T H A M E S V A L L E Y ARCHAEOLOGICAL S E R V I C E S Land at Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, Huntercombe Lane South, Taplow, Berkshire An archaeological recording action By Daniel Bray WLS12/150 (SU 9339 8088)
Land at Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, Huntercombe Lane South, Taplow, Berkshire Archaeological Recording Action For CgMs Consulting By Daniel Bray Thames Valley Archaeological Services Ltd Site Code WLS 12/150 January 2013
Summary Site name: Land at Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, Huntercombe Lane South, Taplow, Berkshire Grid reference: SU 9339 8088 Site activity: Recording action Date and duration of project: 6th-11th December 2012 Project manager: Steve Ford Site supervisor: Daniel Bray Site code: WLS12/150 Area of site: 400 sq m Summary of results: The recording action revealed a single ring gully. No artefacts were found during excavation. The gully is thought most likely to represent an Iron Age round house. Monuments identified: Ring gully (undated, but probably Iron Age) Location and reference of archive: The archive is presently held at Thames Valley Archaeological Services, Reading pending availability of a suitable repository. This report may be copied for bona fide research or planning purposes without the explicit permission of the copyright holder. All TVAS unpublished fieldwork reports are available on our website: www.tvas.co.uk/reports/reports.asp. Report edited/checked by: Steve Ford 14.01.13 Steve Preston 24.12.12 i Thames Valley Archaeological Services Ltd, 47 49 De Beauvoir Road, Reading RG1 5NR Tel. (0118) 926 0552; Fax (0118) 926 0553; email tvas@tvas.co.uk; website: www.tvas.co.uk
Land at Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, Huntercombe Lane South, Taplow, Berkshire An Archaeological Recording Action Summary By Daniel Bray Report 12/150b A recording action, prior to residential development investigated a single ring gully structure previously identified during evaluation trenching. No artefacts were found during excavation not charred plant remains with which to provide dating evidence. The gully is most likely to represent a Middle-late Iron Age house site. Introduction This report documents the results of an archaeological recording action carried out on land at Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, Huntercombe Lane South, Taplow, Berkshire (SU 9339 8088) (Fig. 1) The work was commissioned by Ms Suzanne Gailey, of CgMs Consulting, 140 London Wall, London, EC2Y 5DN on behalf of Taylor Wimpey West London, Stratfield House, Station Road, Hook, Hampshire, RG27 9PQ. Planning permission (P/02441/010) has been granted by Slough Borough Council for residential development of land at the former Wyeth Pharmaceuticals Laboratories in Taplow. The consent is subject to a condition (8) relating to archaeology, requiring a phased programme of archaeological investigation. A deskbased study had summarized the archaeological potential of the area (Chadwick 2011) which had also previously been evaluated (OA 1993). Features found during this earlier work were confirmed in a recent evaluation (Bray 2012). The recording action was carried out to a specification approved by Ms Fiona Macdonald, Principal Archaeologist with Berkshire Archaeology, advisers to Slough Borough Council on matters relating to archaeology. The fieldwork was undertaken between 6th and 11 December 2012 by Daniel Bray with Kyle Beaverstock and Aidan Colyer and the site code is WLS 12/150. The archive is presently held at Thames Valley Archaeological Services, Reading and will be deposited at an appropriate museum in due course. Topography and Geology Taplow is located to the north-west of the site and Cippenham is directly to the east (Fig. 1). The site is located on an irregular parcel of land occupied by a car park that was used by the former Wyeth Labs located directly to 1
the south (Fig. 2). The construction of this car park in the late 20th century levelled the slightly undulating natural topography. The site is bounded by residential houses to the north and Huntercombe Lane South to the west. The River Thames is approximately 1.25km to the south. The site lies at a height of 23.5m above Ordnance Datum and the underlying geology is recorded as Shepperton gravel deposit (BGS 2005). A mid orange brown clay silt natural geology was observed with large patches of gravel. Archaeological background The archaeological potential of the site has been highlighted in a desk-based assessment (Chadwick 2011). In summary, the site lies in the archaeologically rich Thames Valley. The area is notable for the Palaeolithic period with many artefacts of this date being found during extraction of gravel on the higher and older terraces of the Thames at various sites in Taplow and Slough. The earlier neolithic period is also well represented with settlement sites, burial sites and ceremonial sites (causewayed enclosures) such as at Eton Wick, Boveney and Dorney (Allen and Welsh, 1998; Whittle et al 2012). Extensive excavations to the east at Cippenham revealed multi-period occupation which included a ring gully structure similar to here (Taylor 2012). The site has been previously evaluated. The earlier phase produced four flint flakes of possible Neolithic or Bronze Age date and undated linear features (OA 1993). The second evaluation confirmed the presence of features likely to represent a circular structure along with a very modest volume of deposits of possible archaeological interest (Bray 2012). The threat of damage to or destruction of the potential circular structure by the development prompted the recording action reported here. The Excavation The excavation area of around 400 sq m (Fig. 3) was stripped of Tarmac and hardcore using a JCB-type machines fitted with a breaker and then a toothless grading bucket under constant archaeological supervision. This area was specifically targeted with the aim of determining the nature and character of the possibly circular structure at the eastern end of the site. The excavated area revealed just a single ring gully with no associated pits or postholes. Ring gully 100 (Figs 4 and 5; Pls 1 4) A single ring gully (100) was revealed measuring approximately 9m in diameter (Pls 1 and 2). It was investigated by a series of nine slots, one of which was during the evaluation (Fig 4. 5, 10 17). These were a 2
nominal 2m in length with a 0.30m baulk left to provide sections (the baulks were later removed) (Pls 3 and 4). This revealed that the gully ranged in depth from 0.08m 0.25m with a single fill (Fig. 5). The whole circuit of the gully was excavated, except part of the eastern side which lay outside the area of excavation. The excavated slots revealed the gully to be continuous although an entrance could be outside the excavation area. The fill (70 77) was friable, light to mid brownish grey clay silt with occasional gravel inclusions. No artefacts were found. Sieving of soil samples for charred plant remains was also disappointing with at most a few flecks of unidentifiable charcoal present. What had appeared to be a small pit or posthole (4) was excavated within the circuit of the ring gully during the evaluation phase but on re-examination this appears more likely to be a geological or natural feature. Finds No artefacts were found during the excavation. The first phase of evaluation (OA 1993) had recovered four broadly late prehistoric flint flakes and the second phase (Bray 2012) nothing more. Sieved Samples Bulk soil samples of between 10 20L were taken from seven excavated slots across the ring gully in addition to two taken during the evaluation phase, to recover environmental remains and to enhance finds recovery. The samples were floated and wet sieved using 5mm and 0.25mm meshes. No artefacts were recovered and only very rare charcoal flecks noted. Conclusion The fieldwork confirmed the interpretation of the evaluation stage of the project and revealed a ring gully structure. The ring gully was of a size and form that suggests that it is most likely a ring gully house site. No entrance was revealed though the shallow depth of the structure would have posed little obstruction to access. Usually such entrances are to be found on the south-east, but here this zone of the ring gully lay beyond the excavated area. The area within the gully was hand cleaned but no associated pits or postholes were identified. It is considered that the structure is of Middle-Late Iron Age date as this is a distinctive and typical form of construction in those times. Such structures have been recognized as forming extensive and long-lived Iron Age settlements with numerous buildings replaced on many occasions. They are also to be found in relative isolation with few associated features or artefacts and presumably represent short-lived or specialized sites producing 3
little durable waste. A single ring gully structure at Cippenham to the east was associated with a few pits and boundary features but itself produced virtually no artefacts (Taylor 2012). It is possible that the site at Wyeth Lane is typical of one of these small isolated sites, though it is not known if this feature is peripheral to a larger complex located in unexcavated areas further to the east. It is also possible, but thought to be less likely, that the structure is the remains of a small burial mound of Bronze Age date. A small shallow ring gully was excavated at Harmondsworth (Andrews 1996, 10) and many such sites, often as satellite burials to other barrows or small barrows extant as earthworks, have been recorded (Ashbee 1960). Acknowledgements The author would like to thank all who participated on site and behind the scenes. The excavation team consisted of Kyle Beaverstock and Aidan Colyer. References Allen, T and Welsh, K, 1998, Eton Rowing Lake, Dorney, Buckinghamshire Third interim report South Midlands Archaeol 28, 75 84 Andrews, P, 1996, Prospect Park, Harmondsworth, London Borough of Hillingdon: settlement and burial from the Neolithic to the early Saxon periods, in P Andrews and A Crockett, Three Excavations along the Thames and its Tributaries, 1994, Wessex Archaeol Rep 10, Salisbury, 1 50 Ashbee, P, 1960, The Bronze Age Round Barrow in Britain, London BGS, 2005, British Geological Survey, 1:50000, Sheet 255, Solid and Drift Edition, Keyworth Bray, D, 2012, Land at Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, Huntercombe Lane South, Taplow, Berkshire: an archaeological evaluation, TVAS unpubl rep 12/150, Reading Chadwick, P, 2011, Land off Huntercombe Lane South, Taplow, Berkshire, an archaeological desk-based assessment, CgMs Consulting, London NPPF 2012, National Planning Policy Framework, Department of Communities and Local Government, London (TSO) OA, 1993, Wyeth Laboratories, Taplow, Berkshire, archaeological evaluation report, Oxford Archaeological Unit, Oxford Taylor A, 2012, Early Neolithic pit, Bronze Age occupation, Iron Age occupation and fields and Roman landscape features at Cippenham, Slough, Berkshire, in S Preston (ed) Settlement and Landscape Archaeology in the Middle Thames Valley: Slough and Environs, TVAS Monogr 14, Reading, 1 44 Whittle, A, Healy, F and Bayliss, A, 2011, Gathering Time: Dating the early Neolithic enclosures of southern Britain and Ireland, 2 vols Oxford 4
Slough Hungerford Newbury Thatcham READING Maidenhead SITE Windsor Bracknell Wokingham 82000 81000 SITE SU93000 94000 Land at Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, Huntercombe Lane South, Taplow, Berkshire Archaeological recording action Figure 1. Location of site within Taplow and Berkshire. Reproduced from Ordnance Survey Explorer 172 at 1:12500 Ordnance Survey Licence 100025880 WLS 12/150
80900 SITE 80800 SU93300 93400 WLS 12/150b Land at Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, Huntercombe Lane South, Taplow, Berkshire Archaeological Recording Action Figure 2. Detailed location of site. Reproduced from Ordnance Surveydigital mapping under licence. Crown copyright reserved. Scale 1:1250
D A B C 9 3 2 80900 8 7 disturbance 6 4 2 10 5 1 100 OA1 1 Car park 80800 Key 93400 TVAS Trenches OA Trenches N SU93300 Land at Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, Huntercombe Lane South, Taplow, Berkshire, 2012 Archaeological Recording Action Figure 3. Area excavated, in relation to evaluation trenches. Test pits WLS 12/150b 0 50m
A 11 10 5 80880 12 Ring gully 100 B D 13 4 14 15 16 17 C OA Tr. 1 TVAS Tr. 1 SU93390 93400 N Land at Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, Huntercombe Lane South, Taplow, Berkshire, 2012 Archaeological Recording Action Figure 4. Detail of Ring gully 100. WLS 12/150b 0 5m
N S NNE SSW NW SE 23.118maOD 22.73m 22.87m 72 70 71 12 10 11 WNW ESE NE SW SW NE 22.65m 22.84m 22.5m 73 74 75 13 14 15 NNW SSE NW SE 22.32m 22.08m 76 16 77 17 Land at Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, Huntercombe Lane South, Taplow, Berkshire, 2012 Archaeological Recording Action WLS 12/150b Figure 5. Sections. 0 1m
Plate 1. Ring gully 100, looking south, Scales: 2m and 1m. Plate 2. Ring gully 100, looking north, Scales: 2m and 1m. WLS 12/150b Land at Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, Huntercombe Lane South, Taplow, Berkshire, 2012 Archaeological recording action Plates 1 and 2.
Plate 3. Ring gully slot 10, looking south east, Scales: 0.3m and 0.1m. Plate 4. Ring gully slot 16, looking east, Scales: 1m and 0.3m. WLS 12/150b Land at Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, Huntercombe Lane South, Taplow, Berkshire, 2012 Archaeological recording action Plates 3 and 4.
TIME CHART Calendar Years Modern AD 1901 Victorian AD 1837 Post Medieval AD 1500 Medieval AD 1066 Saxon AD 410 Roman AD 43 BC/AD Iron Age 750 BC Bronze Age: Late Bronze Age: Middle Bronze Age: Early 1300 BC 1700 BC 2100 BC Neolithic: Late Neolithic: Early 3300 BC 4300 BC Mesolithic: Late Mesolithic: Early 6000 BC 10000 BC Palaeolithic: Upper Palaeolithic: Middle Palaeolithic: Lower 30000 BC 70000 BC 2,000,000 BC
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