Land at 41-47 Lower Cippenham Lane, Cippenham, Slough, Berkshire An Archaeological Evaluation for Ambleland Limited by Andy Taylor Thames Valley Archaeological Services Ltd Site Code LCS 06/112 January 2009 Summary Site name: Land at 41-47 Lower Cippenham Lane, Cippenham, Slough, Berkshire Grid reference: SU 9505 8020 Site activity: Evaluation Date and duration of project: 22nd-26th January 2009 Project manager: Steve Ford Site supervisor: Andy Taylor Site code: LCS 06/112 Area of site: c.0.3 hectares Summary of results: Four gullies and seven ditches were revealed. Four of the ditches are certainly or probably dated to the medieval period. Location and reference of archive: The archive is presently held at Thames Valley Archaeological Services, Reading and will be deposited at Reading Museum in due course. This report may be copied for bona fide research or planning purposes without the explicit permission of the copyright holder Report edited/checked by: Steve Ford9 02.02.09 Jo Pine 9 02.02.09 i Thames Valley Archaeological Services Ltd, 47–49 De Beauvoir Road, Reading RG1 5NR Tel. (0118) 926 0552; Fax (0118) 926 0553; email [email protected]; website : www.tvas.co.uk Land at 41-47 Lower Cippenham Lane, Cippenham, Slough, Berkshire An Archaeological Evaluation by Andy Taylor Report 06/112 Introduction This report documents the results of an archaeological field evaluation carried out 41-47 Lower Cippenham Lane, Cippenham, Slough, Berkshire (SU 9505 8020) (Fig. 1). The work was commissioned by Mr Peter Walsh of Ambleland Limited, 144 Lower Cippenham Lane, Slough, Berkshire, SL1 5EA. Planning permission (app no P/13448/000) has been granted on appeal (APP/J0350/A/06/2013928) by Slough Borough Council for the demolition of one of the existing buildings and the construction of new houses and flats. The consent is subject to a condition (8) relating to archaeology which requires archaeology to be considered. This is in accordance with the Department of the Environment’s Planning Policy Guidance, Archaeology and Planning (PPG16 1990), and the Borough Council’s policies on archaeology. The field investigation was carried out to a specification approved by Mr David Thomason, then Archaeology Officer with Berkshire Archaeology, advisers to the Borough on matters relating to archaeology and was monitored by Ms Mary O’Donoghue, the current holder of the position. The fieldwork was undertaken by Andy Taylor, Vanja Blomquist, Arkadiusz Gnas and Gemma Watson between the 22nd and 26th January 2009 and the site code is LCS 06/112. The archive is presently held at Thames Valley Archaeological Services, Reading and will be deposited at Reading Museum in due course. Location, topography and geology The site is located on an irregular parcel of land on the south side of Lower Cippenham Lane, Cippenham, Slough, Berkshire (Fig. 2). The site is largely open space in the back gardens of numbers 41-47 with the access from the now demolished 41 Lower Cippenham Lane. It is bounded by houses to the north, east and west with a stream to the south. According to the British Geological Survey the underlying geology comprises Taplow gravel (BGS 2005), however Brickearth was encountered in all trenches and the site lies at a height of approximately 22m above Ordnance Datum. 1 Archaeological background The archaeological potential of the site has been highlighted in a brief for the project prepared by David Thomason, formerly of Berkshire Archaeology (Thomason 2006). In summary, it stems from its location in an area relatively rich in archaeological deposits. Extensive excavations took place immediately to the south and west of the proposal site prior to large scale development of the ‘Cippenham Sector’ in 1995-7 and 2006, which examined a wide range of deposits of prehistoric, Iron Age, Roman and medieval date (Ford et al. 2003; Taylor in prep). These finds included Neolithic and Bronze Age occupation, Bronze Age ring ditch (levelled burial mound), Iron Age and Roman enclosures and field systems, and part of the medieval village of Cippenham. Excavation of a Roman site also took place to the north of the site (Howell and Durden 2003). To the west of the site is what is considered to be a medieval moat though the status of this monument is unclear and has now been built upon. Cippenham moated manorial site (a scheduled ancient monument) is also located to the south east of the site. Objectives and methodology The purpose of the evaluation was to determine the presence/absence, extent, condition, character, quality and date of any archaeological deposits within the area of development. Specific aims of the project are; To determine if archaeologically relevant levels have survived on this site. To determine if archaeological deposits of any period are present To determine if there is any prehistoric occupation on the site To determine if any medieval deposits are present reflecting use of the area as a moated site. Five trenches were dug using a small 360° type machine fitted with a toothless ditching bucket under constant archaeological supervision. All spoilheaps were monitored for finds. Results The trenches (Fig. 3) were all dug as near as possible to their intended locations and they measured between 19.10m and 21.60m in length and between 0.36m and 0.94m deep. A complete list of trenches giving lengths, breadths, depths and a description of sections and geology is given in Appendix 1. A large portion of the site had already had topsoil removed during the demolition of swimming pools and removal of associated services. 2 Trench 1 (Figs 3 -5; Plate x) This trench measured 19.50m in length and 0.38m deep. It was aligned west - east. The stratigraphy consisted of subsoil overlying brickearth natural geology. A ditch was located and a slot (1) was dug across it measuring 1.10m in length, 1.05m wide and 0.11m deep. One sherd of medieval pottery was recovered from its yellowey grey sandy clay fill (52). Trench 2 (Figs 3-5; Plate x) This trench measured 21.60m in length and 0.74m deep. It was aligned north - south. The stratigraphy consisted of topsoil overlying subsoil overlying a subsoil/brickearth mix, overlying brickearth. A ditch and a gully were located at the northern end of this trench. A slot was dug to determine the relationship between these two features, with gully 3 being cut by ditch 4. No finds were recovered from either of these features. Trench 3 (Figs 3-5) This trench measured 20.40m in length and 0.36m deep. It was aligned south west - north east. The stratigraphy consisted of subsoil overlying brickearth. A ditch was located and a slot (2) was dug across it measuring 0.80m in length, 0.85m wide and 0.40m deep. Its light grey silty clay fill (53) only contained a single piece of burnt flint. Trench 4 (Figs 3-5, Plate 2) This trench measured 19.10m in length and 0.94m deep. It was aligned north - south. The stratigraphy consisted of topsoil overlying subsoil overlying brickearth. A gully (7) and ditch (8) were located at the southern end of this trench. A relationship slot was dug through these which showed that the ditch cut the gully. The gully had a single fill, whereas with the ditch contained three. Neither produced any dating evidence. A second ditch was located further to the north. A slot (6) was dug across this measuring 0.85m in length, 1.40m wide and 0.28m deep. 42 pieces of pottery were recovered from its dark grey silty clay fill (58). Two further gullies (10 and 11) were located at the northern end of the trench. Neither of these produced any dating evidence. Trench 5 (Figs 3-5. Plate 1) This trench measured 19.70m in length and 0.73m deep. It was aligned east - west. The stratigraphy consisted of topsoil overlying subsoil overlying brickearth, two ditches were located (5) and (9) truncating this geology. Ditch 5 was, 0.80m wide and 0.26m deep. Its light grey sandy clay fill (57) contained two pieces of medieval 3 pottery. Ditch 9 was 1.10m wide and 0.24m. Its mid grey silty clay fill (63) contained 169 pieces of medieval pottery. Finds Pottery by Paul Blinkhorn The pottery assemblage comprised 219 sherds with a total weight of 4621g. The estimated vessel equivalent (EVE), by summation of surviving rimsherd circumference was 1.41. It entirely consisted of unglazed coarsewares typical of sites in the region, and all of 12th century date. The bulk of the pottery came from a single feature, and appears to be a large dump of domestic material. The following fabrics were noted: F1: Sandy Coarseware. 12th century? Moderate to dense sub-angular quartz up to 0.5mm, rare rounded ironstone up to 2mm. 213 sherds, 4113g, EVE = 1.22. F2: Sand and flint-tempered ware. 12th century? Sparse to moderate sub-rounded quartz up to 0.5mm, rare to sparse sub-rounded calcareous material up to 4mm, rare to sparse flint up to 3mm. Very similar to Newbury A/B ware (eg Mepham 1997, 51-2). 5 sherds, 508g, EVE = 0.19. The pottery occurrence by number and weight of sherds per context by fabric type is shown in Appendix 3. The sandy ware, F1, is very typical of sites in this area of the Thames Valley, and can be paralleled at Reading (Blinkhorn 2007), Windsor (Mepham 1993) and Eton (Blinkhorn 2000). The problem of differentiating between the numerous similar wares known in the area has been noted in the past (Mellor 1994, 84). For example, at least four different quartz-tempered fabrics have been identified in southern Oxfordshire and its environs, with centres such as Henley-on-Thames and Maidenhead (Pike, 1965) producing very similar quartz tempered wares (Mellor 1994).