| Abstract: |
In February 2013, Cotswold Archaeology carried out an archaeological strip, map and sample excavation on the site of Great Alne Hall, Warwickshire, a late 19th-century house, designed and built by the architect Mr G. H. Hunt for Mr Daniel Rowlinson Ratcliff. The house was demolished in the late 1930s and offices were eventually built over the site, with the grounds being developed for a motor-manufacturing factory. This industrial complex, Maudslay Park, is now being demolished in turn and the site is being redeveloped for housing. The work was commissioned by CgMs Consulting and forms part of a programme of archaeological investigation being carried out at the site. Excavation revealed the substantial stone and brick foundations of the Victorian house. The remains of the southern part of the house comprised a basement, divided into four cells, which would have occupied the area below the principal rooms on the south side of the house. This area was entirely backfilled with demolition rubble to a depth of c. 0.6m and its removal revealed a rammed brick rubble floor. On the northern side of the house were the remains of the cellar, which consisted of five brick-lined rooms with white-washed walls, linked by a passage from the steps. The walls survived to a height of up to c. 1.8m and the floor was laid with purple-grey setts, which were continuous throughout the cellar. Internal features included a coal chute, part of a metal-framed window, door pins, drains, a gutter and the imprint on the larder walls of brick 'lockers'. Ridge tiles, coloured floor tiles, decorative ironwork, the twisted remains of leadlight windows, decorative wall tiles and fragments of marble from fireplace surrounds were recovered from the demolition deposits, giving an indication of the splendid interior decoration that once adorned the house. Other than agricultural land drains, there was no evidence for any activity or structures on the site prior to the construction of the 19th-century house. |
