Land South of Southend Road Wickford Essex...a cremation cemetery, indicating that a more extensive...

Land South of Southend Road Wickford

Essex

Archaeological Evaluation

January 2014

for

Martin Grant Homes Ltd

CA Project: 660026 CA Report: 14011

Land South of Southend Road Wickford

Essex

Archaeological Evaluation

CA Project: 660026 CA Report: 14011

prepared by Simon Carlyle, Principal Fieldwork Manager

date 23 January 2014

checked by

date

approved by Simon Carlyle, Principal Fieldwork Manager

signed

date

issue 01

This report is confidential to the client. Cotswold Archaeology accepts no responsibility or liability to any third party to whom this report, or any part of it, is made known. Any such party relies upon this report entirely at their own risk. No part of this report may be reproduced by any means without permission.

© Cotswold Archaeology

Cirencester Milton Keynes Andover

Building 11 Unit 4 Stanley House

Kemble Enterprise Park Cromwell Business Centre Walworth Road

Kemble, Cirencester Howard Way, Newport Pagnell Andover, Hampshire

Gloucestershire, GL7 6BQ MK16 9QS SP10 5LH t. 01285 771022 t. 01908 218320 t. 01264 347630

e. [email protected]

© Cotswold Archaeology Land South of Southend Road, Wickford, Essex: Archaeological Evaluation

3

CONTENTS

SUMMARY ..................................................................................................................... 4

1. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................ 5

2. FIELDWORK RESULTS..................................................................................... 9

3. DISCUSSION ..................................................................................................... 9

4. CA PROJECT TEAM .......................................................................................... 9

5. REFERENCES ................................................................................................... 9

APPENDIX A: CONTEXT DESCRIPTIONS ................................................................... 11

APPENDIX B: OASIS REPORT FORM .......................................................................... 13

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Fig. 1 Site location plan, 1:25,000

Fig. 2 Trench location plan, 1:500

Fig. 3 Recorded Heritage Assets, 1:10,000

Fig. 4 General view of the site, looking north-west

Fig. 5 Trench 9, looking south


4

SUMMARY

Project name: Land South of Southend Road, Wickford

Location: Southend Road, Wickford, Essex

NGR: TQ 7589 9324

Type: Evaluation

Date: January 2014

Site code: LSR 13

In January 2014, an archaeological evaluation, comprising the excavation of ten trial

trenches, was undertaken by Cotswold Archaeology on a plot of land to the south of

Southend Road, Wickford, Essex. The work, which was commissioned by Martin Grant

Homes Ltd, was carried out to fulfil the archaeological condition that had been attached to

planning consent for the development of the site.

No archaeological remains were encountered within the trial trenches and the topsoil, which

was between 0.2m and 0.4m thick, lay directly over the geological substrate. There was no

archaeologically significant artefactual material in the excavated spoil.


5

1. INTRODUCTION

1.1 In January 2014, an archaeological evaluation, comprising the excavation of ten

30m trial trenches, was undertaken by Cotswold Archaeology (CA) on a plot of land

to the south of Southend Road, Wickford, Essex (site centred on NGR: TQ 7589

9324; Fig. 1). The work, which was commissioned by Martin Grant Homes Ltd, was

carried out to fulfil the archaeological condition that had been attached to planning

consent for the residential development of the site (planning ref.

BAS/07/00004/FULL; Condition 14).

1.2 The archaeological condition was requested by Essex County Council’s Historic

Environment Management Team (ECCHEMT), archaeological advisor to Basildon

District Council. It required a programme of archaeological work to be carried out as

the site lies within an area of archaeological potential, as indicated by the Essex

Historic Environment Record (HER) and the results of a desk-based assessment of

an adjacent area to the north and north-east of the site by CA (2006). The scope of

the evaluation was set out in a brief issued by ECCHEMT (2011).

1.3 The project was undertaken in accordance with the Written Scheme of Investigation

(WSI) issued by CA (2011), the preparation of which attended to the requirements

of the brief and followed best practice, as set out in the Institute for Archaeologists’

Standard and Guidance for Archaeological Field Evaluation (IfA 2008) and the

English Heritage procedural documents Management of Archaeological Projects 2

(EH 1991) and Management of Research Projects in the Historic Environment

(MoRPHE): Project Manager’s Guide (EH 2006). The work was monitored by Sue

Tyler, Essex County Council’s Historic Environment Officer.

The site

1.4 The site, which covers an area of c. 1.25ha, is located in the eastern suburbs of

Wickford, approximately 0.4km to the west of the town centre (Fig. 1). It comprises

former sport pitches, bounded by the Southend Road to the north, a railway line to

the south and residential properties to the west and east.

1.5 The ground is relatively flat, lying at c. 21m above Ordnance Datum (aOD), although

there is a slight drop-off in ground level in the south-east corner of the site. The

geology comprises Eocene rocks of the London Clay Formation, overlain

intermittently by Quaternary Head deposits (BGS 2014).


6

Archaeological and historical background

1.6 An archaeological desk-based assessment (DBA) of an adjacent area to the north

and north-east of the site has previously been prepared by CA (2006), which

detailed known heritage assets in the vicinity and highlighted the archaeological

potential of the area. Furthermore, in 2006 an archaeological evaluation was

undertaken by CA to the north-east of the current site, although no archaeological

features were encountered.

Prehistoric

1.7 In 1968, a Palaeolithic hand axe, probably a residual find, was found to the north of

the site during a rescue excavation at Beauchamp’s Farm (Fig. 3, 5; Rodwell 1970a:

84). Part of the socket and loop of a Late Bronze Age socketed axe and part of a

socketed knife were found at the same site (Fig. 3, 1a; Rodwell 1970c: 331).

1.8 Evidence of Bronze Age settlement, including a Middle Bronze Age post-built

structure, was encountered to the west of the site during excavations prior to the

construction of the A130 (Fig. 3, 4).

1.9 The excavations at Beauchamp’s Farm investigated an extensive Iron Age

settlement, which initially comprised a small Early Iron Age farmstead and a small

polygonal structure that may have been a shrine (Fig. 3, 1b; Rodwell 1968: 6,

1970a: 84, 1970b: 330). There appears to have been a hiatus in activity on the site

in the Middle Iron Age, but activity resumed in the Late Iron Age, with the

establishment of successive enclosures, timber buildings, wells, gravelled floors and

a cremation cemetery, indicating that a more extensive settlement was present at

this date (Rodwell 1970a: 84, 1970c: 331).

1.10 Iron Age activity has also been encountered off Wick Lane, c. 0.5km to the west of

the site, where Middle Iron Age pits and cremations were discovered (Fig. 3, 4).

Romano-British

1.11 At Beauchamp’s Farm the remains of a Roman marching camp, broadly

contemporary with the Late Iron Age settlement, were investigated; this may be

associated with the Roman invasion in AD43 or the suppression of the Boudiccan

Revolt in AD61 (Fig. 3, 1; Rodwell 1970a).


7

1.12 In the 2nd century, a villa was constructed at the Beauchamp’s Farm site, which was

surrounded by a large ditched enclosure. An extension to this enclosure was

abandoned late in the 2nd century, at the time of a fire at the villa (Fig. 3, 1c;

Rodwell 1968, 4). The settlement expanded, with domestic and agricultural timber

buildings constructed outside the enclosure ditch in the 3rd and 4th centuries, and a

stone granary built in the 4th century (Rodwell 1970b, 330). Cremation burials were

also found and a later watching brief revealed a corn drying oven and tile built

structures which appeared to contain re-used hypocaust tiles (Neild 1979). The end

of the Roman settlement was marked by a fire in the second half of the 4th century

(Rodwell 1970a, 84).

1.13 Approximately 100m to the north of the site, a Roman road on an east to west

alignment was found during the excavations at Beauchamp’s Farm (Fig. 3, 1d).

Sub-Roman and Saxon

1.14 The settlement at Beauchamp’s Farm appears to have been occupied in the sub-

Roman and Saxon periods (Fig. 3, 1f). Three sub-Roman buildings of post, rubble

and turf construction have been found associated with sub-Roman pottery. Pottery

scatters suggest that sub-Roman occupation was extensive, but that it has been

mostly destroyed by ploughing. Early Saxon grass-tempered wares have also been

found in the latest contexts of the site.

1.15 Robbing activity took place on the Beauchamp’s Farm site during the Late Saxon

period when it is thought that occupation moved towards the location of the present

village of Wickford (Fig. 3, 1f). A cooking pit containing 11th-century pottery was

also encountered.

Medieval

1.16 Immediately to the north of the site and north of Southend Road, a medieval farm

was located at Beauchamp’s Farm (Fig. 3, 1e); Rodwell (1970) has suggested that

it may have been a small medieval manor. The farmhouse, a wing of which dated to

the 13th century, was destroyed in the 1960s.

Post-medieval

1.17 Beauchamp’s Farm was predominantly an 18th-century building, incorporating

remnants of the medieval farmhouse (Fig. 3, 1e).


8

Archaeological objectives

1.18 The objectives of the evaluation, as stated in the WSI (CA 2011), were to establish

the presence, absence, character, quality, date and extent of any archaeological

remains or deposits surviving within the site. This information will assist ECCHEMT

in making an informed judgement on the significance of the archaeological resource

and the likely impact upon it of the proposed development.

Methodology

1.19 The evaluation comprised the excavation and investigation of ten 30m trial trenches

(Fig. 2). The trenches were excavated using a JCB-type mechanical excavator fitted

with a 1.8m wide toothless ditching bucket. All machine excavation was undertaken

under constant archaeological supervision, to the top of the first significant

archaeological horizon or the geological substrate, whichever was encountered first.

1.20 Following machining, features and deposits were cleaned, hand-excavated,

planned and recorded in accordance with CA’s Technical Manual 1: Fieldwork

Recording Manual (CA 2007). Plans and sections were hand-drawn at an

appropriate scale and a photographic record of the project was maintained using

35mm black & white negative film and digital images. Trenches were surveyed

using a Leica 1200 series SmartRover GPS, in accordance with CA’s Technical

Manual 4: Survey Manual (CA 2009). All works were carried out in accordance with

Standards for Field Archaeology in the East of England (Gurney 2003).

1.21 There were no finds and there were no features suitable for environmental

sampling. All features and the spoil heaps were scanned with a metal detector, but

this only resulted in the recovery of modern refuse.

1.22 The archive and artefacts from the evaluation are currently held by CA at their

offices in Milton Keynes. Subject to the agreement of the legal landowner, the site

archive will eventually be deposited with Southend-on-Sea Museums Service

(Accession no. tbc). A summary of information from this project will be entered onto

the OASIS online database of archaeological projects in Britain.


9

2. FIELDWORK RESULTS

General stratigraphy

2.1 The geological substrate was weathered glacial Head, occurring as firm mid

greyish-orange mottled silty clay with frequent sub-angular pebbles and patches of

bluish-grey clay (Fig. 4). There was no subsoil and the topsoil, which had an

average thickness of 0.3m, consisted of soft mid-dark greyish brown silt with

occasional pebbles. A gravel surface on a silty sand base was recorded in Trench 3

and a thin layer, c. 0.11m thick, of dark brown, almost black clayey silt was noted

beneath the topsoil in Trench 10.

2.2 No archaeological remains were encountered in any of the trenches and the only

feature observed was a modern gravel-capped land drain in Trench 3.

3. DISCUSSION

3.1 The results of the evaluation suggest that the remains of settlement and activity

previously recorded at Beauchamp’s Farm and surrounding sites, which date from

the Bronze Age to post-medieval periods, does not extend into the current site. No

archaeological remains were encountered in any of the trenches and there was no

pre-modern artefactual material in the excavated spoil.

4. CA PROJECT TEAM

4.1 The fieldwork was supervised by Peter James, assisted by James Coyne and Kevin

White. The report was written by Simon Carlyle and the illustrations were prepared

by Dan Bashford. The archive will be compiled and prepared for deposition by

Nicola Powell. The project was managed for CA by Simon Carlyle.

5. REFERENCES

BGS (British Geological Survey) 2014 Online resource at

http://www.bgs.ac.uk/geoindex (accessed 23 January 2014)

CA (Cotswold Archaeology) 2006a Land North of Southend Road, Wickford, Essex:

Archaeological Desk-based Assessment, CA typescript report 03170


10

CA 2006b Land North of Southend Road, Wickford, Essex: Archaeological

Evaluation, CA typescript report 06094

CA (Cotswold Archaeology) 2011 Land South of Southend Road, Wickford, Essex:

Written Scheme of Investigation, unpublished document

ECCHEO (Essex County Council Historic Environment Officer) 2011 Brief for

Archaeological Trial trenching on Land South of Southend Road, Wickford,

unpublished document

Gurney, D, 2003 Standards for Field Archaeology in the East of England, East

Anglian Archaeol. Occ. Pap. 14

Neild, P, 1979 News from Wickford, Billericay Archaeological and Historical

Society Newsletter, December 1979

Rodwell, W, 1968 Beauchamp Farm, Wickford, 3rd interim report, Romano-British

finds, in The Essex Journal 3

Rodwell, W, 1970a Excavations at Wickford, 1968 / 1969, in The Essex Journal 5

Rodwell, W, 1970b Wickford 3rd interim report, Transactions of the Essex

Archaeological Society 2ii, 330-331

Rodwell, W, 1970c Wickford 4th interim report, Transactions of the Essex

Archaeological Society 2iii, 331-332


11

APPENDIX A: CONTEXT DESCRIPTIONS

Trench 1

Context no.

Type Description Length (m)

Width (m)

Depth (m)

Spot-date

100 Topsoil Soft mid-dark greyish brown silt with occ. pebbles.

- - 0.29 -

101 Geology Mid greyish-orange mottled silty clay with frequent sub-angular pebbles, extensive root disturbance.

- - - -

Trench 2

Context no.


Width (m)

Depth (m)

Spot-date


- - 0.40 -

201 Geology Mid greyish-orange mottled silty clay with frequent sub-angular pebbles.

- - - -

Trench 3

Context no.


Width (m)

Depth (m)

Spot-date

300 Layer Compacted gravel. - - 0.04 Modern

301 Layer Mid greyish-orange silty sand. - - 0.28 -

302 Geology Dark greyish-brown silty sand - - - -

Trench 4

Context no.


Width (m)

Depth (m)

Spot-date


- - 0.22 -


- - - -

Trench 5

Context no.


Width (m)

Depth (m)

Spot-date


- - 0.23 -


- - - -


12

Trench 6

Context no.


Width (m)

Depth (m)

Spot-date

600 Layer Compacted gravel. - - 0.08 Modern


- - 0.30 -


- - - -

Trench 7

Context no.


Width (m)

Depth (m)

Spot-date


- - 0.31 -


- - - -

Trench 8

Context no.


Width (m)

Depth (m)

Spot-date


- - 0.20 -


- - - -

Trench 9

Context no.


Width (m)

Depth (m)

Spot-date


- - 0.22 -


- - - -

Trench 10

Context no.


Width (m)

Depth (m)

Spot-date


- - 0.29 -

1001 Layer Dark brown, almost black clayey silt.

- - 0.11


- - - -


13

APPENDIX B: OASIS REPORT FORM

PROJECT DETAILS

Project name Land South of Southend Road, Wickford, Essex

Short description

No archaeological remains were encountered within the trial trenches and the topsoil, which was between 0.2m and 0.4m thick, lay directly over the geological substrate. There was no archaeologically significant artefactual material in the excavated spoil.

Project dates 6-8 January 2014

Project type Field evaluation

Previous work DBA (CA 2006)

Future work None

Monument type None

Significant finds None PROJECT LOCATION

Site location Southend Road, Wickford, Essex

Study area c. 1.25ha

Site co-ordinates TQ 7589 9324 PROJECT CREATORS

Name of organisation Cotswold Archaeology (CA)

Project Brief originator Richard Havis (ECCHEMT)

Project Design (WSI) originator CA

Project Manager Simon Carlyle (CA)

Project Supervisor Peter James (CA) PROJECT ARCHIVE

Accession no: tbc Content

Physical Southend-on-Sea Museums Service

None

Paper Site records

Digital Essex HER Report, digital photos

BIBLIOGRAPHY

CA (Cotswold Archaeology) 2014 Land South of Southend Road, Essex: Archaeological Evaluation. CA typescript report 14011

Essex

CotswoldArchaeology

Cirencester 01285 771022

Milton Keynes 01908 218320

Andover 01264 347630

w www.cotswoldarchaeology.co.uk

e [email protected]

N

PROJECT TITLE

FIGURE TITLE

FIGURE NO.DATEREVISIONSCALE@A4

PROJECT NO.DRAWN BYAPPROVED BY

0 1km

Reproduced from the 1999 Ordnance Survey Explorer map with the permission of Ordnance Survey on behalf of The Controller of Her Majesty's Stationery Office Crown copyright Cotswold Archaeology Ltd 100002109

c

28-01-2014001:25,000

660026DJBLM 1

Land South of Southend Road, Wickford Essex

Site location plan

1f1b

1c

1a

5

3

21

1e

9

7

8

4

6

10

1d

193000

194000

576000

577000

CotswoldArchaeology

t 01285 771022

f 01285 771033


e [email protected]

PROJECT TITLE

FIGURE TITLE



N

0 500m 29/01/2014041:10,000

660026DJBLM 3

Reproduced from the Ordnance Survey digital mapping with the permissionof Ordnance Survey on behalf of The Controller of Her Majesty's Stationery Office Crown copyright Cotswold Archaeological Trust 100002109 c

Recorded heritage assets


site

prehistoric

Roman

Saxon

medieval

post-medieval

modern

previous archaeological works

CotswoldArchaeology

Cirencester 01285 771022

Milton Keynes 01908 218320

Andover 01264 347630


e [email protected]

PROJECT TITLE

FIGURE TITLE



5

4

28/01/201400N/A

660026DJBLM 4 & 5


Photographs

4 General view of site looking north-west

5 Trench 9, looking south (scales 1m)

Land South of Southend Road Wickford Essex...a cremation cemetery, indicating that a more extensive...

Documents

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