Canal Way Ilminster Somerset Archaeological Evaluation Report White Young Green for CA Project: 4476 CA Report: 13517 September 2013 Canal Way Ilminster Somerset Archaeological Evaluation Report CA Project: 4476 CA Report: 13517 prepared by Steven Sheldon, Project Officer date 16 September 2013 checked by Richard Greatorex, Principal Fieldwork Manager date approved by signed date issue 01 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 Cirencester Milton Keynes Andover Building 11 Unit 4 Office 49 Kemble Enterprise Park Cromwell Business Centre Basepoint Business Centre Kemble, Cirencester Howard Way, Newport Pagnell Caxton Close, Andover Gloucestershire, GL7 6BQ MK16 9QS Hampshire, SP10 3FG t. 01285 771022 t. 01908 218320 t. 01264 326549 f. 01285 771033 e. [email protected] Canal Way Ilminster Somerset Archaeological Evaluation Report CONTENTS SUMMARY ..................................................................................................................... 4 1. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................ 6 The site .............................................................................................................. 6 Archaeological background ................................................................................ 7 Archaeological objectives ................................................................................... 11 Methodology ....................................................................................................... 11 2. RESULTS (FIGS 2-4) ......................................................................................... 12 The finds ............................................................................................................ 14 3. DISCUSSION ..................................................................................................... 16 4. CA PROJECT TEAM .......................................................................................... 17 5. REFERENCES ................................................................................................... 18 APPENDIX A: CONTEXT DESCRIPTIONS .................................................................... 20 APPENDIX B: THE FINDS .............................................................................................. 22 APPENDIX C: OASIS REPORT FORM .......................................................................... 23 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Fig. 1 Site location plan (1:25,000) Fig. 2 Trench location plan, showing archaeological features (1:1000) Fig. 3 Trenches 3 and 7; sections and photographs 3 Canal Way Ilminster Somerset Archaeological Evaluation Report SUMMARY Project Name: Canal Way Location: Ilminster, Somerset NGR: ST 3513 1450 Type: Evaluation Date: 12-16 August 2013 Location of Archive: To be deposited with Somerset County Museum Accession Number: TTNCM74/2013 Site Code: CWI 13 An archaeological evaluation was undertaken by Cotswold Archaeology in August 2013 at Canal Way, Ilminster, Somerset. Ten trenches were excavated. A pit/posthole containing quantities of Late Neolithic/Early Bronze Age Beaker pottery was identified in Trench 3. A further undated pit/posthole was also identified within the trench and may be broadly contemporary. Although these features are suggestive of settlement activity, no other contemporary features were identified during the evaluation making further interpretation impossible. Further probable prehistoric activity was identified in Trench 7 where a single worked flint flake of prehistoric date was recovered from the fill of a curving ditch gully. The function of this feature remains unclear although it may represent the remains of a ring-ditch or roundhouse drip gully. A further, undated but slightly curving ditch/gully was also identified in the trench and may be broadly contemporary Roman activity was confined to the south-western half of Trench 7 where pottery of Late Roman date was recovered from a ditch and a pit/ditch terminal. The exact function of these features is unclear at present although they are suggestive of settlement activity. A further 4 undated ditch/gully also identified in the trench may be broadly contemporary with this Roman activity. Undated ditches were identified in Trenches 5, 6 and at the north-eastern end of Trench 7. The exact nature of these features remains unclear although they are likely to relate to land management, drainage or division. 5 Canal Way Ilminster Somerset Archaeological Evaluation Report 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 In August 2013 Cotswold Archaeology (CA) carried out an archaeological evaluation for White Young Green acting on behalf of ersimmon Homes (South West) Ltd. at Canal Way, Ilminster, Somerset (centred on NGR: ST 3513 1450; Fig. 1). The evaluation was undertaken to accompany a planning application to South Somerset Council for residential development and forms part of a broader evaluation of the archaeological potential of the site, which has also included a Heritage Desk-Based Assessment (WYG 2013). 1.2 The evaluation was carried out in accordance with a Written Scheme of Investigation (WSI) produced by CA (2013) and approved by Steven Membury, Senior Historic Environment Officer, Somerset County Council (SCC) the archaeological advisor to South Somerset Council. The fieldwork also followed the Standard and guidance for archaeological field evaluation (IfA 2009), the Heritage Service Archaeological Handbook (Somerset County Council 2011), the Management of Archaeological Projects (English Heritage 1991) and the Management of Research Projects in the Historic Environment (MORPHE): Project Manager’s Guide (English Heritage 2006). It was monitored by Steve Membury, which included a site visit on 14 August 2013. The site 1.3 The proposed development area is situated to the west of the small town of Ilminster, Somerset and comprises a c. 2ha area of land lying at approximately 35m above Ordnance Datum (AOD). It is bounded to the north by light industrial units fronting on to Canal Way, to the west by a dismantled railway and agricultural land, to the south by Coldharbour Farm, and to the east by further agricultural land and areas of residential development. The Site is currently under pasture. 1.4 The underlying solid geology of the proposed development site is on the boundary of the Belemnite Marl Member of the Calcareous Mudstone Formation and the Dyrham 6 Formation of Mudstone and Sandstone of the Pliesbachian Age. It is also at the boundary of Holocene alluvial clays, silts and sands to the north and colluvium to the south (BGS 2013). The natural substrate, comprising mottled yellow grey with occasional gravel patches or mid orange yellow clay with frequent bands of gravel, was identified in all of the excavated trenches. Archaeological background 1.5 The archaeological potential of the site has been assessed within a Heritage Desk- Based Assessment (WYG 2013) the details of which are summarised below. The Somerset Historic Environment Record holds details for 26 recorded heritage assets within a c. 500m radius study area centred on the site (WYG 2013). Prehistoric (up to 43AD) 1.6 Palaeolithic activity in the region is not well characterised due to the paucity of data. Typically, ‘sites’ are recognised from lithic scatters, often found within river gravels and terraces (of which the highest density is from the east of the region (Hosfield et al. 2007, 30)). Cave sites associated with Palaeolithic activity are found throughout the south west region, particularly in south Devon and central Somerset (Hosfield et al. 2007, 37) and a number of such cave dwellings have been recorded in Cheddar Gorge to the east. Mesolithic activity is typically associated with upland zones and lowland wetland areas (Hosfield et al. 2007, 40). 1.7 The environment is better understood, in part due to the work of several specialists who contributed to the Somerset Levels Project: 1974-1989 (cf. Caseldine 1984 cited in Hosfield et al. 2007, 43). Throughout the region a diverse range of prehistoric sites survive, dating from the Neolithic onwards. From within the peat deposits of the Somerset Levels, timber trackways and artefacts have been recovered, as well as providing extensive environmental data (Pollard and Healy 2007, 75). Within the region, areas of continued activity (albeit seasonal) have been recorded from the Mesolithic through to the Early Bronze Age, both from lithic assemblages and in the continued use of cave sites (Pollard and Healy 2007, 76- 77). 1.8 Whilst Later Bronze Age settlement in the region is characterised by roundhouses, settlement evidence from within Somerset is largely gathered from material culture (pottery and lithics), rather than structures (Fitzpatrick 2007, 118). Settlement in the 7 Iron Age focused, for the most part, on agriculture. ‘Village-like’ settlements, such as Little Yeovilton, as well as hill forts were evenly distributed through the region. 1.9 Whilst the hill forts have been the focus of much research over a number of years, the non hill fort settlements are less well characterised with the exception of the ‘Lake Villages’ at Meare and Glastonbury in Somerset which were the subject of