Data from Test Pitting at 18 areas distributed along Area North, 2021 (HS2 Phase One)
Wessex Archaeology, High Speed Two Ltd., 2025. https://doi.org/10.5284/1127901. How to cite using this DOI
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- ADS Collection: 5943
- DOI:https://doi.org/10.5284/1127901
- How to cite using this DOI
Introduction
The archive comprises the digital records and files created during the 2021 Wessex HS2 Area North Test Pitting and the subsequent post-excavation assessment and analysis. It includes the paper records, photographic records, graphics, artefacts, ecofacts and digital data. This is made up of image, report, site record, spreadsheet, CAD and GIS data. The physical archive of these investigations is currently (as of May 2023) held at the offices of Wessex Archaeology in Sheffield.
The test pits were machine‐excavated, with the spoil hand‐sieved for the purposes of finds retrieval.The density of worked flint was generally light, with the assemblage widely distributed along the test pit arrays (TPA) which generally followed the western flanks of the drainage of first the River Blythe and then the Tame, northward towards its confluence with the Trent in the south of Staffordshire. The most significant concentration from the current survey was found at TPA21‐04B, where 40 flints, including Mesolithic material. Only around 10 percent of the flint from this TPA derived from subsoil deposits, and it is therefore likely that it has been significantly disturbed by ploughing.
Romano‐British artefacts were restricted to pottery, which was found in small quantities in most of the TPAs. Two minor concentrations are discernible, in ACZ21‐04, to the west of Tamworth, and in ACZ19‐13. ACZ21‐04 overlooks the course of the Roman road known as Watling Street (0.51 kilometres north‐east). Although there are few significant Roman discoveries in the vicinity, the transport and communications corridor that the road represents may explain why Romano‐British finds were relatively numerous in this part of the landscape. ACZ19‐13 correlates with Grimstock Hill near Coleshill, in an area of regionally significant activity in the Romano‐British period. The settlement and temple complex of that period provide some context for the material found in the TPAs, with results from investigations associated with HS2 closer to the River Cole, to the west of Grimstock Hill, revealing a wider hinterland of Romano‐British field systems, enclosures and buildings.
Medieval pottery was scarce but relatively widespread with nearly half of the TPAs being found to contain 1–4 sherds, two producing five sherds and two producing twelve and six sherds. Such slight evidence cannot be used to significantly advance discussions of demographic variation or changes to agricultural practices during the medieval period. The minor concentration at ACZ19‐13 may represent nearby activity focussed on the site of the medieval settlement. The discovery at ACZ19‐13 of a medieval ditch and corn‐drying kiln of the same probable date during the evaluation appears to confirm that this area represents a focus for medieval activity. A run of four TPAs along a 5.5 km stretch, south‐west of Tamworth, of the route contained no medieval pottery at all, which might reflect distance from settlement in this part of the route, a preponderance of pasture, extensive woodland, or a combination of these factors. A minor background scatter of post‐medieval/modern finds was recorded in all the TPAs. This material (predominantly pottery, ceramic building material, clay tobacco pipe and glass) represents the great majority of the assemblage recovered during the fieldwork. Perhaps significantly, these TPAs lay within 7 km of the village of Armitage, which lies to the north‐west of Lichfield. A small pottery was in existence in Armitage in the 1810s, and went on to be the home of the ‘Armitage Shanks’ brand of sanitary ware. The material recovered during the test pitting would be consistent with the earlier output of this pottery.
