Land off Bath Road Leonard Stanley Gloucestershire for Hunter Page Planning CA Project: 5605 CA Report: 15743 October 2015 Land off Bath Road Leonard Stanley Gloucestershire Archaeological Evaluation CA Project: 5605 CA Report: 15743 Document Control Grid Revision Date Author Checked by Status Reasons for Approved revision by A 5 October Mark Brett Cliff Internal Cliff 2015 Bateman review Bateman This report is confidential to the client. Cotswold Archaeology accepts no responsibility or liability to any third party to whom this report, or any part of it, is made known. Any such party relies upon this report entirely at their own risk. No part of this report may be reproduced by any means without permission. © Cotswold Archaeology © Cotswold Archaeology Land off Bath Road, Leonard Stanley, Gloucestershire: Archaeological Evaluation CONTENTS SUMMARY........................................................................................................................... 2 1. INTRODUCTION.................................................................................................... 3 2. ARCHAEOLOGICAL BACKGROUND .................................................................. 3 3. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES...................................................................................... 5 4. METHODOLOGY................................................................................................... 5 5. RESULTS (FIGS 2-3) ............................................................................................ 6 6. THE FINDS ............................................................................................................ 9 8. DISCUSSION......................................................................................................... 10 9. CA PROJECT TEAM............................................................................................. 11 10. REFERENCES...................................................................................................... 12 APPENDIX A: CONTEXT DESCRIPTIONS....................................................................... 13 APPENDIX B: THE FINDS ................................................................................................. 15 APPENDIX C: OASIS REPORT FORM............................................................................. 16 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Fig. 1 Site location plan (1:25,000) Fig. 2 Trench location plan showing archaeological features and geophysical survey results (1:1000) Fig. 3 Photograph and section: pond 503, looking west (2 x 1m scales) and ditch 903 (1:20) 1 © Cotswold Archaeology Land off Bath Road, Leonard Stanley, Gloucestershire: Archaeological Evaluation SUMMARY Project Name: Land off Bath Road Location: Leonard Stanley, Gloucestershire NGR: ST 8017 0358 Type: Evaluation Date: 16-18 September 2015 Location of Archive: To be deposited with The Museum in the Park, Stroud Site Code: LEO 15 An archaeological evaluation was undertaken by Cotswold Archaeology in September 2015 on land off Bath Road, Leonard Stanley, Gloucestershire. Ten trenches were excavated. The evaluation identified a number of archaeological features within the proposed development area. These included ditches and a pond associated with a post-medieval, and possibly earlier, fulling mill and a number of gullies possibly associated with a field system of unknown date. 2 © Cotswold Archaeology Land off Bath Road, Leonard Stanley, Gloucestershire: Archaeological Evaluation 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 In September 2015 Cotswold Archaeology (CA) carried out an archaeological evaluation for Hunter Page Planning on land off Bath Road, Leonard Stanley, Gloucestershire (centred on NGR: ST 8017 0358; Fig. 1). The evaluation was undertaken, at the request of Charles Parry, Archaeologist, Gloucestershire County Council (GCC), the archaeological advisor to Stroud District Council (SDC), to inform a forthcoming planning application for residential development. 1.2 The evaluation was carried out in accordance with a detailed Written Scheme of Investigation (WSI) produced by CA (2015) and approved by Mr Parry. The fieldwork also followed Standard and guidance: Archaeological field evaluation (CIfA 2014), the Management of Archaeological Projects (English Heritage 1991) and the Management of Research Projects in the Historic Environment (MORPHE): Project Manager’s Guide (English Heritage 2006). The site 1.3 The proposed development area is approximately 3.4ha in extent, and comprises land within a single field to the north of Bath Road, Leonard Stanley. The site is bordered to the south by Bath Road itself, and to the east, west and north by field boundaries. The site is situated on a gentle north-facing slope which descends to the River Frome approximately 700m to the north, and lies between 35m and 45m AOD 1.4 The underlying solid geology of the area is mapped as Blue Lias Formation and Charmouth Mudstone, laid down during the Jurassic and Triassic periods. No drift deposits are recorded within the site (BGS 2015). The natural substrate identified during the course of the current works varied between clay, silty clay and clay with gravel patches. 2. ARCHAEOLOGICAL BACKGROUND 2.1 The application area has been subject to a Heritage Desk-Based Assessment and geophysical survey (CA 2014 and GSB 2015 respectively). The assessment established that no archaeological heritage assets of the highest significance 3 © Cotswold Archaeology Land off Bath Road, Leonard Stanley, Gloucestershire: Archaeological Evaluation (designated or nationally important) are currently recorded within the current site or its immediate proximity (CA 2014). 2.2 The assessment noted that substantial quantities of worked Mesolithic and Neolithic flint have previously been recorded during gravel extraction 500m to the north-west of the site. A large cropmark complex, indicative of a prehistoric settlement, has also been recorded 500m to the north-west of the site. Although no evidence of associated cropmarks was revealed extending into the proposed development site, the assessment did conclude that there was the potential for peripheral features associated with this settlement, such as field systems, to extend into the current site (ibid.). 2.3 Evidence of Romano-British occupation from the 3rd and 4th centuries, tentatively interpreted as a possible villa, was identified during archaeological excavations at The Priory Church, 350m to the south of the site. The church itself originated in the Saxon period before developing in the medieval period as an ecclesiastical centre (ibid.). 2.4 Leonard Stanley is recorded in the Domesday Book, and was a significant local centre. A market was granted to the town by Edward II, which was recorded as the only market within the Hundred. The ‘Seven Waters’, a complex of fishponds and dams to the west of Leonard Stanley, is of medieval date and lies 500m to the south-west of the site (ibid.). It has been suggested that a post-medieval, and possibly earlier, fulling mill was founded in, or in close proximity to, the site on the lowest pond of Seven Waters (Ortzen 1980, 11). 2.5 The proposed development site lies outside of the historic core of Leonard Stanley, and there is no evidence for any medieval settlement remains to lie within it. Rather, it may have formed part of the agricultural hinterland of the settlement during the medieval period (CA 2014). 2.6 The geophysical survey identified no anomalies of archaeological origin. Responses of uncertain origin were interpreted as probable drainage installations associated with the adjacent river, although they coincide with an enclosure shown on historic mapping before 1902. A former field boundary and a footpath were also detected, and a ridge and furrow agricultural regime identified. Some weak trends are likely to be of agricultural origin (GSB 2015) 4 © Cotswold Archaeology Land off Bath Road, Leonard Stanley, Gloucestershire: Archaeological Evaluation 3. AIM S AN D O B JEC T IVES 3.1 The objectives of the evaluation were to provide information about the archaeological resource within the site, including its presence/absence, character, extent, date, integrity, state of preservation and quality. In accordance with Standard and guidance: Archaeological field evaluation (CIfA 2014), the evaluation has been designed to be minimally intrusive and minimally destructive to archaeological remains. The information gathered will enable SDC to identify and assess the particular significance of any heritage asset, consider the impact of the proposed development upon it, and to avoid or minimise conflict between the heritage asset’s conservation and any aspect of the development proposal, in line with the National Planning Policy Framework (DCLG 2012). 4. METHODOLOGY 4.1 The fieldwork comprised the excavation of 10 trenches (Trenches 1-10), in the locations shown on the attached plan (Fig. 2). Originally the trenches were each to measure 40m in length, however, the presence of live overhead power lines necessitated the repositioning and/or the shortening of Trenches 1-3, 5, 6 and 9, with the approval of Mr Parry. Each trench measured 1.6m in width and was set out on OS National Grid (NGR) co-ordinates using Leica GPS and surveyed in accordance with CA Technical Manual 4 Survey Manual. 4.2 All trenches were excavated by mechanical excavator equipped with a toothless grading bucket. All machine excavation was undertaken under constant archaeological supervision to the top of the first significant archaeological horizon