TVAS NORTH MIDLANDS Land at Croxden Lane, Croxden, Staffordshire Archaeological Watching Brief by Helen Daniel Site Code: CLC18/202 (SK 0678 3971) Land at Croxden Lane, Croxden, Staffordshire An Archaeological Watching Brief for Niche Architecture Ltd by Helen Daniel Thames Valley Archaeological Services Ltd Site Code CLC 18/202 July 2019 Summary Site name: Land at Croxden Lane, Croxden, Staffordshire Grid reference: SK 0678 3971 Site activity: Archaeological Watching Brief Date and duration of project: 23rd April - 5th June 2019 Project coordinator: Steve Ford Site supervisor: Helen Daniel Site code: CLC 18/202 Area of site: c.750 sq m Summary of results: The watching brief was carried out as intended. This comprised monitored of topsoil stripping across the site, followed by the supervision of the excavation of a swimming pool adjacent to the existing structure, and the monitoring of new foundation trenches. None of these interventions located any features or material of archaeological significance or interest. Location and reference of archive: The archive is presently held at TVAS North Midlands, Stoke-on-Trent and will be deposited in due course, at an appropriate local museum that is willing to accept the archive. 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 All TVAS unpublished fieldwork reports are available on our website: www.tvas.co.uk/reports/reports.asp.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 31.12.19 Steve Preston 31.12.19 i TVAS North Midlands, 2b Stanton Road, Meir, Stoke-on-Trent, ST3 6DD tel: (01782) 595648 email: [email protected] website: www.tvas.co.uk Land at Croxden Lane, Croxden, Staffordshire An Archaeological Watching Brief by Helen Daniel Report 18/106 Introduction This report documents the results of an archaeological watching brief carried out at Land at Croxden Lane, Croxden, Staffordshire (SK 0678 3971) (Fig. 1). The work was commissioned by Niche Architecture Ltd, Suite 6, First Floor, Barberry Court, Centrum 100, Burton-on-Trent, DE14 2UE on behalf of Mr D Avery, c/o AM Planning Consultants Limited, 17 Derwent Road, Stapenhill, Burton-on-Trent, DE15 9FR. Planning consent (P/2017/01591) has been granted by East Staffordshire Borough Council for the conversion of an existing agricultural building to form a dwelling; the erection of a detached garage and wood- store, construction of a swimming pool and a change of use of agricultural land to a domestic garden. The consent is subject to a condition (4) which requires a programme of archaeological work to be implemented. This is in accordance with the Department for Communities and Local Government’s National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF 2018), and East Staffordshire Borough Council’s policies on archaeology. The field investigation was carried out to a specification approved by Mr Shane Kelleher, Staffordshire County Archaeologist and was undertaken by Helen Daniel on six occasions between 23rd April 2019 and 5th June 2019. The site code is CLC 18/202 and the archive is presently held at TVAS North Midlands, Stoke-on- Trent and will be deposited in due course at a local museum that is willing to accept the archive. Location, topography and geology The site is located on Croxden Lane (SK 0678 3971) at the north-eastern corner of the small hamlet of Croxden in Staffordshire, which is situated approximately 4km west of Rocester and 7km north-west of Uttoxeter (Fig. 1). The site comprised an existing agricultural structure positioned centrally within a small parcel of land, part of which was previously arable farmland (Pl. 1). The site lies approximately 350m east of the Scheduled Ancient Monument of Croxden Abbey (SAM No. 1011448) and is bounded to the south and west by residential properties and to the north and east by farmland (Fig. 2). The site lies at approximately 129m above Ordnance Datum (aOD) in the west with a gentle gradient to the east down to c.125m aOD where the arable land slopes 1 towards two small streams. The underlying geology is recorded as Tarporley Siltstone Formation with underlying superficial deposits of sand and gravel (BGS 2019). Historical background In summary, the late Cistercian abbey at Croxden was established in 1179 by Bertram de Verdun after being relocated from Cotton, a few miles north where Norman monks had arrived in the preceding years. The church was built first and the abbey was dedicated in 1181 with most of the permanent structures completed during the following fifty years, although it was always a compact site at this time with no more than twelve monks in residence at any one time. The abbey prospered from sheep farming and the middle of the 13th century saw further enlargements to the abbey buildings, including a splendid dwelling for the Abbot and it is possible that it may have supported between forty and seventy monks. This prosperity continued into the next century but the abbey then found it increasingly difficult to survive economically after a difficult relationship with a new patron. These difficulties were further compounded during the later 14th century by a succession of economic calamities caused by heavy taxation and the effects of natural disasters such as plague, poor harvests and floods. By the end of that century there was a reduction in the number of monks in residence and the abbey never again regained its early prosperity and continued to struggle until its suppression by Henry VIII in 1538 (Brown and Jones 2009). As part of the Dissolution, the abbey was leased to Francis Bassett, a servant of Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury. Following the monastery’s suppression the abbey and its lands were converted into a farm, with the cloister becoming a yard and a track cut across the church, bisecting the site. In addition to the current surviving abbey building remains, earthworks thought to be related to a complex water management system have also been identified in the area. Archaeological background The site lies some 350m to the east of the Abbey and its associated buildings. As detailed above, Croxden Abbey is a well documented example of a Cistercian monastery with historical records dating from its construction in the 12th century through to its dissolution in the 16th century. The extensive earthwork and standing remains of the monument reflect not only the secular activities of a monastery but also the agricultural, industrial and domestic elements of the abbey’s history. The abbey complex is visible as earthworks and ruined building remains on aerial photographs. The monastery building foundations and surviving walls are located north and south of the road extending north-west 2 to south-east through the site. Fishponds and a large dam are located to the south-west of the building remains with further earthworks of a rectilinear enclosure and pillow mounds, probable field boundaries, platforms, and another pond located to the north and north-west. Elements of the earthworks are likely to be associated with a later phase of site use of late medieval and/or post medieval date. A detailed earthwork survey of the site was carried out by English Heritage in 2008 and the earthworks and ruined building were mapped as part of the Staffordshire National Mapping Programme project and the majority of the features are extant on the latest 2010 vertical aerial photography. Other archaeological investigations in the vicinity are extremely limited and relate only to small excavations occurring from the 1950s through to the 1990s and more recent surveys and watching briefs in and around the abbey environs. Objectives and methodology The purpose of the watching brief was to excavate and record any archaeological deposits affected by the groundworks related to the conversion of the agricultural building and the creation of the swimming pool. This was to involve the monitoring of all areas of intrusive groundworks and include observation of surface stripping, the excavation of all foundations, service trenches and pool area, landscaping works and all other invasive works as necessary (Fig. 3). Results The watching brief was carried out as intended intermittently over several weeks. Overburden removal The topsoil (a soft mid-brown loam 0.3-0.4m deep) was removed using a machine fitted with a toothless bucket from the area of the new building and pool and areas of the former farmland around the existing structure. This was in general not deep enough to reach the archaeologically relevant level (Pl. 1), and only partly exposed the natural geology. No artefacts nor deposits of archaeological interest were revealed. The swimming pool The excavation of the swimming pool, adjacent to the extant barn structure was monitored (Pl. 2). The pool measured 9.9m by 5.2m and was excavated to a depth of 2m. The top of the natural geology was initially exposed but again no artefacts nor deposits of archaeological interest were revealed. 3 Foundation trenches The foundation trenches and foundation pad holes were dug in several episodes (Pls 3-8). The shorter trenches (3m to 5m long) were typically 0.7m wide and 0.9m–1.4m deep l (Pls 4 and 6) while the longer trenches (18.8m and 20.6m long) were up to 1.1m wide (though again mostly 0.7m wide) and 0.7m deep. The stratigraphy encountered was uniform across the site and consisted of 0.3–0.4m of soft mid-brown loamy topsoil over c.0.13m light orange-brown clay loam subsoil over a mid orange-brown silty clay with gravel patches (0.8m+) and mid brownish-red sandy clay natural (1.3m+) (Fig. 4; Pls 3, 4 and 7). Within the pool area only, c.0.23m of soft mid-grey green silty slurry deposit overlay the subsoil.