Alum Bay Marine Archaeological Investigations Management Report March 2014 Alum Bay Marine Archaeological Investigations Management Report Prepared by The Maritime Archaeology Trust National Oceanography Centre, Southampton On behalf of English Heritage March 2014 www.maritimearchaeologytrust.org Contents I. Document Control ....................................................................................................................................... 2 ii. Acknowledgements .................................................................................................................................... 2 iii. List of Tables ............................................................................................................................................. 2 iv. Summary ................................................................................................................................................... 3 1. Introduction .................................................................................................................................................. 4 2. The Maritime Archaeology of Alum Bay.................................................................................................... 5 2.1 History of Archaeological Investigation .................................................................................................... 5 2.2 Archaeological Remains .......................................................................................................................... 5 2.3 Gaps in Existing Knowledge .................................................................................................................... 7 2.4 Ownership, Current Use and Management ............................................................................................. 7 3. Risk Assessment ......................................................................................................................................... 9 3.1 Physical Setting and Physical Condition .................................................................................................. 9 3.2 Assessment of Identified Threat ............................................................................................................ 13 3.3 Overall Assessment of Threats and Resulting Risk ............................................................................... 16 4. Assessment of Archaeological Significance .......................................................................................... 18 4.1 Alum Bay 1: Statement of Archaeological Significance ......................................................................... 18 4.2 Alum Bay 2: Statement of Archaeological Significance ......................................................................... 23 4.3 Alum Bay Pier: Statement of Archaeological Significance .................................................................... 25 5. Monitoring and Protection ........................................................................................................................ 27 5.1 Future Monitoring ................................................................................................................................... 27 5.2 Protection Requirements and Options ................................................................................................... 27 6. Conclusion: Management Recommendations ....................................................................................... 29 7. References ................................................................................................................................................. 30 8. Appendices ................................................................................................................................................ 32 8.1 Site Risk Assessment: Site by Site ........................................................................................................ 32 Alum Bay 1 ............................................................................................................................................... 32 Alum Bay 2 ............................................................................................................................................... 33 Alum Bay Pier ........................................................................................................................................... 34 8.2 Criteria for Assessing Archaeological Significance ................................................................................ 35 9. Figures ........................................................................................................................................................ 36 Figure List .................................................................................................................................................... 36 Cover Image: Archaeologist inspecting the outer hull planking on the western edge of Alum Bay 2 in June 2013 (courtesy of Roland Brooks). Alum Bay Marine Archaeological Investigations: Management Report I. DOCUMENT CONTROL Project name Alum Bay Marine Archaeological Investigations: Excavation, analysis, publication and PPN Development HWTMA ref HWTMA: 456 EH ref 5763 Title Alum Bay Marine Archaeological Investigations: Management Report Author(s) Julian Whitewright & Julie Satchell Derivation Agreed Project Design (Stage 04: Analysis) Origination date 01/11/2013 Reviser Julian Whitewright Date of last revision 11/3/2014 Version 2 Status For submission to EH Summary of changes Circulation Helen Keeley, Caroline Howarth Required action None. Final Version File name/location P:\Projects\Alum Bay\EH Analysis Stage\Management Report This project design has been prepared in accordance with MoRPHE guidelines (English Heritage 2006) This report should be referenced as; Whitewright, J. and Satchell, J., 2014. Alum Bay Marine Archaeological Investigations: Management Report. Southampton: Maritime Archaeological Trust. II. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Archaeological work in Alum Bay has been ongoing for almost 20 years. During this time the site has benefited from a number of grants and donations, these include: Isle of Wight Council, Leader+, Interreg IVA, English Heritage, 29th May 1961 Charitable Trust, Chapman Charitable Trust, Daisie Rich Charitable Trust, Gosling Foundation, John Coates Charitable Trust, WightLink Ltd, John & Ruth Howard Charitable Trust, The Oakmoor Trust, Red Funnel, Robert Kiln Charitable Trust, Roger Brookes Charitable Trust. Further thanks must be extended to the large number of volunteers who have been involved in the project. Most recent work on the site, the audit of the archive, and this assessment work, has been made possible due to funding from English Heritage, the Marc Fitch Fund and from the Interreg IVA Fund Archaeological Atlas of the 2 Seas Project. III. LIST OF TABLES Table 1. General tidal regime for Alum Bay, the Needles Channel and Needles Light. Table 2. Species observed by HIWWT during SeaSearch surveys of Alum Bay in 2009. Data provided on sponges, worms, molluscs, tunicates and algae was not detailed enough to list, no bryozoans or cnidarians were noted at Alum Bay (data is taken from Dale, 2010: 4). Table 3. Summary of threats identified as impacting upon the maritime archaeology of Alum Bay. Table 4. Summary of threat assessment faced by maritime archaeological sites within Alum Bay and a rating of the severity of each threat faced. www.maritimearchaeologytrust.org 2 Alum Bay Marine Archaeological Investigations: Management Report IV. SUMMARY Alum Bay is located on the north-west coast of the Isle of Wight between the Needles and Hurst Narrows. This report addresses the future management of three archaeological sites, comprised of two shipwrecks and a collapsed Victorian pier, located within Alum Bay that have been the subject to archaeological work since the early 1990s. The archive of material derived from this work has recently been subject to a formal process of assessment and analysis and that project has resulted in the production of this management report as well as a wider ranging academic monograph on the maritime archaeology of the area. The shipwreck site of Alum Bay 1 was discovered in 1991 has been identified as a large section of the upper port bow section of HMS Pomone, a 38-gun 5th-rate frigate that was lost on the Needles in October 1811 while homeward bound from service in the Mediterranean. The site of loss at the Needles is a designated historic wreck site under the Protection of Wrecks Act 1973. The Alum Bay 2 shipwreck was discovered in 2001 and is the upturned bottom and lower hull of a small coastal trading vessel that has been dated to the late 18th/early 19th century. Finally, the site of Alum Bay pier is the collapsed and tangled remains of the Victorian pier that was built in 1887 to serve the growing seaside tourist industry in the area and which fell into eventual disuse in the mid-20th century. None of the archaeological remains of any of these three sites are currently afforded any form of statutory protection. Accordingly, this report addresses the identifiable threats to the future integrity of the archaeological sites within Alum Bay and concludes that Alum Bay 1 is at a medium level of risk, specifically from anchoring vessels in conjunction with ongoing rates of sediment reduction and related exposure and degradation of wooden material. This has the potential to trend towards a high