Written Scheme of Investigation Land off Hackers Close, Kneeton Road, East Bridgford Planning ref: 17/00920/FUL Prepared for: Swish Architecture Site Code: EBHC20 December 2020 Land off Hackers Close, Kneeton Road, East Bridgford, WSI v1.0 Contents 1. Introduction .................................................................................................................................... 2 2. Site Location and Description ......................................................................................................... 2 3. Background of the Proposed Development .................................................................................... 2 4. Archaeological Background ............................................................................................................. 2 Prehistoric ....................................................................................................................................... 2 Roman ............................................................................................................................................. 2 Anglo-Saxon and Medieval ............................................................................................................. 3 Post-medieval and modern ............................................................................................................. 3 5. Historic Mapping ............................................................................................................................. 4 6. Proposed Archaeological Works ..................................................................................................... 4 7. Fieldwork Procedures ..................................................................................................................... 5 8. Insurance ......................................................................................................................................... 7 9. Monitoring Report .......................................................................................................................... 7 10. Archive Deposition ...................................................................................................................... 8 11. References .................................................................................................................................. 9 List of Appendices Appendix 1: Figures ............................................................................................................................... 10 List of Figures Figure 1: Location of proposed development ....................................................................................... 11 Figure 2: Proposed house plot locations .............................................................................................. 12 Figure 3: Archaeological assets overlaid on 1st Edition Ordnance Survey ............................................ 13 List of Tables Table 1: date ranges for the archaeological periods used in this report ................................................ 2 Table 2 Proposed specialists ................................................................................................................... 8 Land off Hackers Close, Kneeton Road, East Bridgford, WSI v1.0 Document Control Element: Name: Date: WSI prepared by: Past to Present Archaeology 20/12/20 WSI reviewed and QA by: RJ Birtwistle BA (Hons) MA ACIfA 21/12/20 Version no: 2.0 1. Introduction 1.1 Past to Present Archaeology was commissioned by Swish Architects to undertake a programme of archaeological monitoring on land off Hackers Close, Kneeton Road, East Bridgeford, Nottinghamshire (Figure 1). 1.2 This document presents a Written Scheme of Investigation (WSI) which outlines the proposed methodology for undertaking archaeological monitoring on land off Hackers Close, Kneeton Road, East Bridgeford, Nottinghamshire. 1.3 The document has been completed with reference to current national guidelines, as set out in the Chartered Institute for Archaeologists ‘Standard and guidance for archaeological watching brief’ (CIfA 2014) 2. Site Location and Description 2.1 The proposed development area (PDA) is located on land north of Hackers Close northwest of Kneeton Road, lying on the western edge of East Bridgeford. The village lies within Rushcliffe District in the county of Nottinghamshire directly southeast of the River Trent. 2.2 The PDA occupies an area of c.2034m2 off Hackers Close, which lies to the southwest and comprises a roughly rectangular area of rough green space and scrub. A builders yard lies to the southeast and east of the PDA, with residential gardens to the north and a copse of woodland to the west. The site is centred at National Grid Reference (NGR) 469172, 343354 and is c.34m above Ordnance Datum. 2.3 The bedrock geology lies on a narrow band of Gotgrave Sandstone Member between Edwalton Member Mudstone to the east and Gunthorpe Member Mudstone to the west. No superficial geology is recorded within the PDA; however deposits of mid Pleistocene Till are known to the east under the main settlement and alluvium to the west following the course of the River Trent (http://mapapps.bgs.ac.uk/geologyofbritain/home.html). 3. Background of the Proposed Development 3.1 A planning application (ref 17/00920/FUL) was submitted in May 2017 to Rushcliffe Borough Council for the construction of four dwellings and access road. This application was granted in August 2020 with conditions including condition 6: No development shall take place until the applicants, or their agents or successors in title, have secured the implementation of a programme for a watching brief to be carried out during Land off Hackers Close, Kneeton Road, East Bridgford, WSI v1.0 construction or excavation work on the site, by a professional archaeologist or archaeological organisation. The details of such a scheme of investigation shall be submitted to and approved in writing by the Borough Council also prior to the commencement of the development on the site. 3.2 This documents sets out the methodology for the archaeological monitoring during ground works and subsequent reporting on this site. 4. Archaeological Background 4.1 This section sets out the historic environment data for the PDA and study area including a 1km HER search around the PDA. It describes the historic environment by historic periods, and the archaeological significance and potential of the PDA. Table 1: date ranges for the archaeological periods used in this report Period Date Range Earlier prehistoric: Palaeolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic before ca. 2400 BC Bronze Age 2400-800 BC Iron Age 800 BC-AD 43 Roman AD 43-410 Anglo-Saxon AD 410-1066 Medieval 1066-1539 Post-medieval and Early Modern (Industrial) 1539-1700, 1700-1939 Modern 1939-Present Prehistoric 4.2 There are 6 known findspots from within 1km of the PDA comprising a Palaeolithic hand axe found in Gunthorpe (L1846), and two groups of worked flints dating from the Palaeolithic to the Bronze Age found in East Bridgford (L2027) and near Trent Wharf (L8265).Other findspots include a Mesolithic to Neolithic flint scraper from East Bridgford (L1859), a Neolithic axe fragment (L7339) from East Bridgford, 2 late Bronze Age socketed axes (L1860), and two Bronze Age spearheads (L1821 and L5479) have also been recovered. Iron Age pottery has also been found nearby (L2028). Roman 4.3 The major Roman road the Fosseway passes to the southeast of the PDA lying roughly parallel with the route of the modern A46. Near East Bridgford is where the Roman settlement of Margidunum once stood. However within the immediate area of the PDA, only a single findspot of Roman pottery (L10926) is recorded, located north of the bank of the Trent near Gunthorpe. Land off Hackers Close, Kneeton Road, East Bridgford, WSI v1.0 Anglo-Saxon and Medieval 4.4 There are significant medieval assets within the vicinity of the PDA, most notably the scheduled motte and bailey castle situated just south of the River Trent and southwest of the PDA. 4.5 East Bridgford was recorded in the Domesday Book as having 39 households in 1086, with a church, ploughland and meadow and would have been a relatively large settlement at the time (Williams and Martin 2002). 4.6 The place name East Bridgford is thought to derive from the Old English brycg ford meaning ‘bridge ford’ (Watts 2007), relating to its position as a crossing point over the River Trent. The East prefix was added at a later date. 4.7 The scheduled monument of a known motte and bailey castle (1008568, M1822, L1822) lies just under 500m to the southwest of the PDA. Its listing is as follows: The monument at East Bridgford consists of the remains of an eleventh or twelfth century motte and bailey castle. These include an elliptical motte or castle mound measuring 30m from east to west by 10m from north to south and standing c.5m high. This is surrounded by a ditch measuring up to 2m deep and averaging between 10m and 15m wide. South of the motte, this ditch extends southwards to west and east to partially enclose a small oval bailey measuring 40m x 30m. A break in the ditch on the south side is interpreted as the original entrance into this bailey. Early descriptions of the monument mention a ridge which formerly joined up with the bailey. This suggests that there was originally a second bailey, probably to the west. However, the extent and survival of this feature is not sufficiently understood for it to be included in the scheduling. 4.8 The Grade