Wilcote Manor Farm Barns, Wilcote, Oxfordshire

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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

Archaeological Watching Brief

by Andy Mundin

Site Code: WMF18/29

(SP 3691 1533) Wilcote Manor Farm Barns, Wilcote, Oxfordshire

An Archaeological Watching Brief

For Mr Paul Lyons

by Andrew Mundin

Thames Valley Archaeological Services Ltd

Site Code WMF 18/29

November 2019 Summary

Site name: Wilcote Manor Farm Barns, Wilcote, Oxfordshire

Grid reference: SP 3691 1533

Site activity: Watching Brief

Date and duration of project: 14th November 2018 to 10th September 2019

Project coordinator: Tim Dawson

Site supervisor: Andrew Mundin

Site code: WMF 18/29

Area of site: 1.28ha

Summary of results: Observations were undertaken on the footings for this single property. Observations were also required on works for services, such as storm water drainage and a pit for sewage treatment; all of which were in adjacent areas to the south-west. However, no archaeological deposits nor finds were encountered.

Location and reference of archive: The archive is presently held at Thames Valley Archaeological Services, Reading and will be deposited with the 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 All TVAS unpublished fieldwork reports are available on our website: www.tvas.co.uk/reports/reports.asp.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 27.11.19 Steve Preston 27.11.19

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 Wilcote Manor Farm Barns, Wilcote, Oxfordshire An Archaeological Watching Brief

By Andrew Mundin

Report 18/29

Introduction

This report documents the results of an archaeological watching brief carried out at the former site of several barns on land next to Wilcote Manor, Wilcote, Oxfordshire, OX7 3EA (SP 3691 1533) (Fig. 1). The work was commissioned by the landowners, Mr Paul Lyons and Dr. Victoria Lyons, Flat 9, 34 Sloane Court West,

Chelsea, London, SW3 4TB.

Planning permission (17/03864/FUL) has been granted by West Oxfordshire District Council for the construction of a new house, with detached garden room, on the previous site of two detached modern barns.

The site requires independent storm and waste water collection and localised heat sourcing. The consent is subject to two conditions (15 and 16) relating to archaeology, requiring an archaeological watching brief to be maintained during the groundwork phases of the development.

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

Policy Framework (NPPF 2012) and the District Council's planning policies on archaeology. An archaeological brief had been prepared by Mr Hugh Coddington (Coddington 2018) of Oxfordshire County Archaeological

Service, and the work was carried out to a specification approved by him. The fieldwork was undertaken by

Andrew Mundin between 14th November 2018 to 10th September 2019. The site code is WLM 18/29.

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

Wilcote is a small settlement which comprises Wilcote Manor, Wilcote House with associated buildings,

Wilcote Grange, including a Barn and associated buildings and the parish Church of St. Peter's, all which are east of the site. The settlement lies 1km east of Ramsden and 4km north-east of Witney (Fig. 1). The village lies

2km south-east of Cornbury Park, and lay within the Wychwood Forest in medieval period. Undulating open fields are to the north and west, with copse woodland to the east. The underlying geology is Kellaways Clay

Mudstone, overlying Cornbrash Formation Limestone (BGS Geoindex; BGS 1982). The ground level at the base

1 of the new development is 140.7m above Ordnance Datum (aOD). The development would affect the location of the demolished barns and the adjacent western field for drainage and ground source heating trenches (Fig. 2).

Archaeological background

The site’s archaeological potential was highlighted in the site brief (Coddington 2018). In summary, the site lies south of the course of Akeman Street, a military road that linked the Roman towns of Verulamium (St Albans) to

Corinium Dobunnorum (Cirencester) (Margary 1973). There is significant potential for Roman deposits adjacent to the site, with ‘structural remains, found by plough in 1938’ at a point c.50m to the north-west, noted in the

Victoria County History (Salzman 1939). Excavations between 1990-94, also north-west of the site, discovered archaeological features, which were interpreted as associated with the construction of the road and included settlement evidence (Hands 1993; 1996). Later observations, between 1996-2000, on the course of a nearby water pipeline scheme, enhanced these findings, with contemporary quarry activity and finds (Barber et al.

2004).

The Medieval settlement at Wilcote had been classed as ‘shrunken’ by enclosure in the 18th century

(Beresford 1971, 63). Earthworks of likely Medieval settlement are known to the east (Bond 1976). Wilcote

House, the Manor, the Grange and its barn, and the parish church of St Peter, are all Listed properties.

Objectives and methodology

The aims of the project were to excavate and record any archaeological deposits affected by groundworks, which occurred over two phases between November 2018 and September 2019. This involved examination of all areas of intrusive groundworks, in particular stripping of overburden deposits and/or the digging of foundation trenches, and separate service runs, which includes drainage, storm water outlet and ducting for ground source heating.

All bulk excavations were undertaken with a mechanical excavator, fitted with a toothed bucket, while a test pit exercise north, west and east of the new footings was excavated with bladed bucket, 2.1m wide.

Observations of service runs were concentrated in the south-western parts of the site in a field not affected by the development previous to the 2019 observations. All spoilheaps were examined for finds.

2 Results

Two phases of observation occurred in 2018 and 2019. One involved the observation of the house footing excavation and the other involved observation during excavation of pipe trenches for services. Before the observation of the ground works in 2018, three exploratory test pits were excavated outside the extent of the new footing trenches, to gain information on depth of demolition deposit and site overburden. These were positioned to the west, north and east of the new foundations (Fig. 3).

Test Pit 1 (Pl. 1) This was located 4.2m west of the north-western dig for the new footings. It was 2.6m x 2.1m x 0.58m deep. It was excavated beyond the overburden, deemed to be from demolition disturbance of the site. The demolition rubble, which was limestone rubble, mixed with brown silty clay reached a depth of 0.29m deep. Under this was a dark brown clayey silt with occasional small sub-rounded limestone pieces included. This reached a depth of

0.58m. Below this natural silty clay, that was wet was uncovered to the south. The level was disturbed to the north, a continuation of the demolition activity of the site. No finds of interest were encountered.

Test Pit 2 This pit was located 6.5m north of the north-eastern corner of the new footings. It was 3.3m x 3.4m x 0.52m deep. It was excavated through the demolition deposit, directly onto the top of the natural geology of light brown clay with rounded pebble gravels. No archaeological deposits or finds were encountered.

Test Pit 3 This test pit was dug 3m to the north-east of the new footings. It was 2.7m x 2.1m and 0.35m deep, on a slightly raised part of the levelled site, reflecting a retained area of rubble under a layer of overburden to a depth of

0.15m deep. Under this was a brown clay silt with large sub-angular limestone pieces. At the base the retained part of a floor was encountered, though it sealed lower deposits from the soil exposed to the north, this appeared to be natural geology, a yellow grey silt clay. No archaeological deposits were encountered.

House footings (Pls. 2 and 3)

The observation started on exterior edges of the new house footprint. These trenches were 0.9m wide. The footings were 0.95m deep, through overburden 0.65m deep, overlying the natural clay geology (Fig. 4). In the north-west, the location of the north-west bay, the natural geology had been impacted to 0.9m deep by truncation from the previous standing structures on the site. Of what was visible, part of a brick footing was seen in section,

3 filled with grey clay. In the same section, limestone rubble filling the top of an old soakaway, with grey brown clay at its base. This was not deeper than 0.78m deep.

Mostly, the overburden was a brown sandy silt with limestone and fragments of concrete at the surface, to a depth of 0.65m. The natural geology was reddish clay natural, visible at the base of all excavated areas. No finds were observed. No observation of the outside footing on the east side were undertaken, as Test Pit 3 had shown the natural horizon here to be truncated at approximately 0.8m.

Interior footings were observed, which were narrower, but up to 1.1m deep. They contained the same depth of overburden deposits as previously noted. After the concrete had been poured for these footings, the whole area was reduced by 0.25m, though in wet weather which hampered observation. No natural geology was exposed, and the only clearly datable deposit was a dark grey brown silt clay with limestone inclusions with the eastern side of the area. Transfer-printed glazed stone-ware pottery, metal and occasionally, clay tile was noted.

All of the material was of early 20th century date,

Garden room footing

This detached element, with footings covering an area of 62 sq m, was positioned to the east of the main house.

Though it was hoped to include this excavation in the observations, the wet weather at the time did not allow for effective observation.

Ancillary services

Pipe trench (Pl. 4)

The digging of a pipe trench leading from the new development to an overflow hollow in the south west was observed (Figs 3 and 4). The drainage pipe trench led up the natural contour of the ground towards the new development. The c.170m long, single trench was 0.45m wide and excavated to a depth of between 0.75-0.9m deep. Under 0.38m of brown clay silt loam topsoil, was areas to the south-west had subsoil 0.21m thick.

Towards the brow of the slope, there was no subsoil, and there topsoil 0.45m thick gave directly onto natural clay. The natural geology was varied with areas at its south-western extent that were reddish brown silty clay, and limestone cornbrash was more obviously in the excavated down slope areas to the south-west. At the top of the slope the clay was yellowish grey with plated limestone. The top of the natural was generally reached at 0.6m deep. No archaeological deposits were encountered.

4 Septic tank

The septic tank pit was located c. 12m south of the corner of the new development (Fig. 3). The pit was 2.8m x

2.6m. Under 0.45m of topsoil was 0.35m of light brown clay silt. This was above red-brown clay and gravel subsoil, from a depth of 0.8m and this overlay grey clay from a depth of 0.8m to 1.05m. Excavation of the pit extended through natural geology to at least 2m. Nothing of any archaeological interest was encountered.

Finds

No finds of archaeological interest were found in excavated deposits. Occasional stray sherds of late Post-

Medieval pottery were noted in the field to the south west.but were not collected

Conclusion

The works were successfully observed, but on this occasion did not locate any archaeological finds or deposits.

References Barber, A, McSloy, E, Hands, A. R and Holbrook, 2004,The Romano-British Roadside Settlement at Wilcote, Oxfordshire: III Excavations 1997-2000’, BAR British Series 370, Oxford Beresford, M.W, 1971, ‘A review of historical research ‘to 1968’, in M W Beresford and J G Hurst, Deserted Medieval Villages, 3-75 BGS, 1982, British Geological Survey, 1:50,000, Sheet 236, Solid and Drift Edition, Keyworth Bond, C J, 1976, ‘Wilcote: summary of recorded sites during 1975’, CBA South Midlands Newsletter 6, 38 (Fig. 7), 75 Coddington, H, 2018, ‘Farm Buildings, Wilcote Manor Farm, Wilcote: Design Brief for Archaeological watching brief’, Oxfordshire County Archaeological Service, Oxford Hands, A.R, 1993, ‘The Romano-British Roadside Settlement at Wilcote, Oxfordshire: I Excavations 1990-92’, BAR British Series 232, Oxford Hands, A.R, 1998, ‘The Romano-British Roadside Settlement at Wilcote, Oxfordshire: II Excavations 1993-94’, BAR British Series 265, Oxford Margary, I.D, 1973, Roman Roads of Britain, 3rd end, London Salzman, L.F, 1939, ‘Romano-British remains: Topographical index’, in A History of the County of Oxford, 1, 330–45, British History Online, http://www.british-hitsory.ac.uk/vch/oxon/vol1/pp330-345 [accessed 14th November 2018]

Banbury SITE

Bicester

Witney Thame Abingdon OXFORD

Didcot Wallingford Wantage Henley-on -Thames 16

16 16000 15

15 15000

SITE

SP37000 38000 WMF 18/29 14

14 Wilcote Manor Farm Barns, Wilcote, Oxfordshire, 2018 Archaeological Watching Brief Figure 1. Location of site within Wilcote and Oxfordshire.

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

36 37 38 2 2 1 1 5 5 1 4

5 5 0 0

0 0 2 3 m m

6 6 6 6 m 0 0 m 0 0 3 4 3 4 15200 15300 15400 N

line of Akeman Street SP36700 Reproduced fromOrdnanceSurvey Digital Mapping underlicence. 6 6 7 7 Wilcote Manor FarmBarns, Wilcote, Figure 2.Detailed location of site. Archaeological WatchingBrief Crown copyright reserved. Scale1:2500 36800 Oxfordshire, 2018 W 6 6 i l 8 8 c o t e M

a n o r F 36900 a r m 6 6 9 9 SITE

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septic tank pit

15300

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location of outwash pond

SP36800 36900 WMF 18/29

N Wilcote Manor Farm Barns, Wilcote, Oxfordshire, 2018 Archaeological Watching Brief

Figure 3. Plan of observed areas.

0 50m Footing trench

Topsoill

Subsoil (reddish brown clayey islt)

natural geology (reddish brown clay) base of trench

Pipe trench

Topsoill

Subsoil (reddish brown clayey islt)

natural geology (reddish brown clay)

WMF 18/29 Wilcote Manor Farm Barns, Wilcote, Oxfordshire, 2018 Archaeological Watching Brief

Figure 4. Representative sections

0 1m Plate 1. Test pit 1, outside of new development, looking north west, Scales: horizontal 1m, vertical 1m.

Plate 2. House footings, minimal modern truncation, looking south east, Scales: horizontal 1m, vertical 1m.

WMF 18/29 Wilcote Manor Farm Barns, Wilcote, Oxfordshire, 2018 Archaeological Watching Brief Plates 1 and 2. Plate 3. House footings, section looking south, Scales: 1m.

Plate 4. Drainage trench looking north east, Scale:1m.

WMF 18/29 Wilcote Manor Farm Barns, Wilcote, Oxfordshire, 2018 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

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