| Abstract: |
Initial exploratory groundworks in Dec 2010:
Having located the positions of the proposed boreholes by hand-measured survey, the geotechnical contractor undertook hand-excavation to a depth of c.1-1.2m. The final required depth at each location was achieved through mechanical boring. Archaeological recording was limited to the hand-dug portion, as the water-table prevented observations and recording below this depth. The results presented below have, therefore, been supplemented borehole data recorded by the geotechnical contractor. The three boreholes were located by hand-held GPS (with an accuracy of to +/- 5m), digitally photographed to the top of the water-table and recorded in section. Each borehole was allocated a block of one hundred ‘context’ numbers for recording purposes, as follows: Borehole 1 was assigned 100-199, Borehole 2 was assigned 200-299 and Borehole 3 was assigned 300-399.
Later watching brief for the expansion and upgrade of the treatment plant during Nov 2011-Jan 2012:
The topsoil was stripped from the site using a 14 tonne and 20 tonne 360° mechanical excavator and a 7 tonne mini-digger. Construction was undertaken in six progressive phases, each of which was monitored in turn and are sub-referenced as Areas 1-6. The numbering of these areas follows the sequence in which they took place, rather than a geographical progression across the site.
The areas were as follows:
• Area 1 - access road ;
• Area 2 - temporary car parking and offices;
• Area 3 - Rotating Biological Contactor (RBC);
• Area 4 - “L” shaped cable trench;
• Area 5 - working width and pipe trench for the inlet pipe; and
• Area 6 - pumping station.
See WSI in report for more details. Earlier WB Dec 2010 - Results:
Despite there being a record of extant ridge and furrow within the PDA, no surviving trace could be seen, despite close examination of the surface. Unfortunately, the change of methodology to boreholes meant that no useful profiles could be obtained to record any buried remains which might survive at the site. The absence of any archaeological deposits or finds suggests only limited archaeological activity within the local area. The layers identified below subsoil were clearly alluvial in nature, suggesting that the PDA is located within the historic floodplain of the nearby River Severn.
Later WB Nov2011-Jan2012 - Conclusions:
The findings from Kerswell Green have limited potential to increase our understanding of the local history and prehistory. The three features 402, 405 and 407 were unconvincing furrows at
best, and did not prove the existence of ridge-and-furrow, and as such cannot be said to achieve the objective of identifying those features, whilst the presence of post-medieval water management features on a flood plain was hardly surprising. The putative hollow-way may have been of some interest, though as its nature is open to interpretation it is also considered to be of limited importance. As such, the work carried out was moderately successful in
addressing its general objective to “identify, appropriately manage and fully mitigate the archaeological resource potentially affected by the works”, but only had limited success in the specific objective to “document any surviving evidence for Medieval Ridge and Furrow
activity as observed within the upper soil deposits”. (Network Archaeology, 2010).
In summary, the results of the watching brief are considered to be of no more than local importance, and do not require any further fieldwork or analysis. |
