Douai Abbey, Upper Woolhampton, West Berkshire An Archaeological Watching Brief For Douai Abbey by Andy Taylor Thames Valley Archaeological Services Ltd Site Code DAM 05/10 January 2006 Summary Site name: Douai Abbey, Upper Woolhampton, West Berkshire Grid reference: SU 5775 6825 Site activity: Watching Brief Date and duration of project: 20th June–15th July 2005 Project manager: Steve Ford Site supervisors: Andy Taylor and Sean Wallis Site code: DAM 05/10 Summary of results: No archaeological deposits were observed and no finds recovered Monuments identified: None Location and reference of archive: The archive is presently held at Thames Valley Archaeological Services, Reading and will be deposited at West Berkshire 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 12.01.06 Steve Preston9 12.01.06 i Douai Abbey, Upper Woolhampton, West Berkshire An Archaeological Watching Brief By Andy Taylor Report 05/10b Introduction This report documents the results of an archaeological watching brief carried out at Douai Abbey, Upper Woolhampton, West Berkshire (SU 5775 6825) (Fig. 1). The work was commissioned by Mr Gary Rathbone of David Richmond and Partners, 16 Bowling Green Lane, London, EC1R 0BD on behalf of Douai Abbey, Upper Woolhampton, West Berkshire. Planning consent (01/00966/FUL) has been granted by West Berkshire Council for redevelopment and conversion work at Douai Abbey. This involves demolition of several structures with both new construction and refurbishment of existing buildings. The groundworks are subject to a condition relating to archaeology, which require a watching brief to be carried out during groundworks. This is in accordance with the Department of the Environment’s Planning Policy Guidance, Archaeology and Planning (PPG16 1990), and the Council’s policies on archaeology. The field investigation was carried out to a specification approved by Mr Duncan Coe, Archaeological Officer with West Berkshire Heritage Service. The fieldwork was undertaken by Jo Pine, Andy Taylor and Sean Wallis between the 20th June and the 15th July 2005 and the site code is DAM 05/10. The archive is presently held at Thames Valley Archaeological Services, Reading and will be deposited at West Berkshire Museum in due course. Location, topography and geology The site is located at Upper Woolhampton, to the north-east of Woolhampton, which itself lies to east of Newbury (Fig. 1). The site is located in the centre of the Douai Abbey complex on the site of the former infirmary of the Abbey and also includes some garden areas. The underlying geology in the area is Lower Bagshot Beds (BGS 1971) and the geology observed comprised bands of orange sand. The site lies at a height of c. 110m above Ordnance Datum. 1 Archaeological background The potential of the site stems from its location adjacent to areas which have revealed a range of finds of prehistoric and Roman date recovered from extensive survey work in the area (Lobb and Rose 1996). It is considered that occupation sites relating to these finds should be present in the vicinity of Upper Woolhampton. However a earlier watching brief at the Abbey failed to locate any archaeological deposits, although the scope of this work was of very limited extent (Cooper 1997). It is understood that no archaeological monitoring was required or took place on new construction works to the south-east of the current area. To facilitate development of the site, a part of the building complex (Fig. 2, ‘the link building’) was demolished to provide vehicular access. This structure was photographically recorded before demolition (Challis 2005). There was no requirement to record the former infirmary in similar fashion. Objectives and methodology The purpose of the watching brief was to excavate and record any archaeological deposits affected by the new construction work. This was to involve examination of areas of topsoil stripping, landscaping, ground reduction and the digging of trenches for foundations and services as necessary. The existing infirmary was demolished prior to the redevelopment of the site and parts of the new building complex were built over its former footprint. The remainder of the development was excavated through turf/topsoil. Results The foundation trenches excavated were between 0.45m and 0.70m wide and varied in depth between 2.30m and 2.50m. These trenches were excavated in small stretches and then rapidly concreted, as the trench sides were unstable and prone to collapse, due to the presence of modern rubble and the unconsolidated nature of the local geology. For safety reasons the trenches could not be entered and all observations and measurements were taken from the top of the sections. Two 1.00m square test pits were also observed (Fig. 2: test pits 1 and 2). The foundation trenches and the test pit (2) excavated on the site of the former infirmary, and the foundations to the west, showed made ground with demolition rubble, a silty sand containing modern brick (not retained) measuring between 0.20m–1.50m deep directly overlying light orange sand. This geology was excavated to a depth of 2.30m below the present ground surface. Modern services were observed in the western foundations. 2 The remaining foundation trenches and test-pit showed a stratigraphy of topsoil 0.40m deep on to the sand geology, which was excavated to 2.50m below the present ground surface. No archaeological features were observed in any of the trenches excavated and no artefacts of archaeological interest were recovered. Conclusion No deposits of archaeological interest were observed during the course of the watching brief and no finds of archaeological interest were recovered. It seems that any archaeological deposits which may have been present in the area of the former Infirmary would have been truncated to a greater or lesser extent by the construction of this building where no areas of in-situ buried topsoil and subsoil were identified. In the remainder of the foundations to the east, despite a lower degree of truncation, no features or finds were recorded. References BGS, 1971, British Geological Survey, 1:50000, Sheet 368, Drift Edition, Keyworth Challis, C, 2005, ‘Link Building, Douai Abbey, Upper Woolhampton, Berkshire, building survey’, Thames Valley Archaeological Services report 05/10, Reading Cooper, K, 1997, ‘Douai Abbey, Upper Woolhampton, Berkshire, an archaeological watching brief’, Thames Valley Archaeological Services report 97/40, Reading Lobb, S J and Rose, P G, Archaeological Survey of the Lower Kennet Valley, Berkshire, Wessex Archaeol Rep 9, Salisbury PPG 16, 1990, Archaeology and Planning, Dept of the Environment Planning Policy Guidance 16, HMSO 3 .