Land at Larchwood Farm, Whitehorse Lane Finchampstead, Berkshire

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1 Land at Larchwood Farm, Whitehorse Lane Finchampstead, Berkshire An Archaeological Evaluation for Mr. John Westbrook by James McNicoll-Norbury Thames Valley Archaeological Services Ltd Site Code LFF08/103 September 2008

2 Summary Site name: Land at Larchwood Farm, Whitehorse Lane, Finchampstead, Berkshire Grid reference: SU Site activity: Evaluation Date and duration of project: 17th September 2008 Project manager: Steve Ford Site supervisor: James McNicoll-Norbury Site code: LFF 08/103 Area of site: 200 sq m Summary of results: No archaeological finds or deposits were identified. Location and reference of archive: The archive is presently held at Thames Valley Archaeological Services, Reading and will be deposited at Reading Museum in due course. This report may be copied for bona fide research or planning purposes without the explicit permission of the copyright holder Report edited/checked by: Jo Pine Steve Preston i Thames Valley Archaeological Services Ltd, De Beauvoir Road, Reading RG1 5NR Tel. (0118) ; Fax (0118) ; tvas@tvas.co.uk; website :

3 Land at Larchwood Farm, Whitehorse Lane, Finchampstead, Berkshire An Archaeological Evaluation by James McNicoll-Norbury Report 08/103 Introduction This report documents the results of an archaeological field evaluation carried out on land at Larchwood Farm, White Horse Lane, Finchampstead (SU ) (Fig. 1). The work was commissioned by Ms Suzanne Gailey of CgMs Consulting, Morley House, 26 Holborn Viaduct, London EC1A 2AT on behalf of Mr. John Westbrook. Planning permission (F/2003/9439) has been granted by Wokingham Borough Council to redevelop the land at Larchwood Farm, Whitehorse Lane, Finchampstead, Berkshire for residential purposes. The proposed development will comprise a new house which is to stand on the same footprint of the previous, demolished structure. The proposed structure includes a basement at the centre of the new development and a programme of archaeological evaluation has been proposed for the area of the new basement. The consent is subject to a condition requiring a programme of archaeological investigation on the site, to take the form initially of evaluation by trial trenching. Based on the result of the evaluation, a scheme may be drawn up to mitigate the effects of the development on archaeological remains if necessary. This is in accordance with the Department of the Environment s Planning Policy Guidance, Archaeology and Planning (PPG ), and the Borough Council s policies on archaeology. The field investigation was carried out to a specification prepared by CgMs Consulting (Gailey 2008) and approved by Ms Mary O Donoghue, Archaeology Officer for Berkshire Archaeology, advisers to the Borough on matters relating to archaeology. The fieldwork was undertaken by James McNicoll-Norbury and Steve Ford on 17th September 2008 and the site code is LFF08/103. The archive is presently held at Thames Valley Archaeological Services, Reading and will be deposited at Reading Museum in due course. Location, topography and geology The site is located south of Whitehorse Lane to the north-west of Finchampstead, Berkshire (Fig. 2). The site is centred on SU at c. 70m above Ordnance Datum. The underlying geology is mapped as Bagshot Beds (sands and gravels) (BGS 1946) which was observed in both trenches. The total site area is approximately 0.725ha, of which the new building footprint covers some 200 sq m, and the basement around 50 sq m. The site was previously occupied by the original building at Larchwood Farm and various outbuildings. 1

4 Archaeological background The archaeological potential of the site has been highlighted in a desk-based assessment prepared by CgMs Consulting (Gailey and Chadwick 2007). In summary, the site lies to the north of the Devil s Highway (the Silchester to London Roman road) (Margary 1973) and just east of a series of Roman buildings (aisled villas) visible on aerial photographs and now a Scheduled Ancient Monument (Hampton and Palmer 1977). Information from the Berkshire Historic Environment Record also shows that Iron Age and Roman deposits have been revealed in small scale excavations carried out in 1975 to the north of the site. There are also several Bronze Age barrows in the vicinity. Objectives and methodology The purpose of the evaluation was to determine the location, form, extent, date, character, condition, significance and quality of any archaeological and palaeoenvironmental deposits of any period, that might be threatened within the area of development. More specific research aims of the project are: To establish the presence or otherwise of any archaeological remains, including the date range, extent, condition, state of preservation and complexity or otherwise of such remains; To establish the environmental context of any archaeological remains, together with any earlier and/or later activity; To evaluate the likely impact of past land use and development; and To provide sufficient information to construct an archaeological mitigation strategy. Two trenches were to be excavated, each 5m long, by means of a JCB with a toothless bucket across the site of the proposed basement. The work was to take place under archaeological supervision. Spoil heaps were to be monitored for finds and a metal detector to be used to aid recovery of metallic objects. Results Both trenches were dug as intended, respectively 5.0m and 5.4m in length, 0.30m and 0.80m deep (Fig. 3). This amounted to c. 30% of the area of the proposed basement area. A complete list of trenches giving lengths, breadths, depths and a description of sections and geology is given in Appendix 1. Trench 1 (Plate 1) Trench was 5.0m in length on a west east orientation and was 0.60m deep at the west end and 0.80m in depth at east end. The stratigraphy consisted of demolition rubble 0.30m thick directly above the natural geology which 2

5 comprised yellow/orange sand (Bagshot Beds) (Fig. 4). However, the majority of the west end of the trench had been disturbed by deep modern intrusions and foundations of the previous building below which lay natural Bagshot sands. No archaeological features or deposits were observed. A lesser level of disturbance of the top of the natural geology was present elsewhere in this trench. Trench 2 (Plate 2) Trench was 5.4m in length on a SW NE orientation and was between 0.30 and 0.50m deep. The stratigraphy consisted of demolition rubble 0.30m deep directly above the Bagshot sands natural geology. A modern wall was observed between 1.9 and 2.4m from the south-west end of the trench with an associated disturbance to the west. No archaeological features or deposits were observed. Finds No finds of archaeological interest were recovered during the fieldwork. Conclusion Despite the site lying close to the Devil s Highway Roman Road, a series of Roman buildings to the east and other Iron Age/Roman remains to the north, no deposits or finds of Roman date or any other archaeological period were identified during the evaluation. The natural geology in both trenches had been disturbed by previous development on the site, trench 1 excessively so. Demolition debris lay directly on top of the natural geology in both trenches and possibly indicates some truncation of the archaeologically relevant horizon for the whole site of the proposed and previous houses. References BGS, 1946, British Geological Survey, 1:63,360, Sheet 268, Drift Edition, Keyworth Gailey, S, and Chadwick, P, 2007 Archaeological desk-based assessment: Larchwood Farm, Whitehorse Lane, Finchampstead, Berkshire, CgMs Consulting, London Gailey, S, 2008 Specification for an archaeological field evaluation: Larchwood Farm, Whitehorse Lane, Finchampstead, Berkshire, CgMs Consulting, London Hampton, J N and Palmer, R 1977, The implications of aerial photography for archaeology, Archaeol J, 134, Margary, I D, 1973, Roman Roads in Britain (3rd edn), London PPG16, 1990, Archaeology and Planning, Dept of the Environment Planning Policy Guidance 16, HMSO 3

6 APPENDIX 1: Trench details 0m at SW / W end Trench Length (m) Breadth (m) Depth (m) Comment m demolition debris; 0.3m+ yellow/orange sand (natural geology). Truncation of the natural geology down to 0.8m from 2.4m to 5m. [Plate 1] m demolition debris; 0.3m+ yellow/orange sand (natural geology). Modern wall at 2.1m [Plate 2] 4

7 65000 SITE SITE SU LFF 08/103 Larchwood Farm, White Horse Lane, Finchampstead, Berkshire, 2008 Archaeological Evaluation Figure 1. Location of site within Finchampstead and Berkshire. Reproduced from Ordnance Survey Explorer 159 at 1: Ordnance Survey Licence

8 SITE SU LFF 08/103 Larchwood Farm, White Horse Lane, Finchampstead, Berkshire, 2008 Archaeological Evaluation Figure 2. Detailed location of site at Larchwood Farm. Reproduced from Ordnance Survey Explorer 159 at 1: Ordnance Survey Licence

9 N Larchwood Farm, White Horse Lane, Finchampstead, Berkshire 2008 White Horse Lane footprint of new house 2 proposed basement site of former house SU m Figure 3. Loction of trenches LFF08/103

10 Larchwood Farm, White Horse Lane, Finchampstead, Berkshire 2008 Trench 1 N S 70.65m AOD Demoltion rubble Yellow/orange sand (natural geology) Base of trench Trench 2 NW SE 70.7m Demoltion rubble Yellow/orange sand (natural geology) Base of trench 0 1m Figure 4. Representative sections LFF08/103

11 Plate 1. Trench 1 looking west, horizontal scales 2m and 1m, vertical scale 0.5m. Plate 2. Trench 2 looking North; horizontal scales 2m, 1m, vertical scale 0.5m LFF08/103