| Abstract: |
Multiple phases of groundwork have taken place on this site. The earliest archaeological works took place on the 25th October, 2018 and the 6th November, 2018. The works involved the excavation of four test pits, for the purpose of detailing material above the archaeological horizon, with the later intention of planting trees. The results of the watching brief excavations identified the existence of two Roman ditches within test pit 1 (34m south of the recent excavation area for the new village hall building). Test pits 2-4 identified the depths and thicknesses of geological deposits, buried soil deposits as well as made-ground deposits. A possible buried ploughsoil material was also identified, but was not definitive. Later watching brief groundworks took place on the 9th October, 2019. That phase of works included the excavation of service trenches as well as the excavation of pits for manhole services. This included two sets of service trenches, the northernmost set of excavations had a total length of 47.60m with a maximum width of 1.60m and a maximum depth of 0.80m. The southernmost set of excavations were T-shaped and had a maximum length of 33.80m, a maximum width of 28.10m and a maximum depth of 1.20m (In the north-eastern corner). Two manhole pits measuring roughly 0.50m by 1.30m were excavated also, they had a simple stratigraphy of topsoil, subsoil and natural, and were not recorded in full with a section drawing. A further phase of watching brief excavations occurred between the 9th March, 2020 and the 19th March, 2020. These excavations were for a series of foundation pads for the temporary parish office building, in the south-west of the site and the children’s day nursery to the north-east. The foundation pads for the temporary parish building covered an area measuring 12.10m by 9.50m and involved the excavation of 25 pad footings. These 25 pad footings each had their own section drawing created, numbered from 50 to 74. However, due to their close proximity in a relatively small area, only sections 55, 61, 63 and 64 will be discussed. The other remaining sections all contained a simple stratigraphic sequence of topsoil, subsoil and natural and so do not provide any different information. To the north-east, for the children's day nursery, the excavations covered an area measuring 14m by 13.10m and included 24 foundation pads. Similar to the foundation pads for the temporary parish building, a section drawing of each intervention was recorded, numbering from 75 to 98. However, only sections 76, 77 and 89 will be discussed. The latest groundworks involved the excavation of an area measuring 30.80m by 18.50m which was excavated down to a depth of 0.74m, reaching the natural clay geology. It covered the footprint for the new village-hall building. These took place on the 17th and 18th May, 2021. Further construction works on the sport facilities, allotments, wildlife reserve and play areas, were not at a sufficient depth to impact the archaeological layer. As a result, these works did not need to be monitored. The archaeological investigation aimed to prove the existence of significant archaeological remains, with a particular focus of Prehistoric, Bronze Age, Iron Age and Roman periods. During the course of the excavation groundworks, two shallow, curvilinear gullies were uncovered. Both gullies had identical shapes in plan with nearly identical fill deposits. As a result, these two gullies have been determined to have been near contemporary with one another. It is probable that one of these gullies represented the re-digging of a bounded area or some other function which had moved the position of this function either to the east or the west. The western-most gully contained a single piece of Roman pottery that was dated to the later 2nd to 4th centuries AD. |
