Archaeology in the Severn Estuary 7

A rich variety of historic landscapes have evolved following the enclosure (land-claim) at various times of tidal marshes on the margins of the inner Bristol Channel and Severn Estuary (eg Aston and Iles 1986; Allen and Fulford 1986; Rippon 1996). Other than being flat and close to sea level, these settled and farmed landscapes today bear little or no resemblance to the natural environments which they replaced; in particular, the evidence for networks of tidal creeks that dissected the marshes has largely or wholly disappeared. Although defining, upstanding monuments of such historic landscapes, the seabanks and outfall works to be found in the region have been generally overlooked and left unrecorded as archaeological features, and are less well known than their critical role demands. The dating of many of these features is uncertain, especially in the case of the older examples, and is particularly difficult in the many instances where the repositioning of the original defence further inland (set-back) was enforced by coastalerosion. The lowland coastal zone has never been stable and the need to understand its character and functioning better is being emphasised by global climate change. The purpose of this paper is to review the evidence for, and dating of, set-back on the Wentlooge Level, the southwestern portion of the Gwent Levels, on the Welsh side of the Severn Estuary

Bibliography for the Severn Estuary Levels 1996

This note looks at the excavations, survey, and monitoring of projects that were undertaken in the Severn Estuary in 1996

This note from the secretary details planning issues that effected the estuary in 1996 and meetings the Severn Estuary Research Committee undertook during the year.

This paper details work undertaken by the Bristol and Regional Archaeological services on behalf of British Gas to excavate at Seabank, North of Avonmouth by the A403 Avonmouth to Severn Beach road. The work was done ahead of a British Gas Development. A trial trench done in 1995 revealed 12th century pottery and a larger scale excavation was done between June and August 1996 to search for any associated settlement. The work provided an opportunity for a detailed examination of the historic environmental changes that have taken place on the Goucestershire side of the Severn Estuary.

Fieldwork on the foreshore at Magor Pill, a tidal outlet on the coast of the Gwent Levels, has been the subject of papers in the last two Annual Reports. Allen and Rippon (1995) described the complex of palaeochannels exposed on the foreshore and associated, but often transported, artefacts. In last year's Annual Report, the discovery, excavation and recovery of a medieval wreck from within these palaeochannel deposits was briefly described (Nayling 1996). This report summarises ongoing results from post-excavation analysis of the wreck and, firstly, interim results of additional fieldwork carried out at Magor Pill in 1996

This paper details work done by the North Somerset Levels project in the field season of 1996. The attention shifted from earlier season to the coatline south of the Congresbury Yeo, in order to understand the potential roman and post roman exploitation of the levels.It is known that coastal parts of the North Somerset Levels were flooded during the post-Roman period (Rippon 1997, 123-7). Recolonization of the area was certainly underway by Domesday, when several settlements and numerous ploughteams are recorded, indicating that the Levels had been re-reclaimed. Key questions are, firstly, the date of this recolonization, secondly, whether these early settlements initially lay on a seasonally exploited saltmarsh or in an environment already protected from inundation by sea walls, and thirdly, the extent to which they were agriculturally based as opposed to exploiting the rich natural wetland resources. This paper attempts to answer these questions by examining two sites, Waterloo Farm, Banwell Moor and Church Field, Puxton.