Data from an Archaeological Trial Trench Evaluation at Railway Cottages, Doddershall Embankment, Buckinghamshire, 2017-2018 (HS2 Phase One)
Oxford Archaeology Ltd, High Speed Two Ltd., COPA: Cotswold Oxford Pre-Construct Archaeology, 2024. https://doi.org/10.5284/1124368. How to cite using this DOI
Data copyright © High Speed Two Ltd. unless otherwise stated
This work is licensed under a The Open Government Licence (OGL).
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Resource identifiers
- ADS Collection: 4277
- DOI:https://doi.org/10.5284/1124368
- How to cite using this DOI
Introduction
![View to SW. Section 98.5 [9803], Section 98.6 [9820], Oblique shot with 1x 2m scale](images/1C17RWCTT_1330.jpg)
This collection comprises the reports; site records; pottery, CBM, flint, metals, stone, animal bone and human bone recording data as well as the photographic archive for Railway Cottages, Doddershall Embankment.The documentary and finds archives will be deposited with Discover Bucks Museum.
Project Summary
COPA were commissioned by Fusion to undertake an archaeological trial trench evaluation at Railway Cottages, Doddershall Embankment, Buckinghamshire, hereafter referred to as ‘the Site’. The Project Plan established the scope, aims, and contribution to the Generic Written Scheme of Investigation: Historic Environment Research and Delivery Strategy (GWSI: HERDS) for the trial trench investigation, as well as the objectives, techniques, deliverables and reporting mechanism.
The Site encompassed a total area of c. 25.5ha and is required for the construction of an ecological habitat mitigation site located either side of the proposed HS2 railway embankment. The habitat site will provide compensatory grassland habitat, including the translocation of meadow soils, reptile hibernacula and nine new ponds. The construction for the HS2 mainline will also require the construction of a bridge to carry a new road and footpath over the HS2 railway alignment. The trial trench investigation in its entirety comprised 115 machine-excavated trenches, measuring 30m long and 2.10m wide. The Site was excavated in four areas. Area 1 was located in the western part of the Site, Area 2 in the southern part, Area 3 in the eastern part and Area 4 in the northern part. The fieldwork was undertaken between 13th November 2017 and 16th February 2018.
Geophysical survey had identified a complex of features on either side of the railway that ran north-west to south-east through the centre of the Site. These appeared to represent a Roman farmstead. In addition, a fieldwalking survey had produced a large assemblage of Roman pottery, as well as a single sherd of early to middle Anglo-Saxon pottery, indicating the possibility of the continuation of settlement use from Roman period into the Anglo-Saxon period. The Site lay within Community Forum Area (CFA) 12, Archaeological Sub-Zone (ASZ) 7 (Doddershall Outer Estate), which comprises an area of large fields associated with the Grade II* listed Doddershall House, located c. 300m to the west. As such, the Site as a whole was deemed to have potential for the survival of archaeological remains of Roman to post-medieval date and was subject to trial trenching to identify the location, extent, survival and significance of these.
Re-Use Value Statement
The evaluation indicated that the Site has potential to contribute to the following HERDS objectives. Further investigation may be required in order to fulfil these objectives.
Objective KC21: Assess the evidence for regional and cultural distinctiveness along the length of the route in the Romano-British period, with particular regard to the different settlement types encountered along the route.
Objectives KC23: Identify evidence for late Roman occupation and attempt to identify any continuity in settlement patterns between the end of the Romano-British period and the Early Medieval period.
Objectives KC35: Investigate the impacts on rural communities of social and economic shocks in the mid-14th century and thereafter and their contribution to settlement desertion. In Area 1 to the west and Area 4 to the north of the Site, only medieval furrows and a small number of related ditches and pits were encountered. The exception to this is a single pit in Trench 27 that probably dates to the mid-late Roman period, and a ditch in Trench 24 that might of Roman date. Furthermore, in the south-eastern parts of Area 2 and 3, and the north-eastern part of Area 3, trenches were either devoid of archaeological activity or only contained minor medieval features.
The significant archaeological features comprising the Roman farmstead were all concentrated over the majority of Area 2, and the adjacent south-western part of Area 3 (Figures 4-5). It is likely that further excavation will be required within these parts of the Site in order to meet Objective KC 21 and 23.
The evaluation confirmed many of the impressions of the Site suggested by the geophysical survey and programme of fieldwalking. However, the density of features appears greater than that shown by the geophysical survey, and there was no clear evidence of the continuation of the Roman settlement into the Saxon period. This was hinted by the single sherd of Saxon pottery discovered during fieldwalking and it remains possible that the activity continued beyond the end of the Roman period. The evaluation has therefore added detail to our understanding of the Site, but research aims regarding how the Site can inform about past activity remain broadly the same.
This report provides a record of the archaeological remains on the Site. In terms of further works, if the part of the Site comprising Area 2 and the south-western part of Area 3 is proposed to be truncated beyond the archaeological horizon, more work should be done to mitigate this as other features relating to Roman activity clearly survive. This work will be in order to fulfill Objectives KC21 and KC23. Any medieval activity discovered during these work will help to fulfill Objective KC35. Minor features dating to the medieval period will be truncated in the other parts of the Site.
