archaeological watching brief · 2015. 4. 8. · river oldbridge crossing hewish somerset...

River Oldbridge Crossing Hewish

Somerset

Archaeological Watching Brief

November 2014

for

on behalf of

Grontmij

Wales and West Utilities

CA Project: 4523 CA Report: 13673

River Oldbridge Crossing Hewish

Somerset

Archaeological Watching Brief

CA Project: 4523 CA Report: 13673

prepared by Greg Crees, Project Supervisor

date 1 November 2014

checked by Ian Barnes, Project Manager


approved by Cliff Bateman, Principal Fieldwork Manager

signed


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 41 Burners Lane South Stanley House

Kemble Enterprise Park Kiln Farm Walworth Road

Kemble, Cirencester Milton Keynes Andover, Hampshire

Gloucestershire, GL7 6BQ MK11 3HA SP10 5LH t. 01285 771022 t. 01908 564660 t. 01264 347630 f. 01285 771033

e. [email protected]


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River Oldbridge Crossing, Hewish, Somerset: Archaeological Watching Brief

CONTENTS

SUMMARY ..................................................................................................................... 2

1. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................ 3

The site .............................................................................................................. 3

Archaeological background ................................................................................ 3

Archaeological objectives ................................................................................... 4

Methodology....................................................................................................... 4

2. RESULTS (FIGS 2) ............................................................................................ 5

3. DISCUSSION ..................................................................................................... 5

4. CA PROJECT TEAM .......................................................................................... 5

5. REFERENCES ................................................................................................... 6

APPENDIX A: CONTEXT DESCRIPTIONS .................................................................... 7

APPENDIX B: OASIS REPORT FORM........................................................................... 8

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Fig. 1 Site location plan (1:25,000)

Fig. 2 The site, showing location of groundworks (1:500)


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SUMMARY

Project Name: River Oldbridge Crossing

Location: Hewish, Somerset

NGR: ST 3955 6422

Type: Watching Brief

Date: 11 September 2013

Location of Archive: Somerset Heritage Centre

Accession Number: WESTM: 2013.26

Site Code: ROC 13

An archaeological watching brief was undertaken by Cotswold Archaeology during

groundworks associated with gas main replacement works at River Oldbridge Crossing,

Hewish, Somerset.

No features or deposits of archaeological interest were observed during groundworks, and

no artefactual material was recovered.


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1. INTRODUCTION

1.1 In September 2013 Cotswold Archaeology (CA) carried out an archaeological

watching brief for Grontmij, on behalf of Wales and West Utilities, at River Oldbridge

Crossing, Hewish, Somerset (centred on NGR: ST 3955 6422). The watching brief

was undertaken during groundwork associated with a gas main replacement. The

objective of the watching brief was to record all archaeological remains exposed

during the development.

1.2 The watching brief was carried out following a recommendation for archaeological

supervision of groundworks by Daniel Smith, Historic Environment Records Officer,

North Somerset Council (NSC), and with a subsequent detailed Written Scheme of

Investigation (WSI) produced by CA (2013) that was approved by Daniel Smith. The

fieldwork also followed the Standard and guidance for an archaeological watching

brief (IfA 2009), the Management of Archaeological Projects 2 (English Heritage

1991), the Management of Research Projects in the Historic Environment

(MORPHE): Project Manager’s Guide (EH 2006).

The site

1.3 The proposed gas main route is sited within open grassland on the east and west

banks of the Oldbridge River and to the south of the Bristol to Exeter branch of the

Great Western Railway Line. The groundworks are c.220 m2 in extent. The site lies

at approximately 60m AOD and is broadly level.

1.4 The underlying solid geology of the area is mapped as Mercia Mudstone Group –

comprising Mudstone and Halite-stone of the Triassic era, Superficial Tidal Flat

Deposits comprising clay and silt of the Quaternary period (BGS 2014).

Archaeological background

1.5 The site is located within an area of archaeological interest. Roman villas are known

in the area surrounding the site, including those at Wemberham and Yatton. Isolated

Roman artefacts have been reported to the northeast of the site as well as the

sizeable coin hoard at Kingston Seymour.

1.6 Medieval and post-medieval evidence includes isolated pottery sherds and stone

slabs at Kingston Seymour. To the south of the site, activity of both medieval and


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post-medieval date is noted at Puxton, including the Holy Saviours Church (dating

from the 13th century onward).

Archaeological objectives

1.7 The objectives of the archaeological works were:

to monitor groundworks, and to identify, investigate and record all significant buried

archaeological deposits revealed on the site during the course of the development

groundworks;

at the conclusion of the project, to produce an integrated archive for the project work

and a report setting out the results of the project and the archaeological conclusions

that can be drawn from the recorded data.

Methodology

1.8 The fieldwork followed the methodology set out within the WSI (CA 2013). An

archaeologist was present during intrusive groundworks comprising the excavation

of a single trench undertaken prior to directional drilling beneath the River Oldbridge

(see Fig.2 for location and extent). Non-archaeologically significant deposits were

removed under archaeological supervision with a single mechanical excavator

equipped with a toothless bucket.

1.9 Where archaeological deposits were encountered written, graphic and photographic

records were compiled in accordance with CA Technical Manual 1: Fieldwork

Recording Manual (2013).

1.10 The archive from the watching brief is currently held by CA at their offices in Kemble

and will be deposited with Somerset Heritage Centre under accession number

WESTM: 2013.26. A summary of information from this project, set out within

Appendix B, will be entered onto the OASIS online database of archaeological

projects in Britain.


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2. RESULTS (FIGS 2)

2.1 This section provides an overview of the results of the watching brief. Detailed

context descriptions are available in Appendix A.

2.2 A single trench measuring 3.7m by 3.2m was excavated to a depth of 1.8m below

present ground level (bpgl). The natural clay substrate, 102, was revealed at a depth

of 1.05m bpgl. This was overlain by silt clay subsoil 101, typically 0.5m in thickness,

which was in turn sealed by 0.55m of grey brown silt clay topsoil, 100.

2.3 No features or deposits of archaeological interest were observed during

groundworks and, despite visual scanning of spoil, no artefactual material was

recovered.

2.4 Based on the negative result of these observations and the limited scope of further

intrusive groundwork it was agreed with Daniel Smith that no further archaeological

monitoring would be necessary.

3. DISCUSSION

3.1 Despite the archaeological potential of the application area (see archaeological

background above) the watching brief identified no archaeological remains within the

area of observed groundworks.

3.2 The construction works for the nearby railway line are likely to have included

landscaping of the area, however these watching brief observations did not include

clear evidence of this. The close proximity of the groundworks to the river channel

may also have been a limiting influence on settlement.

4. CA PROJECT TEAM

Fieldwork was undertaken by Greg Crees. The report was written by Greg Crees.

The illustrations were prepared by Lorna Grey. The archive has been compiled by

Greg Crees, and prepared for deposition by John Hart. The project was managed for

CA by Ian Barnes.


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5. REFERENCES

BGS (British Geological Survey) 2013 Geology of Britain Viewer. Online resource at

http://mapapps.bgs.ac.uk/geologyofbritain/home.html accessed 2 November 2014

CA (Cotswold Archaeology) 2013 River Oldbridge Crossing, Hewish, Somerset: Written

Scheme of Investigation for an Archaeological Watching Brief

http://mapapps.bgs.ac.uk/geologyofbritain/home.html


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APPENDIX A: CONTEXT DESCRIPTIONS

Trench No.

Context No.

Type Fill of Context interpretation

Description L (m) W (m)

Depth/thickness (m)

Spot-date

1 100 Layer topsoil mid grey brown silt clay 0.55

1 101 Layer subsoil yellow grey brown silt clay 0.5

1 102 Layer natural yellow blue grey clay


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APPENDIX B: OASIS REPORT FORM

PROJECT DETAILS

Project Name River Oldbridge Crossing, Hewish, Somerset

Short description

An archaeological watching brief was undertaken by Cotswold Archaeology during groundworks associated with Gas main replacement works at River Oldbridge Crossing, Hewish, Somerset. No features or deposits of archaeological interest were observed during groundworks, and no artefactual material pre-dating the modern period was recovered.

Project dates September 2013

Project type

Watching Brief

Previous work

None

Future work Unknown

PROJECT LOCATION

Site Location Hewish, Somerset

Study area 16m2

Site co-ordinates ST 3955 6422

PROJECT CREATORS

Name of organisation Cotswold Archaeology

Project Brief originator None

Project Design (WSI) originator Cotswold Archaeology

Project Manager Ian Barnes

Project Supervisor Greg Crees

MONUMENT TYPE None

SIGNIFICANT FINDS None

PROJECT ARCHIVES Intended final location of archive Content

Physical N/A N/A

Paper Somerset Heritage Centre WESTM: 2013.26

Trench recording sheet

Digital N/A Photographs

BIBLIOGRAPHY

CA (Cotswold Archaeology) 2014 River Oldbridge Crossing, Hewish, Somerset: Archaeological Watching Brief CA typescript report 13673

Site

North Somerset

CotswoldArchaeology

Cirencester 01285 771022

Milton Keynes 01908 218320

Andover 01264 347630

w www.cotswoldarchaeology.co.uk

e [email protected]

N

PROJECT TITLE

FIGURE TITLE

FIGURE NO.DATEREVISIONSCALE@A4

PROJECT NO.DRAWN BYAPPROVED BY

0 1km

Reproduced from the 2011 Ordnance Survey Explorer map with the permission of Ordnance Survey on behalf of The Controller of Her Majesty's Stationery Office Crown copyright Cotswold Archaeology Ltd 100002109

c

06-01-2014001:25,000

4523LMLM 1

River Oldbridge Crossing, Hewish, North Somerset

Site location plan

archaeological watching brief · 2015. 4. 8. · river oldbridge crossing hewish somerset...

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