| Title: |
Watching Brief at North Cerney Cable Route, Dark Lane |
| Series: |
Wessex Archaeology unpublished report series
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| Downloads: |
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wessexar1-513877_211400.pdf (7 MB)
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Download
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| Licence Type: |
ADS Terms of Use and Access
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| DOI |
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| Publication Type: |
Report (in Series)
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| Abstract: |
The northeast extent of the cable route had already been installed by using the mole ploughing system. The works were positioned along the south field edge, on steeply sloped ground near Dark Lane. Trench 1 was for the launch pit/jointing bay to connect the segment below Dark Lane and continue into the field to the southwest. Trench 2 was the launch pit to join to segment drilled beneath wall to the northeast. Trenches 3 and 4 were those dug to check the deposits for the continued mole ploughing and involved the removal of the topsoil only.
The watching archaeologist monitored all mechanical excavations within the specified area. The works were carried out by an 8 tonne mechanical excavator using a toothless bucket. Where necessary, the surfaces of uncovered archaeological deposits were cleaned by hand to aid visual definition. Spoil from machine stripping was visually scanned for the purposes of finds retrieval. Wessex Archaeology was commissioned by Savills to undertake an archaeological watching brief during the relocation of above-ground electricity infrastructure into an alternative, underground cable route. The works to be monitored covered an area centred on NGR 402180, 208014, at Dark Lane, North Cerney, Gloucestershire.
The proposed development comprised the installation of an underground corridor to replace the existing overhead line (OHL) and Pylon system. The new corridor extends for approximately 650 m traversing two arable fields and a short section of Dark Lane before terminating in a small substation to the southwest of the cable route.
The majority of the underground cable was laid using the mole plough method, a minimally invasive method of installing small diameter pipes with occasional launch pits / joint bays that required archaeological monitoring. There were no plans to require open-cut excavation over the medieval or post-medieval settlement remains of North Cerney. The proposed watching brief was located at the western end of the cable route as it emerged from a stone wall and passes across Dark Lane.
The watching brief determined there were no archaeological features, deposits, structures, artefacts or ecofacts within the specified work areas. The deposits encountered were all of natural origin.
The LiDAR imagery identified a series of raised banks and ditches of unknown origin and thought to have been repurposed as part of the medieval field system. Trench 2, near a northwest-southeast aligned possible earthwork adjacent to a dry-stone wall and mature tree, uncovered no archaeological remains.
Many of the medieval village buildings were demolished as a result of population shrinkage due to the agricultural depression and Black Death and the remains of associated earthworks surround the periphery of North Cerney. None were present within the cable route observed, which may be a factor of the steeply sloped character of the land at the particular work locations. |
| Author: |
Vix Hughes
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| Publisher: |
Wessex Archaeology
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| Year of Publication: |
2023
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| Locations: |
| County: |
Gloucestershire |
| Parish: |
North Cerney |
| Country: |
England |
| District: |
Cotswold |
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Grid Reference: 402179, 208013 (Easting, Northing)
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| Identifiers: |
| OASIS Id: |
wessexar1-513877 |
| Report id: |
253212.03 |
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| Source: |
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| Relations: |
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| Created Date: |
03 Jul 2023 |
