Park Farm Church Lane, Aston Clinton Buckinghamshire Archaeological Evaluation for Archaeology Collective Ltd CA Project: 660636 CA Report No: 16035 Site Code: PFAC16 Accession no: AYBCM: 2016.13 February 2016 Amended 23rd February 2016 Park Farm Church Lane, Aston Clinton Buckinghamshire Archaeological Evaluation CA Project: 660636 CA Report No: 16035 Site Code: PFAC16 Accession no: AYBCM: 2016.13 Document Control Grid Version Date Author Checked by Status Reasons for Approved revision by Draft 21-01-16 JSJ SRJ Draft SCC Final 16-2-16 Final Client review SCC Final 2 23-2-16 Final LPA review SCC 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 Park Farm, Aston Clinton, Buckinghamshire: Archaeological Evaluation CONTENTS SUMMARY ..................................................................................................................... 2 1. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................ 3 3. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES ................................................................................... 6 4. METHODOLOGY ............................................................................................... 6 5. EVALUATION RESULTS ................................................................................... 7 6. THE FINDS ........................................................................................................ 10 8. DISCUSSION ..................................................................................................... 11 9. CA PROJECT TEAM .......................................................................................... 12 10. REFERENCES ................................................................................................... 13 APPENDIX A: CONTEXT DESCRIPTIONS .................................................................... 14 APPENDIX B: THE FINDS .............................................................................................. 16 APPENDIX C: THE PALAEOENVIRONMENTAL EVIDENCE ......................................... 17 APPENDIX D: OASIS REPORT FORM .......................................................................... 18 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Fig. 1 Site location plan, 1:25,000 Fig. 2 Trench location plan, showing archaeological features, 1:750 Fig. 3 Trench 1, general view, looking north-east Fig. 4 Trench 1, ditches 107 and 109, looking north Fig. 5 Trench 1, pit 103, looking south-east Fig. 6 Trench 3, general view, looking north-east Fig. 7 Trench 2, ditches 203, 205, 207 and 209, looking north-east, 1:20 Fig. 8 Trench 3, ditches 303 and 305, looking north-east Fig. 9 Trench 3, ditch 307, looking north-west Fig. 10 Trench 6, general view, looking south-east Fig. 11 Trench 6, ditch 603, looking north-east Fig. 12 Trench 8, general view, looking south-west Fig. 13 Trench 8, ditch 804, looking south-west Fig. 14 Detail from the First Edition Ordnance Survey map of 1879 1 © Cotswold Archaeology Park Farm, Aston Clinton, Buckinghamshire: Archaeological Evaluation SUMMARY Project Name: Park Farm, Church Lane, Aston Clinton Location: Aston Clinton, Buckinghamshire NGR: SP 8779 1199 Type: Evaluation Date: 18th-20th January 2016 Location of Archive: Buckinghamshire Museums Service Site Code: PFAC16 In January 2016, Cotswold Archaeology carried out an archaeological evaluation of land to the west of Church Lane, Aston Clinton, Buckinghamshire. The evaluation, which was commissioned by Archaeology Collective, acting on behalf of Laxton Properties Ltd, was carried out in support of a planning application for the residential development of the site. A desk-based assessment carried out by Archaeology Collective concluded that there were no designated or undesignated heritage assets within the site, although it was identified as being situated adjacent to Akeman Street, a major Roman road, and Late Iron Age, Roman and medieval settlement and activity was identified in the wider area. The evaluation identified the remains of a ditch system, which was initially considered to be Roman in date, based on the recovery of two sherds of Romano-British pottery from one of the ditches. However, the abraded condition of the pottery and the alignment of the ditches, which were parallel with Church Lane, suggest that the Roman material is residual and the ditches date to the medieval period. It is therefore likely that the ditches are the remains of medieval plot boundaries aligned on Church Lane, which originally extended further to the south-west to provide access to the medieval watermill. However, it is worth noting that Church Lane follows the general north-east to south-west alignment of prehistoric trackways and boundaries in the vicinity, so a Roman date for the ditches cannot be discounted. The location and orientation of one of the ditches in the northern corner of the site corresponds with a field boundary shown on late 19th-century Ordnance Survey maps of the site; the boundary is not shown on the 1960 edition of the Ordnance Survey map, indicating that it had been backfilled by this time. 2 © Cotswold Archaeology Park Farm, Aston Clinton, Buckinghamshire: Archaeological Evaluation 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 In January 2016, Cotswold Archaeology (CA) carried out an archaeological evaluation of land to the west of Church Lane, Aston Clinton, Buckinghamshire (site centred on NGR: SP 8779 1199; Fig. 1). The evaluation, which was commissioned by Archaeology Collective (AC), acting on behalf of Laxton Properties Ltd, was carried out in support of a planning application for the residential development of the site (Aylesbury Vale District Council planning ref. 15/03627/AOP). 1.2 The scope of the programme of archaeological investigation was determined following discussions between AC and Eliza Alqassar, Buckinghamshire County Council’s Archaeological Officer (BCCAO), archaeological advisor to Aylesbury Vale District Council. The discussions were informed by the results of an Archaeological Desk- Based Assessment prepared by AC (2015a). The scope of the evaluation was formalised in a Written Scheme of Investigation (WSI) prepared by AC (2015b), detailing the requirement for 210m of trial trench to investigate a representative sample of the proposed development area. A site monitoring visit was undertaken on the 20th January 2016 by BCCAO. 1.3 The project was carried out in accordance with the WSI (AC 2015a) and abided by the Chartered Institute for Archaeologists’ Standard and Guidance for Archaeological Evaluation (CIfA 2014) and the Historic England (formerly English Heritage) procedural documents Management of Archaeological Projects 2 (EH 1991) and Management of Research Projects in the Historic Environment (MoRPHE): Project Manager’s Guide (HE 2015). 2. BACKGROUND Site location, topography and geology 2.1 The village of Aston Clinton lies close to the centre of the parish on level ground at the foot of the Chiltern Escarpment. The proposed development area is situated to the west of Church Lane, on the southern side of the village (Fig. 1). It covers an area of approximately 1.98ha, of which roughly 0.82ha was available for trenching. It comprises the farm buildings, slurry lagoon and farmyard of Park Farm, as well as open ground (currently rough pasture) to the south and west, and a small area of allotment at the northern end of the site. The site slopes from north to south, from c. 3 © Cotswold Archaeology Park Farm, Aston Clinton, Buckinghamshire: Archaeological Evaluation 98m to 95m above Ordnance Datum (aOD), where the property boundary is marked by a small stream. The parish church of St Michael and All Angels is situated immediately to the east of the proposed development area. 2.2 The geology within the site comprises undifferentiated Cretaceous mudstones, siltstones and sandstones of the Gault Formation and Upper Greensand Formation (BGS 2016). Superficial deposits of heavy clay, derived from the weathered Gault beds, with intermittent drift deposits of glacial till have been identified in the village by the Buckinghamshire Museum Archaeology Service (AC 2015a). Archaeological and historical background 2.3 The archaeological and historical background of the site has been presented in detail in the Archaeological Desk-Based Assessment prepared by AC (2015a). In brief, this concluded that there were no designated or undesignated heritage assets within the site, although it was identified as being located in an area where archaeological remains could be encountered, particularly those relating to the Late Iron Age/Roman and medieval periods. Reference to the Buckinghamshire Historic Environment Record (HER) identified a number of archaeological sites in the surrounding area. Prehistoric 2.4 In 1915, a Palaeolithic hand-axe was found to the north of the village of Buckland and metal detectorists have recovered a Bronze Age socketed axe and small collections of Iron Age coins in the general vicinity. In 1871 an amphora, containing earth and charcoal, was found 400m to the west of Quaintways Farm; it is possible that the amphora accompanied a Late Iron Age cremation burial, similar to those recorded in south-east England. More recently, archaeological evaluations carried out prior to the construction