, Lower Hill Farm, Aston Tirrold, Oxfordshire An Archaeological Recording Action

by Kyle Beaverstock and Andy Taylor

Report 17/117

Introduction

This report documents the results of an archaeological recording action carried out on land for a new slurry lagoon at Lower Hill Farm, near Aston Tirrold, Oxfordshire (SU5513 8347) (Fig. 1). The work was commissioned by Mr Ed Allen of DC and RJ Allen and Partners, The Street, North Stoke, Wallingford, OX10

6BL.

Planning permission (P17/S0946/FUL) has been gained from South Oxfordshire District Council for the construction of a new slurry lagoon. Two conditions (3 and 4) have been attached to the consent requiring a programme of archaeological investigation be initiated.

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

Policy Framework (NPPF 2012), and the District Council’s policies on archaeology. The field investigation was carried out to a specification approved by Mr Richard Oram, Planning Archaeologist with Oxfordshire County

Council, advisers to the District on matters relating to archaeology. The fieldwork was undertaken by Kyle

Beaverstock on the 10th and 11th September 2017 and the site code is LHF 17/117. The archive is presently held at Thames Valley Archaeological Services, Reading and will be deposited with Oxfordshire Museum Service in due course.

Location, topography and geology

The site is located to the south of Aston Tirrold and west of Moulsford, south of Didcot (Fig. 1) and it lies on a relatively area flat plateau on the top of a steep hill on arable farmland. The underlying geology is mapped as

Middle Chalk (BGS 1980), which was observed across the stripped area and the site lies at a height of c.123m above Ordnance Datum.

Archaeological background

The archaeological potential of the site has been highlighted in a briefing document for the project prepared by

Mr. Richard Oram of Oxfordshire County Archaeological Service (Oram 2017). In summary, the site lies on the

1 archaeologically rich Berkshire Downs with numerous sites recorded, often as earthworks, or as cropmarks from the air (Richards 1978). For example to the west lies the Berkshire Grims Ditch, a very long Late Bronze Age territorial boundary (Ford 1982) and further to the west is Churn Plain which contains Mesolithic occupation, a

Neolithic long barrow and several Bronze Age barrows. To the east a recent pipeline has revealed another levelled Bronze Age barrow and Late Bronze Age occupation (Bray et al. 2016). The site also lies just to the north of an area containing areas of prehistoric and Roman fields, visible from the air but now mostly levelled by ploughing. About 1.8km to the south-west is Lowbury Hill, a Romano-Celtic temple or sacred enclosure with a pagan Saxon warrior burial and prehistoric antecedents (Atkinson 1916; Fulford and Rippon 1995). Several other earthworks survive in the vicinity (Fig. 1).

Objectives and methodology

The purpose of the evaluation was to determine the presence/absence, extent, condition, character, quality and date of any archaeological deposits within the area of development.

General objectives of the project were:

to record and, if necessary, excavate and record all archaeological deposits and features within the areas threatened by the proposed development; to produce relative and absolute dating and phasing for deposits and features recorded on the site; to establish the character of these deposits in attempt to define functional areas on the site such as industrial, domestic etc; and to produce information on the economy and local environment and compare and contrast this with the results of other excavations in the area.

Specific research objectives were to address the following questions:

When was the site first utilised and when was it abandoned? What is the palaeoenvironmental setting of the area?

The site was to be stripped using a 360° type machine fitted with a toothless grading bucket under constant archaeological supervision.

Results

The stripped area (Fig. 2) was rectangular in shape and c.0.34m deep showing stratigraphy consisting of topsoil directly overlying chalk natural geology (Fig. 3; Pls 1 and 2). No archaeological deposits were observed during the course of the stripping.

2 Finds

No finds of archaeological interest were recovered.

Conclusion

Despite the site’s potential for the presence of archaeology no deposits or finds of any archaeological interest were observed during the course of the watching brief.

References

Atkinson, D, 1916, Romano-British Site on Lowbury Hill in Berkshire, Reading BGS, 1980, British Geological Survey, 1:50000, Sheet 254, Solid and Drift Edition, Keyworth Bray, D, Platt, D, Pine, J, and Taylor, A, 2016,The Archaeology of four Pipelines in Oxfordshire, Berkshire and Wiltshire, TVAS Occas Pap 13, Reading Ford, S, 1982, ‘Excavation and fieldwork on the Berkshire Grims ditch’, Oxoniensia, 47, 13–36 Fulford, M G and Rippon, S J, 1995, ‘Lowbury Hill, Oxon: a reassessment of the probable Romano-Celtic temple and the Anglo-Saxon barrow’, Archaeol J 151 (for 1994), 158–211 and fiche NPPF, 2012, National Planning Policy Framework, Dept Communities and Local Govt, London Oram, R, New slurry lagoon, Lower Hill Farm, Aston Tirrold, Oxfordshire, Design Brief for an Archaeological Recording Action, Oxfordshire County Archaeology Service, Oxford Richards, J C, 1978, The Archaeology of the Berkshire Downs, Berkshire Archaeol Comm Pubn 3, Reading

Banbury

Bicester 86

86 86000 Witney

Thame Abingdon OXFORD

Didcot Wallingford Wantage Henley-on -Thames SITE 85000

SITE 84

84 84000

83000 82

82 82000

SU54000 55000 56000 LHF 17/117 New slurry lagoon, Lower Hill Farm, nr Aston Tirrold, Oxfordshire, 2017 Archaeological Recording Action Figure 1. Location of site in relation to Aston Tirrold and within Oxfordshire. Reproduced under licence from Ordnance Survey Explorer Digital mapping at 1:25000 Crown Copyright reserved 80 80

54 56 83500

LoE

reduced area to be built up to be built up not stripped not stripped

83450

SU55100 55150 LHF 17/117

N New slurry lagoon, Lower Hill Farm, nr Aston Tirrold, Oxfordshire, 2017 Archaeological Recording Action

Figure 2. Observed location.

0 25m NW SE 123.53maOD

Topsoil

Natural chalk geology

LHF 17/117 New slurry lagoon, Lower Hill Farm, nr Aston Tirrold, Oxfordshire, 2017 Archaeological Recording Action

Figure 3. Representative section.

0 1m Plate 1. View over strip, looking north west, Scales: 2m and 1m.

Plate 2. View over strip, looking east, Scales: 2m and 1m.

LHF 17/117 New slurry Lagoon, Lower Hill Farm, nr Aston Tirrold, Oxfordshire, 2017 Archaeological Recording Action Plates 1 and 2. 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

Offices in: Brighton, Taunton, Stoke-on-Trent and Ennis (Ireland)