An Archaeological Survey at Hinstock,

CONTENTS Page No 1 INTRODUCTION 2 2 HISTORICAL BACKGROUND 3 3 THE FIELD SURVEY AND WATCHING BRIEF 4 4 CONCLUSIONS 5 5 REFERENCES AND SOURCES CONSULTED 6 6 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 6

ILLUSTRATIONS Fig. 1: Location of the study area and the course of the Roman roads

Drawing No. 1: Site Plan Drawing No. 2: Hachure plan of the holloway Drawing No. 3: Profiles through the holloway Drawing No. 4: Isometric view of the study area

1 An Archaeological Survey at Hinstock, Shropshire

1 INTRODUCTION Hinstock is situated about 7km south-southeast of in Shropshire. The subject of this study is a parcel of land of about 0.7ha on the northwestern side of the village, centred on NGR SJ 6915 2685.

Part of the course of a Roman road (County Sites and Monuments No. SA1029) was believed to run through the proposed development site. The road is that which originally ran between Chester and Stretton (Staffs), and likely to have been constructed sometime during the later 1st century AD. Another Roman road (SA1387), running between Burlington and Hinstock, is thought to join this road somewhere in the vicinity.

Formerly a field of pasture, the study area has recently been developed for housing. Before development began, an archaeological evaluation of the study area was carried out and identified a holloway which runs along the southwestern side of the site Hannaford, 1886). This holloway almost certainly marks the line of the Burlington to Hinstock Roman road (SA1387). There was no sign within the study area of the Stretton (Staffordshire) to Whitchurch Roman road (SA1029).

Most of the holloway was to be excluded from the area to be developed; however, the development site would encroach on a strip about 4m wide along the northeastern side of the holloway. In order to mitigate the impact on the archaeology, it was made a condition of planning permission that a programme of archaeological work be carried out on the site. This work was to comprise a field survey, to include a measured survey of that part of the holloway to be affected by the housing development.

The programme of archaeological work was undertaken by staff of the Archaeology Service of Shropshire County Council during June 1997, and the results form the basis of this report.

2 An Archaeological Survey at Hinstock, Shropshire

2 THE HISTORY OF THE SITE Hinstock is first mentioned in the Domesday Survey of 1086, when it was known as Stoche. At that time it lay in Wrockwardine Hundred, later it fell within Bradford Hundred. Before the conquest, Hinstock had been held by Algar, and was valued at 40 shillings. At the time of the survey, the manor had land for 5 ploughs, with another in lordship, and a league of woodland, and was valued at 8 shillings; by this time, the manor was held by Saxfrid from William Pandolf, who in turn held it from Roger of Montgomery, Earl of . (Thorn, 1986, 4,14,4 and notes)

William Pandolf was one of Earl Roger's leading men in Shropshire; he was Lord of Noron (near Falaise), and his English lands formed the barony of (Thorn, 1986, ibid.). The manor of Hinstock formed part of the barony of Wem and appears to have been held in demesne by the Pantulfs and their successors. In 1240, Hinstock was held by Ralph le Botyler, who acquired it by marriage to Matilda Pantulf. The manor then stayed in the Botiler family until the male line of descent died out in the second half of the 14th century. The barony then passed by marriage to Robert de Ferrers, and thence to his granddaughters, Elizabeth (who married John, son of Ralph Baron Greystock, and Mary (who married Ralph Nevill, Earl of Westmorland); the barony remained in abeyance between their descendants. (Eyton, 1859, 20-1)

The study area lies at some distance form the historic core of Hinstock and is unlikely to have lain within the area of medieval settlement. By the early 19th century it had been divided into a number of crofts (Foxall, 1967). In the present century, tennis courts and a bowling green lay on the site (local sources), but by the time of this evaluation the land had reverted to agricultural usage.

The Tithe Apportionment of 1837 shows a road, described as "old road" running along the southwestern side of the study area (Foxall, op.cit.). This corresponds in location to a holloway which still runs along this edge of the site (see section 3.2, below, and Fig. 1). The same road is marked as a Roman road on the 1st edition OS 1:2500 (OS, 1881, Sheet XXIII.7; see Fig. 4), and on the 1902 OS 1:2500 it is also given the name "The Longfords". It probably formed part of the Roman road that ran northwest from Watling Street at Burlington (SJ 785 109) to Whitchurch via Newport and Hinstock (SMR no SA1387). A 19th-century source describes the course of this road (Thompson Watkin, 1878, 358-9) although it is ignored by Margary (Margary, 1957). The latter source, however, describes the Roman road to Whitchurch which leaves Watling Street at Stretton (Staffs.) (Margary road no. 19, SMR no. SA1029), and which joins with the former road at Hinstock in the vicinity of the study area.

3 An Archaeological Survey at Hinstock, Shropshire

3 THE FIELD SURVEY AND WATCHING BRIEF 3.1 The Field Survey The field survey was carried out by the Archaeology Service in June 1997. At the time of the survey, the study area was under rough grass. The survey was carried out using a Nikon AZ-2 automatic level, and the results were plotted using AutoCAD LT software.

The dominant feature within the study area was a holloway c. 1m deep and up to 18m wide. A modern drainage ditch had been cut along the southwestern edge of the holloway and also marked the southwestern edge of the study area.

Level strings 17m long were marked out at 5m intervals across the holloway from southeast to northwest. Levels were taken at 1m intervals along these strings; the survey used the OS Benchmark 103.28m AOD adjacent to "Springfields" (across the road from the study area). The level survey was plotted onto a base plan taken from site measurements and a plan supplied by the client.

The site was seen to slope down gently from northwest to southeast. The base of the holloway lay at 102.74m AOD at the northwestern end of the study area and at 99.84m AOD at the southeastern end of the surveyed area. Likewise, the northeastern edge of the holloway lay at 103.19m AOD at the northwestern end and 100.90m at the southeastern end of the surveyed area.

3.2 The Watching Brief A watching brief on the site during the initial groundworks associated with the housing development noted no further archaeological features or deposits.

4 An Archaeological Survey at Hinstock, Shropshire

4 CONCLUSIONS The only significant archaeological feature located within the study area by the evaluation and subsequent field survey is the holloway which runs along the southwestern side of the site. This holloway almost certainly marks the line of the Burlington to Hinstock Roman road (SA1387). There was no sign within the study area of the Stretton (Staffordshire) to Whitchurch Roman road (SA1029), which is thought to join with the Burlington road somewhere in the vicinity of the study area. It is probable that it runs a little to the north, possibly along the line of the road through the village which forms the northeastern boundary of the study area. Margary suggests that the Stretton (Staffs.) to Whitchurch road is probably later than the Wroxeter to Whitchurch road (SA66), based on a change of alignment of the latter just before their junction (Margary, 1957, 28). By the same token, the road from Stretton is likely to be later than that from Burlington, whose alignment is better preserved by the continuation of the road between Hinstock and Whitchurch.

5 An Archaeological Survey at Hinstock, Shropshire

5 REFERENCES AND SOURCES CONSULTED Eyton, Rev R W, 1859: Antiquities of Shropshire, Vol. VIII Foxall, H D G, 1967: Fieldname map based on Tithe Apportionment and map for Hinstock Parish, 1837 Margary, I D, 1957: Roman Roads in Britain, vol. II OS 1881 1:2500 Sheet No. XXIII.7 OS 1902 1:2500 Sheet No. XXIII.7 Thompson Watkin, W, 1879: "Roman Shropshire", TSANHS Vol. II, 1879 Thorn, F and C, eds., 1986: Domesday Book, Shropshire, Chichester

Abbreviations: AOD Above Ordnance Datum APs Aerial Photographs NGR National grid reference OS Ordnance Survey RCHME Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of SMR Sites and Monuments Record, Shire Hall, Shrewsbury SRRC Shropshire Records and Research Centre, Castle Gates, Shrewsbury TSAS Transactions of the Shropshire Archaeological Society TSAHS Transactions of the Shropshire Archaeological and Historical Society TSANHS Transactions of the Shropshire Archaeological and Natural History Society VCHS Victoria County

6 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The writer would like to thank Paul Williams for his assistance with the field survey and for carrying out the watching brief.

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