T H A M E S V A L L E Y ARCHAEOLOGICAL S E R V I C E S Abbey Barn Cottage, Abbey Green, Chertsey, Surrey Archaeological Watching Brief by Dan Bray and Aij Castle Site Code: ABC13/228 (TQ 0432 6706) Abbey Barn Cottage, Abbey Green, Chertsey, Surrey An Archaeological Watching Brief For Mr A G Cox by Daniel Bray and Aiji Castle Thames Valley Archaeological Services Ltd Site Code ABC 13/228 March 2014 Summary Site name: Abbey Barn Cottage, Abbey Green, Chertsey, Surrey Grid reference: TQ 0432 6706 Site activity: Watching Brief Date and duration of project: 20th February 2014 Project manager: Steve Ford Site supervisor: Aiji Castle Site code: ABC 13/228 Summary of results: An external drainage trench was observed during the watching brief which revealed a modern pit, containing plastic, which cut an earlier but undated pit. The latter pit in turn cut two undated deposits which might be fills of a third feature but as only a small part was exposed, this was not possible to confirm. Their significance in terms of the history and topography of the abbey are therefore unclear. Location and reference of archive: The archive is presently held at Thames Valley Archaeological Services, Reading and will be deposited at Chertsey Museum 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 All TVAS unpublished fieldwork reports are available on our website: www.tvas.co.uk/reports/reports.asp.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 14.03.14 Steve Preston 14.03.14 i 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 Abbey Barn Cottage, Abbey Green, Chertsey, Surrey An Archaeological Watching Brief by Daniel Bray and Aiji Castle Report 13/228 Introduction This report documents the results of an archaeological watching brief carried out at Abbey Barn Cottage, Abbey Green, Chertsey, Surrey (TQ 0432 6706) (Fig. 1). The work was commissioned by Mr Andrew Gerald Cox, 7 Lincoln Court, Old Avenue, Weybridge, Surrey, KT13 0PH. Planning permission (RU13/0948) has been gained from Runnymede Borough Council for the refurbishment of an existing structure and insertion of some new foundations and new drainage. However, the site lies within a Scheduled Ancient monument (23002) and therefore Scheduled Monument Consent (S00071460) has been granted by the Department of Culture, Media and Sport, in addition to the planning permission. The field investigation was carried out to a specification approved by Mr Chris Welch, Inspector of Ancient Monuments at English Heritage. The fieldwork was undertaken by Aiji Castle on 20th February 2014 with the site code ABC 13/228. Abbey Barn, to which the cottage attaches to the west, is a Grade II Listed Building (289147) (Pls 1 and 2). It is of 17th-century date with later alterations. The archive is presently held at Thames Valley Archaeological Services, Reading and will be deposited at Chertsey Museum in due course. Location, topography and geology The site is located in a residential area in the northern part of Chertsey, Surrey (Fig. 1). It is located within a former monastic precinct on the east side of Abbey Green at Abbey Barn Cottage (Fig. 2) which lies close to the River Thames and a tributary, the River Bourne. The site lies at a height of 13.50m above Ordnance Datum and the natural geology is mapped as flood plain gravel (BGS 1981), which was confirmed in the site observations. Archaeological background The general archaeological potential of the site stems from its location within the archaeologically rich Thames Valley and in particular its proximity to the site of the Benedictine Abbey of St Peter of Chertsey. There is evidence of prehistoric occupation from the surrounding area but the suggestion of a Roman road running through the town has yet to be substantiated. The Abbey was founded in AD 666 by St Erkenwald and is 1 mentioned by Bede writing in the 8th century. It was destroyed in the 9th century by the Danes but refounded in the 10th century and rebuilt c. 1110 until its ultimate destruction during the dissolution. Stones from the Abbey were used in the building of Hampton Court Palace. Chertsey itself appears to have been a marshy island bordered by the Thames and its tributaries until the 8th century when the monks engineered the Abbey River to supply power to the Abbey watermill. Chertsey lies near an important crossing point on the Thames and seems to have been a fairly prosperous agricultural community. The site of the Abbey precinct was first excavated during the 19th century and again in the 20th century, revealing medieval ovens and a 13th- to 14th-century tile kiln. These excavations also confirmed the layout of the 12th-century Abbey (O'Connell 1977). The proposal site lies south-west of the main abbey building but within the scheduled area. Objectives and methodology The purpose of the watching brief was to excavate and record any archaeological deposits affected by the new construction work. This was to involve examination of areas of topsoil stripping, landscaping, ground reduction and the digging of trenches for strip foundations and services as necessary. Where bulk groundwork excavation was to be carried out by machine, a machine equipped with a toothless ditching bucket would be used under constant archaeological supervision. Results A single external drainage trench was observed on the western side of the cottage (Fig. 3; Pl. 3). This had a total length of 5.30m and was 0.70m wide and was excavated to a depth of 1.12m on to the natural gravel geology. Topsoil 0.48m thick was removed to reveal a modern pit (2) with a total depth of 0.58m which contained plastic (Fig. 4; Pl. 4). This cut an earlier pit (1) which contained four distinct fills, none of which contained any dating material. Pit (1) cut deposits 51 and 52, neither of which contained any finds and it was not possible to ascertain whether these were part of an earlier cut archaeological feature or not. Conclusion The watching brief revealed a number of cut features and layers but only a modern pit, which was last in the stratigraphic sequence, could be dated. No datable finds were recovered from any of the earlier deposits on the site and their significance relative to the history of abbey remains unclear. 2 References BGS, 1981, British Geological Survey, 1:50000, Sheet 269, Solid and Drift Edition, Keyworth NPPF 2012, National Planning Policy Framework, Department of Communities and Local Government, London (TSO) O’Connell, M, 1977, Historic Towns in Surrey, Surrey Archaeol Soc res vol 5, Guildford 3 APPENDIX 1: Feature details Cut Fill (s) Type Date Dating evidence 1 57 pit Modern plastic 2 53, 54, 55, 56 pit - - 51 deposit - - 52 deposit - - 4 Staines SITE Egham Chertsey Woking Weybridge Reigate Redhill Aldershot Guildford Godalming Farnham 68000 SITE 67000 66000 TQ04000 05000 ABC 13/228 Abbey Barn Cottage, Abbey Green, Chertsey, Surrey, 2014 Archaeological Watching Brief Figure 1. Location of site within Chertsey and Surrey. Reproduced from Ordnance Survey Explorer 160 at 1:12500 Ordnance Survey Licence 100025880 Abbey Walls The Abbey Scheduled Ancient Monument Abbey Lodge El Sub Sta Pond COLONEL'S LANE Chertsey Abbey (Benedictine) (site of) The 31 67100 41 Studio Cloister Garth ABBEY GREEN 1 Burford 2 Shellbrook ABBEY GARDE Abbey NS Barn Cottage Abbey Barn 10 5 1 2 7 Church Walk 3 1 SITE The Old Parsonage Kilree Cottage Manor Farm Cottages 6 Scheduled Ancient Monument CHERTSEY Abbey Warehouse 67000 6a TQ04300 04400 ABC 13/228 N Abbey Barn Cottage, Abbey Green, Chertsey, Surrey, 2014 Archaeological Watching Brief Figure 2. Detailed location of site. Reproduced from Ordnance Survey Digital Mapping under licence. Crown copyright reserved. Scale 1:1250 boundary of SAM St. Peter of Chertsey Priory (23002) insitu stonework Garage 67075 reduced during demolition see Fig.4 cut 1 cut 2 Abbey Barn Cottage Abbey Barn (Grade II Listed) Abb ey G reen No.1 The Old Parsonage No.2 67050 TQ04325 ABC 13/228 N Abbey Barn Cottage, Abbey Green Chertsey, Surrey, 2014 Archaeological Watching Brief Figure 3. Location of observed area 0 10m SSW NNE topsoil 50 51 56 53 57 55 52 54 natural geology (gravel) 2 (modern) 1 ABC 13/228 Abbey Barn Cottage, Abbey Green, Chertsey, Surrey, 2014 Archaeological Watching Brief Figure 4. Section through features observed. 0 1m Plate 1. Existing cottage and barn, looking east. Plate 2. Stone foundation in existing conservatory, looking north east. ABC 13/228 Abbey Barn Cottage, Abbey Green, Chertsey, Surrey, 2014 Archaeological Watching Brief Plates 1 - 2. Plate 3. Service trench, looking north, Scales: 2m and 1m. Plate 4. Serivce trench section, looking west, Scales: 2m and 1m. ABC 13/228 Abbey Barn Cottage, Abbey Green, Chertsey, Surrey, 2014 Archaeological Watching Brief Plates 3 - 4. TIME CHART Calendar Years Modern AD 1901 Victorian AD 1837 Post Medieval AD 1500 Medieval AD 1066 Saxon AD 410 Roman AD 43 BC/AD 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, Berkshire, RG1 5NR Tel: 0118 9260552 Fax: 0118 9260553 Email: [email protected] Web: www.tvas.co.uk.