Observation of works at Fish Hill Square, Royston, Hertfordshire, 2011 Keith J Fitzpatrick-Matthews and Siân U O’Neill North Hertfordshire District Council Museums Service Archaeological Report 37 2012 Observation of works at Fish Hill Square, Royston, Hertfordshire, 2011 Keith J Fitzpatrick-Matthews and Siân U O’Neill North Hertfordshire District Council Museums Service Archaeological Report 37 2012 Metadata Title: Observation of works at Fish Hill Square, Royston, Hertfordshire, 2011 Authors: Keith J Fitzpatrick-Matthews (Archaeology Officer, North Hertfordshire District Council, [email protected]) and Siân U O’Neill (Archaeology Paid Intern, North Hertfordshire District Council, [email protected]) Origination Date: 2011-07-15 Version: 1.3 Date of last revision: 2012-03-19 Reviser(s): Keith Fitzpatrick-Matthews Status: Final Summary of Changes: corrections and additions to bibliography Circulation: Public Required Action: None File Location: c:\My Documents\Parishes\Royston\Fish Hill Square\Observation of works at Fish Hill Square.docx Approval: Not required Placenames: Royston, Fish Hill Square NGR: TL 3567 4063 Observation of works at Fish Hill Square, Royston, Hertfordshire, 2011 Contents Contents ......................................................................................................................................................... i Figures ...................................................................................................................................................... iii Tables ....................................................................................................................................................... iv Mapping ................................................................................................................................................... iv Acknowledgements .................................................................................................................................. iv Introduction ................................................................................................................................................... 1 Royston ...................................................................................................................................................... 2 Geology.................................................................................................................................................. 2 Superficial geology, soils and land use potential (Figure 2) .............................................................. 3 Topography ........................................................................................................................................... 6 Archaeological Data................................................................................................................................... 6 Prehistory (before c 100 BC) ................................................................................................................. 7 The Late Iron Age and Roman periods (c 100 BC-AD 411) .................................................................... 9 The Early Medieval Period (AD c 411-900) .......................................................................................... 10 The High Medieval Period (c 900-1350) .............................................................................................. 11 The Late Medieval Period (c 1350-1550) ............................................................................................ 12 The post-Medieval Period (since AD 1550) ......................................................................................... 14 The immediate vicinity of the site ....................................................................................................... 15 Sites recorded in the Hertfordshire Historic Environment Record ................................................. 16 North Herts Museums Records (not also in Herts HER) .................................................................. 18 Buildings .......................................................................................................................................... 18 Documentary Data .................................................................................................................................. 21 Medieval origins .................................................................................................................................. 21 Late medieval (c 1350-1550) ............................................................................................................... 24 Post-medieval (since 1550) ................................................................................................................. 24 Placenames .......................................................................................................................................... 27 Cartographic evidence ............................................................................................................................. 28 Dury and Andrews (1766).................................................................................................................... 28 Andrew Bryant (1822) ......................................................................................................................... 29 Ordnance Survey ................................................................................................................................. 29 Photographic evidence ............................................................................................................................ 32 Summary ................................................................................................................................................. 37 Project aims and methodology ................................................................................................................... 39 Aims and objectives ................................................................................................................................. 39 Methodology ........................................................................................................................................... 39 i K J Fitzpatrick-Matthews & S U O’Neill Recorded deposits and features ................................................................................................................. 43 Surfaces and spread deposits ................................................................................................................. 43 (1) Surface ........................................................................................................................................... 43 (2) Deposit .......................................................................................................................................... 43 (3) Surface ........................................................................................................................................... 44 (4) Deposit .......................................................................................................................................... 44 (5) Deposit .......................................................................................................................................... 44 (15) Deposit (fill?) ............................................................................................................................... 44 (17) Deposit ........................................................................................................................................ 44 (39) Deposit ........................................................................................................................................ 45 (40) Deposit (fill) ................................................................................................................................. 45 (41) Deposit ........................................................................................................................................ 45 (44) Deposit ........................................................................................................................................ 45 Walls and foundations ............................................................................................................................ 45 [14] Brick structure ............................................................................................................................. 46 Structures [31]-[38] ............................................................................................................................ 46 Cut features ............................................................................................................................................ 48 [7] Drain .............................................................................................................................................. 48 [9] U-shaped cut ................................................................................................................................. 49 [11] Posthole ...................................................................................................................................... 49 [19] Flat bottomed cut ......................................................................................................................