Highland’s Farm Henley-on-Thames Oxfordshire Archaeological Evaluation for CgMs Consulting on behalf of CA Project: 770522a CA Report: 00000 June 2017 Highland’s Farm Henley-on-Thames Oxfordshire Archaeological Evaluation CA Project: 770522 CA Report: Document Control Grid Revision Date Author Checked by Status Reasons for Approved revision by A 26/05/17 Adam Richard Client Internal Edit Richard Howard Greatorex Draft Greatorex 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 Highland’s Farm, Henley-Upon-Thames Oxford shire: Archaeological Evaluation CONTENTS SUMMARY ..................................................................................................................... 2 1. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................ 3 2. ARCHAEOLOGICAL BACKGROUND ................................................................ 5 3. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES ................................................................................... 7 4. METHODOLOGY ............................................................................................... 7 5. RESULTS .......................................................................................................... 9 6. THE FINDS ........................................................................................................ 9 8. CA PROJECT TEAM .......................................................................................... 10 9. REFERENCES ................................................................................................... 11 APPENDIX A: CONTEXT DESCRIPTIONS ................................................................... 12 APPENDIX B: THE FINDS ............................................................................................. 15 APPENDIX C: OASIS REPORT FORM .......................................................................... 16 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Figure 1 Site location and (1:25,000) Figure 2 Trench Location Plan Figure 3 Plates: Trenches 27, 32 and 44 Figure 4 Plates: Trenches 47, 49 and 50 1 © Cotswold Archaeology Highland’s Farm, Henley-Upon-Thames Oxford shire: Archaeological Evaluation SUMMARY Project Name: Highland’s Farm, Henley-Upon-Thames Location: Oxfordshire NGR: SU 7424 8133 Type: Evaluation Date: 7 - 16 of March 2017 Planning Reference: P16/S0077/O Location of Archive: To be deposited with Museum Oxford County Museum Accession Number: OXCMS: 2017.32 Site Code: HFHT17 An archaeological trial trench evaluation was undertaken by Cotswold Archaeology during March 2016. Of the original 28 trenches only 23 were excavated as a result of on-site logistical restrictions; however two additional trench locations were investigated. Despite the surrounding archaeological potential of the site, no archaeological features were recorded. Worked flint was recovered from the natural geology, subsoil and topsoil from Trenches 24, 27, 29, 31, 34, 35 and 36. Trenches 49 and 50 helped to further define the edge of the old quarry. Within Trench 27 a possible palaeo-channel was recorded, which will be further investigated during the forthcoming Palaeolithic mitigation programme. 2 © Cotswold Archaeology Highland’s Farm, Henley-Upon-Thames Oxford shire: Archaeological Evaluation 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 In March 2017 Cotswold Archaeology (CA) carried out an archaeological evaluation for CgMs Consulting (acting on behalf of Crest Nicholson) at Highland’s Farm, Henley-Upon-Thames, Oxfordshire, centred on National Grid Reference (NGR) SU 7424 8133. 1.2 Planning application (P16/S0077/O) has been submitted for Reserved Matters (P17/S0024/RM) to South Oxford District Council (SODC), for the residential redevelopment of the site comprising: approval for appearance, landscaping, layout and scale following P16/S0077/O 'Outline planning application (all matters reserved except for access) for the phased development of the demolition of existing buildings and construction of up to 170 dwellings along with up to 2,000 m2 B1 employment space, a Community Hub, public open space, sustainable urban drainage, earthworks, structural planting, substations and associated infrastructure. A Heritage desk-based assessment (CA 2011) of the site was initially prepared in order to inform the development process. 1.3 The site has undergone a series of investigations to-date primarily focussed on the Palaeolithic potential of the site. Preliminary Phase 1 Palaeolithic test pits were recorded in November 2015 to provide a preliminary understanding of the site’s Palaeolithic potential south of the Scheduled Monument (CgMs/Cotswold Archaeology/Southampton University 2015). Following from this further evaluation Phase 2 Test Pits were undertaken in April 2016 (CgMs/Cotswold Archaeology/Southampton University 2016) to provide better definition of the Palaeolithic resource. During the Palaeolithic investigations no Holocene archaeological potential was identified. The current trial trench evaluation was designed at assessing the Holocene potential of the site within those parts of the site not previously quarried or currently occupied by existing buildings. The works were requested by the Planning Archaeologist of OCC, archaeological advisor to SODC and the HE advisor. 1.4 The evaluation was carried out in accordance with a detailed Written Scheme of Investigation (WSI) produced by CA (2017) and approved by Richard Oram, OCC Planning Archaeologist and advisor to SODC. The fieldwork also followed Standard 3 © Cotswold Archaeology Highland’s Farm, Henley-Upon-Thames Oxford shire: Archaeological Evaluation and guidance: Archaeological field evaluation (CIfA 2014). It was monitored by Ricard Oram, including site visits on 10th of March 2017. The site 1.7 The entire development measures approximately 7.3ha in area (NGR SU 7424 8133) and is located on the plateau of a spur of the Chiltern Hills about 2 km west of the River Thames. A belt of arable land separates the site from the urban conurbation of Henley-on-Thames. The site is a brownfield site on and around the old workings of a gravel extraction quarry. The quarry itself has been partially backfilled and lies at c.75m above Ordnance Datum (aOD). The surrounding hard standing and landscaped verges are slightly higher lying at c.76.6m aOD and occupied by brick buildings of the farm and old quarry, and wooden cabins. The topography dips sharply to the west along the western boundary otherwise it is fairly flat lying. 1.8 The British Geological Survey (BGS) map the site - Solid and Drift 50,00 sheet 254 for Henley-on-Thames - as lying on superficial deposits of the Black Park Gravel Member (BPGM) laid down in the Anglian stage of the Middle Pleistocene between 480,000-425,000 BP. The lithology of the gravel member is described as “Horizontally stratified, matrix-supported gravel with thin tabular cross-bedded sand channels. Gravel assemblage is characterised by abundant angular flint (75-89%), sparse rounded flint (3-9%), sparse vein quartz (4-10%) and sparse quartzite (1- 6%)” (BGS 2015). The thickness of the gravel is described to range from one to six metres with an average of three. The deposits at the site are attributed to Terrace 5 of the BGS sequence for the Thames valley in this area, and specifically the lowest/youngest sub-unit T5c the Black Park Gravel. 1.9 The outcrop under the site forms part of a stretch of Black Park Gravel filling a broadly south-west to north-east trending depression in the Solid Chalk bedrock, that stretches for about 10km between Caversham and Henley-on-Thames. It has been recognised since the late 19th century that this depression represents an early course of the Thames, known as the Caversham-Henley Ancient Channel. 1.10 The underlying bedrock is undifferentiated Chalk of the Lewes Nodular Chalk Formation, Seaford Formation and Newhaven Formation and form part of the White 4 © Cotswold Archaeology Highland’s Farm, Henley-Upon-Thames Oxford shire: Archaeological Evaluation Chalk Subgroup. These formations date from Turonian to Campanian Ages 93.9- 73.1 my BP of the Late Cretaceous Epoch (BGS 2015). 1.11 The BGS map the western extent of the BPGM running approximately parallel to the western margin of the entrance road onto the site. This corresponds to the dip in slope towards the western boundary caused by a re-entrant dry valley exposing the Chalk. Further west and off the site, the gravel continues on the far side of the bifurcated valley head. 2. ARCHAEOLOGICAL BACKGROUND 2.1 In 2011 Cotswold Archaeology produced a heritage desk-based assessment of the land at Highlands Farm, from which a summary is present below. The Palaeolithic potential of the site has been documented thoroughly in previous subsequent WSIs and as this phase of works has been targeted on the Holocene potential of the site the Palaeolithic background is not repeated. Mesolithic to the end of the Iron Age (10,000 – c. 800 BC) 2.2 Within the immediate environs of the site only a sole instance of activity from these periods has been recorded; a Bronze Age hammer head found approximately 350m to the north-east of the site. No associated settlement evidence was recovered with it. Roman (AD 43 – c. AD 410) 2.3 There is an important villa