Sweetzer's Piece - Mortimer

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THE COLT HOUSE, SWEETZER’S PIECE, MORTIMERBERKSHIRE

Archaeological Watching Brief

Prepared for Isignia Homes Ltd154 Winchester Road

Four MarksHampshireGU34 5HZ

ByWessex Archaeology

Unit 113The Chandlery

50 Westminster Bridge RoadLondon

SE1 7QY

Report reference: 64580.02

February 2007

© Wessex Archaeology Limited 2007 all rights reserved Wessex Archaeology Limited is a Registered Charity No. 287786



Archaeological Watching Brief WA doc. ref. 64580.02

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Contents

Contents ...................................................................................................i Summary ................................................................................................. ii Acknowledgements................................................................................. iii

1 INTRODUCTION...............................................................................................................1

1.1 Project Background ....................................................................................1

1.2 Site Description ..........................................................................................11.3 Archaeological Background........................................................................1

2 WATCHING BRIEF AIMS.................................................................................................2

3 METHODOLOGY..............................................................................................................2

3.1 Methodological Standards..........................................................................23.2 Health and Safety .......................................................................................23.3 Fieldwork ....................................................................................................2

4 RESULTS..........................................................................................................................3

5 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS ................................................................3

6 BIBLIOGRAPHY...............................................................................................................4

APPENDIX 1: TRENCH SUMMARY SHEETS...........................................................................5

List of FiguresCover General view of Trench 2Back Cover View of upstanding section of Grim’s bank, near Ufton NervetFigure 1 Site & proposed area of workingFigure 2 Section Drawing of Ditch 204Plate 1 South West facing section of ditch [204]Plate 2 General view of site from SW




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Summary

Wessex Archaeology was commissioned via Mark Leedale by Isignia Homes Ltd (theClient) to undertake a targeted archaeological watching brief during construction onland at Colt House, Sweetzer’s Piece, Mortimer, Berkshire (hereafter ‘the Site’)centred on NGR 464385 164690.

The watching brief was undertaken as a condition of planning consent for theredevelopment of the Site to provide two detached residential properties withgarages. The West Berkshire Council Archaeological Advisor (WBCAA) had advisedthat the Site had the potential to contain archaeological remains. A previous

evaluation of one of the two proposed house plots on the Site had revealed a part of the buried Grim’s Bank where the bank and ditch had suffered considerabletruncation from modern building and gardening work (Wessex Archaeology 2004).Consequently the WBCAA requested a better record of the nature of the bank andditch elsewhere within the development by means of a targeted archaeologicalwatching brief during construction.

One trench was excavated along the projected line of Grim’s Bank, which revealedthe ditch. The ditch was also observed and recorded in the foundation trenchesexcavated during construction of the proposed houses.




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Acknowledgements

Wessex Archaeology in London was commissioned by Isignia Homes Ltd. Wessex Archaeology in London would like to thank the onsite staff of AMC Construction Ltdfor their assistance.

John Powell carried out the fieldwork, with assistance from Zsolt Magyar. JohnPowell compiled the report, with illustrations prepared by Kitty Brandon. The project

was managed for Wessex Archaeology in London by Lawrence Pontin.




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Targeted Archaeological Watching Brief

1 INTRODUCTION

1.1 Project Background

1.1.1 Wessex Archaeology was commissioned via Mark Leedle by Isignia HomesLtd (the Client) to undertake a targeted archaeological watching brief as acondition of planning consent during construction on land at the Colt House,Sweetzer’s Piece, Mortimer, Berkshire.

1.1.2 An earlier phase of work was undertaken in 2004 to record one evaluation

trench on the proposed house plots (Wessex Archaeology, 2004).

1.1.3 This report refers to the watching brief undertaken during the construction onthe Site from 15th to 16th January 2006.

1.2 Site Description

1.2.1 The Site is located on a sub-rectangular parcel of land covering an area of c .0.11ha. It lies on the west side of the town of Mortimer, some 5 milessouthwest of Reading, centred on National Grid Reference 464385 164690.The Site is bordered by two roads; to the south by Sweetzer’s Piece, and tothe west by St Catherine’s Hill (see Figure 1).

1.2.2 The Site is generally flat, and lies at a height of approximately 96m aboveOrdnance Datum (aOD). The Site was previously occupied by the disusedColt House property (demolished prior to the time of work) and gardens.

1.2.3 The underlying geology of the Site has been identified as Plateau gravels of the Reading beds (British Geological Survey, 1997).

1.3 Archaeological Background

1.3.1 The Site is known to straddle the projected line of Grim’s Bank. Grim’s Bankis presumed to be a Late Iron Age ditch acting as a boundary to an Oppida

within which the subsequent Roman town of Calleva developed to the south(Wessex Archaeology 2004). Parts of the upstanding remains of the bankand ditch not on the Site are a Scheduled Monument. No upstandingremains of the bank and ditch survive on Site.

1.3.2 As discussed above, the previous evaluation (Wessex Archaeology 2004)demonstrated that buried remains for the bank and ditch do survive on Site,in a degraded form due to modern truncation. The deposits within the ditchshowed some evidence for an upstanding bank which had weathered intothe ditch over a period of time. Later filling of the ditch was thought to date tothe construction of the Colt House and subsequent planting and re-plantingof the gardens.




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1.3.3 A barrow cemetery also lies some 300m to the North of the Site.

2 WATCHING BRIEF AIMS

2.1.1 The aims of the targeted archaeological watching brief were to identify, dateand characterise any surviving remains of Grim’s Bank within the footprint of the south western garage by means of the excavated trench, and to assessthe condition and depth of any such remains.

3 METHODOLOGY

3.1 Methodological Standards

3.1.1 All work was undertaken in compliance with the standards outlined in theInstitute of Field Archaeologist’s Standards and Guidance for Archaeological Watching Briefs (as amended 2001).

3.2 Health and Safety

3.2.1 All work was carried out in accordance with the Health and Safety at Work Act (1974) and the Management of Health and Safety Regulations (1992),and all other relevant Health and Safety legislation, regulations and codes of practice in force.

3.2.2 A risk assessment was prepared by Wessex Archaeology prior to thecommencement of fieldwork (WA 2007).

3.3 Fieldwork

3.3.1 The majority of work on Site was concentrated on one machine excavatedtrench, sited within the footprint of the proposed development (Figure 1).The foundation trenches for the westerly house were archaeologicallymonitored and where the ditch was visible it was recorded using Wessex Archaeology’s pro forma recording system.

3.3.2 The trench was excavated to archaeological/geological levels using a 360-degree tracked machine, equipped with a toothless grading bucket, under constant archaeological supervision.

3.3.3 The revealed section of Grim’s Bank was excavated using the trackedmachine. Successive layers were removed and visually scanned for

archaeological material. The trench was hand cleaned and a written recordwas created using Wessex Archaeology’s pro forma recording system. Aphotographic archive (including digital images) was maintained.

3.3.4 Where the ditch was revealed in the house foundation trenches, it wasrecorded and the positions of ditch sections were marked on the plan of theSite.

3.3.5 Following completion of the targeted watching brief the trench was backfilledfollowing agreement with the WBCAA.




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4 RESULTS

4.1.1 The following section provides a brief summary of the findings for allrecorded interventions and each has been allocated a trench number.Detailed descriptions of deposits and depths are provided in Appendix 1.

4.1.2 The targeted trench revealed one ditch [204] cut into the underlying naturalgravels. The ditch was located towards the south eastern end of the trenchand was aligned with the extrapolated line of Grim’s Bank. (Figure 1). Twofurther sections of the ditch were observed to the north east of the targetedtrench within the house foundation trench, these sections showed a similar profile and infilling sequence as that described below.

4.1.3 Finds from the ditch (213) included a modern bottle and modern potterysherds. These finds probably relate to the latter infilling of the ditch duringconstruction of the Colt House and due to their modern date were notretained. All archaeological layers had suffered from heavy root disturbance,

probably related to the humic nature of the ditch fills in comparison to thesurrounding natural.

4.1.4 The targeted ditch section [204] revealed the ditch to have a wide flatbottomed profile (see Figure 2). The earliest sequence of infilling comprisedprimary deposits (205, 206) which were derived from erosion andstabilisation of the sides of the features. Above the primary fills was asecondary deposit of very dark grey-brown silty-clay deposit (208) with ahigh humic content, which was also visible in section in the house foundationtrenches. This deposit may relate to the collection of organic material withinthe excavated ditch, during its use as a linear landscape boundary.

4.1.5 The latter filling of the ditch was composed of tertiary fills (209 - 213) andmay indicate a degree of levelling out of the ditch hollow during theconstruction of the Colt House property. This would suggest that the ditchmay still have been a visible feature during the construction of the ColtHouse.

4.1.6 Deposits recorded in section to the north east of the ditch may represent thevery base of an up-cast bank or made up ground relating to the constructionof the Colt House (202 and 201). These layers were cut by [214] a featureprobably relating to later garden features associated to the Colt House.

4.1.7 The ditch and deposits to the north east were overlain by c 0.20m of topsoil.

5 CONCLUSION

5.1.1 In conclusion, the watching brief has demonstrated the preservation of asection of ditch and possible levelled down bank, which probably representthe remnants of Grim’s Bank (Figure 2). The location of the ditch in sectionsof the house foundation trenches supports the extrapolated line of Grim’sBank, running north east to south west across Site.

5.1.2 No artefactual material of archaeological interest was recovered duringarchaeologically monitored works. The only finds recovered were of amodern date and probably relate to the later infilling of the ditch associated

with the construction of Colt House.




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5.1.3 The stratigraphic sequence revealed evidence that the lower fills of the ditchhad been formed by slow natural infilling. The upper fills of the ditch consistof episodes of possible deliberate infilling or levelling. This later infilling mayrelate to levelling activities that occurred during the construction of the ColtHouse.

6 BIBLIOGRAPHY

British Geological Survey, 1997, Reading. Solid and Drift Geology.1:50,000.

Institute of Field Archaeologists (IFA), 2001, Standards and Guidance for Archaeological Watching Briefs

Wessex Archaeology, 2004, The Colt House, Sweetzer’s Piece, Mortimer,

Berkshire:Archaeological Evaluation Report Reference 58180.02

Wessex Archaeology, 2007, The Colt House, Sweetzer’s Piece, Mortimer,Berkshire: Risk Assessment for Archaeological Watching Brief Reference64580.1



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Plates 1 & 2

Wessex Archaeology Y:\PROJECTS\64580\Drawing Office\Report Figures\W B\A4_Photos 64580

GDO07/02/07

Path:

Illustrator:Date:

Plates 2: General view of site from SW

Plates 1: SW facing section of ditch [204]



WESSEX ARCHAEOLOGY LIMITED.

Head Office: Portway House, Old Sarum Park, Salisbury, Wiltshire SP4 6EB.Tel: 01722 326867 Fax: 01722 337562 [email protected] www.wessexarch.co.ukLondon Office: Unit 113, The Chandlery, 50 Westminster Bridge Road, London SE1 7QY.Tel: 020 7953 7494 Fax: 020 7953 7499 [email protected] www.wessexarch.co.uk

Sweetzer's Piece - Mortimer

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