Archaeology in the Severn Estuary 10

In the 1980s the Soil Survey of England and Wales undertook a re-survey of the peat moors of the Somerset Levels as part of the National Lowland Peat Inventory. The intention was to cover the region using hand-driven boreholes at a 0.5 km resolution based on the Ordnance Survey 's National Grid. Although some of the new information was summarised in two publications (Burton and Hodgson 1987; Cope 1987) full details were never published. Examination of the available stratigraphic records presents a picture of the Holocene lithology of a hitherto relatively unstudied area of peat moorland in the Upper Brue encompassing Queen's Sedgemoor, Godney Moor and Glastonbury Heath. The borehole coverage is sufficient to allow the mapping of a number of sub-surface organic and alluvial lithological units. What emerges is the palaeogeography of a dynamic wet lowland landscape, mostly characterised by wood fen carr and sedge fen interspersed with muddy detrital watercourses and limited raised bog development, covered in places by extensive riverine deposits, at times influenced by high groundwater levels and estuarine alluviation.

Excavations and survey on the intertidally-exposed peat shelves at Rumney Great Wharf on the Wentlooge Level of the Gwent Levels have recovered widespread evidence for human activity during the Bronze Age. This study examined the archaeological potential of both large and small palaeochannels in the vicinity of such sites, as well as excavating a small structure under imminent threat from coastal erosion and recovering the last wooden elements of a previously excavated, possible roundhouse.

During the fourth season· of fieldwork in and around Puxton, near Weston-super-Mare, on the North Somerset Levels, progress was made in five areas. Work started on a contour survey to establish whether the present settlement lies on a slight island. A structural survey of eight historic farmhouses in the parish was also carried out which points to a major period of rebuilding during the 17th century. Three houses may contain traces of late medieval structures, while medieval pottery was also collected from several gardens. There were also three excavations. Firstly, an early Romano-British (?)saltern and ditched enclosure system was investigated on the Do/moors. Secondly, in a nearby field which on the Tithe Map was called 'Hardingworth ', excavation established that a concentration of settlement-indicative heavy metals, located in a soil chemistry survey of 1998, was due to a dump of postmedieval domestic rubbish. However, a buried soil was also recorded which probably equates with that observed in 1998 at Mays Lane and dated to the Roman period. Further work was also carried out in the oval-shaped 'infield' enclosure south of the church, including a trench across the bank that runs around that field. Excavation on the main building platform near the church revealed a sequence of features containing a large assemblage of I 0th to 13th century domestic refuse, and a series of palaeoenvironmental samples was taken. These will provide excellent comparative material for the later medieval and early post-medieval assemblages recovered during excavations to the north of the village at Mays Lane, and indeed for the Romano-British material retrieved from the Do/moors, and the sites at Banwell Moor and Kenn Moor.

A selection of fishing structures exposed on the foreshore to the east of Magor Pill were recorded and subjected to dendrochronological and radiocarbon dating in order to provide complementary evidence for coastal retreat, and to date developments in fish weir and trap forms. The earliest traps found, dating to the 12th century, comprised arms of closely-spaced, native hardwood stakes with sub-rectangular concentrations of split oak posts at the apices of the arms indicating the former position of basket traps. Later medieval, linear fish weirs, again constructed from native hardwood species, exhibited V-shaped concentrations of stakes along their lengths. These medieval structures were located between 430 m and 620 m from the present sea wall. An 18th century or later date is suggested for post-medieval weirs containing non-native softwoods found between 320 m and 420 mfrom the seawall. A putt weir constructed from Douglas Fir and situated, in part, on the exposed peat shelf fell into disuse in the 1930s and demonstrates the extent of peat erosion in the latter half of the 20th century.

This note described the investigations of two sites, the Kites Corner, a late bronze age site and the Moorend Farm, a site which produced a large assemblage of medival pottery.

Over the period from the late 16th century to the mid 18th century, the landing place at Magor Pill on the Gwent coast received pottery by water from chiefly four sources. Whereas wares travelled down the Severn and its estuary from the Malvern Chase (up to 1633) and Stroat industries, the potteries in South Somerset and, particularly, North Devon supplied wares from across the Bristol Channel. The other wares recorded are in very low ratios, but originate as far afield as Essex, the Surrey-Hampshire border, the Midlands and North Wales, and the Continent. Welsh industries seem to be unrepresented The pottery imported at Magor Pill is largely of the kind that would have been needed In the immediate hinterland for the making and export of dairy products. Finewaresfor the table are few. There is archaeological evidence for the export of livestock from the site, probably for fattening in the West and Southwest of England. The highest proportion of recorded wares came from the Bideford-Barnstaple area of North Devon, located on navigable estuaries. The prominence of these wares at Magor Pill illustrates well the cost-advantages of cheap water transport in the early post medieval period, which allowed North Devon products to be vigorously traded at many ports and landing places on the Severn Estuary, and upriver, the Bristol Channel, the Cornish and South Devon coast, the coast of lreland, and in the .Channel Islands and mainland France. Burgeoning British settlements in the West Indies and on the American East Coast were also supplied with pottery from North Devon. There was an important secondary dispersal from Cornwall, Wales and Ireland of North Devon jars and crocks (lidded jars), which were used in the export of butter and salted fish. In the wide dispersion of its wares chiefly by water, the North Devon pottery industry may be compared to the long-lived Romano-British enterprise of Southeast Dorset (BBi).

This article examines work done in somerset wetland archaeology, at the following sites: Baltmoor Wall, Athelney; Roman Salterns, Huntspill River; West Waste, Glastonbury; Withy Bridge, Huntspill, Peat soil wastage report; and the Glastonbury Lake Billage

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