SURVEY RESULTS

99 / 110 Hartlepool

1.	Survey Areas

1.1 	The location of the two survey areas is indicated on Figure 1 at a scale of 1:2500.

1.2 	The survey grid was set out by GSB Prospection and tied in by Bernard Thomason of English Heritage on behalf of Time Team. 

2.	Display

2.1	The results from the Town Moor site are displayed as XY traces and greyscale images accompanied by a simplified interpretation diagram, while solely greyscale images are presented for the churchyard.

3.	General Considerations - Complicating factors

3.1	Ground conditions at both sites were good for geophysical investigation, the fields comprising short grass, although the presence of gravestones hampered survey in the churchyard. Modern paths crossing both survey areas also affected the results.

4.	Town Moor 

4.1	Gradiometry and resistance surveys were carried out over a curvilinear anomaly originally  detected during the GeoQuest survey. Although highlighted as possible Civil War defences in their report, it was subsequently postulated that the responses could be of earlier archaeological potential. In particular, the pattern of anomalies looked ‘Roman’. As such, the results might indicate a Roman fort.

4.2	Both geophysical techniques identified the curvilinear anomaly, although element of the magnetic responses appeared very noisy. This magnetic disturbance could have been indicative of a ditch backfilled with slag or burnt material but the results seem to indicate drains or pipes. Given the concentration of such services that extend across the moor, and the nature of the geophysics date, an archaeological origin seemed unlikely.  

4.3	A small trench was targeted across one section of this response. Excavation indicated a concentration of stones and ash-like material overlying bedrock. The evidence was interpreted as indicating former footpaths, relatively recent in date. 

5.	    St Hilda’s Church

5.1	Resistance survey was targeted over a distinct bank-like earthwork visible in the churchyard to the south of the church. The results indicate a broad band of high resistance readings that is peppered and perforated with pockets of low resistance which coincide with individual graves. It is interesting to note that the high readings are concentrated in the vicinity of the earthwork, at the eastern end of the church. While no wall lines are apparent, the results could indicate a build up of rubble, perhaps associated with former structures. 

5.2	Although there are numerous responses associated with further graves elsewhere in the data, it is difficult to assign archaeological significance to the results because of the limited survey area.

6.        Conclusions

6.1	The survey on the Town Moor site successfully relocated the anomalies identified in an earlier GeoQuest survey. This allowed accurate targeting of a curvilinear response with a small excavation trench.

6.2	Resistance survey in the churchyard demonstrated that high readings did coincide with an earthwork and could therefore be of archaeological interest. However, it is not possible to be more specific and any interpretation with regard to the nature and date of any archaeological features is speculative.	

References

Daniels, R., 1999	The Anglo-Saxon Monastery at Hartlepool, England, unpublished paper prepared by Tees Archaeology for Time Team.

GeoQuest, 1994	Geophysical Surveys of the Friarage Field and Town Moor, Hartlepool, Cleveland 1994, unpublished report.

Project Co-ordinators:	J Gater & Dr C Gaffney 
Project Assistants:	C Martinez & A Shields 
Date of Survey:		20th September 1999
Date of Report:		15th January 2000

SITE SUMMARY SHEET

99 / 110 Hartlepool

Location and topography

Time Team investigated a variety of sites in the centre of Hartlepool. Due to the limited area available for survey, and other complications, geophysics was only carried out at two sites: the Town Moor and St Hilda’s Church. The former comprised an investigation of part of an open area of parkland, on the northeast outskirts of the town. At the church site, survey was confined to a small area of the graveyard. Both areas were gently undulating; individual gravestones presented numerous obstructions at the church site. The soils are loamy, overlying clay and Magnesian Limestone.   

Archaeology

The archaeology of the sites under investigation is summarised in a document prepared for Time Team in advance of the programme (Daniels, 1999). Past geophysical work by GeoQuest Associates (1994) on and around the Town Moor produced a complex of anomalies, mainly modern in origin. However, a few linear and curvilinear responses posed the intriguing possibility that a Roman fort might exist on the moor.

Aims of Survey

The aims of the geophysical investigations were as follows:
1.	To re-survey part of the Town Moor field in order to pinpoint the anomalies that could be associated with a conjectural Roman ditch.
2.	To investigate part of the churchyard in an attempt to find any evidence for an earlier church or monastic remains.

The geophysical work formed part of a Time Team programme for Channel 4 Television.

Summary of Results 

Work at the Town Moor site produced a complex of responses that were similar to those mapped in  earlier geophysical work by GeoQuest. The survey permitted the accurate siting of an excavation trench that allowed archaeological investigation of the origin of the anomalies.

Detailed resistance survey in the graveyard indicated an area of high resistance readings that coincided with an earthwork. While the geophysical results could be interpreted as a concentration of stone / rubble, it is difficult to place a more precise interpretation on the results.