Roman Farm, Nettleden, Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire

Transcription

1 Roman Farm, Nettleden, Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire An Archaeological Watching Brief for Mercantile Land Development Ltd by Siân Anthony Thames Valley Archaeological Services Ltd Site Code RFN01/82 October 2001

2 Summary Site name: Roman Farm, Nettleden, near Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire Grid reference: TL Site activity: Watching Brief Date and duration of project: 5th, 17th and 27th September 2001 Project manager: Kate Taylor Site supervisor: Siân Anthony and Erlend Hindmarch Site code: RFN 01/82 Area of site: 7500 sq. m Summary of results: No archaeological features or finds were present. Site terraced into hill. Monuments identified: None Location and reference of archive: The archive is presently at Thames Valley Archaeological Services Ltd, De Beauvoir Road, Reading, RG1 5NR, and will be deposited at St Albans 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: Steve Ford Steve Preston i

3 Roman Farm, Nettleden, Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire An Archaeological Watching Brief by Siân Anthony Report RFN 01/82 Introduction This report documents the results of an archaeological watching brief carried out at Roman Farm, Nettleden, near Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire (TL ) (Fig. 1). The work was commissioned by Mr M V Oates of Mercantile Land Development Ltd, The Old Stables, Sholebroke, near Towcester, Northants, NN12 8TF. Planning permission has been granted for the extension and conversion of existing barns and farm buildings (4/01/0134) for residential use. Permission was subject to a condition requiring a watching brief while the development groundworks occur. This is in accordance with the Department of the Environment s Planning Policy Guidance, Archaeology and Planning (PPG ), and the District and Local Plan policies on archaeology. The field investigation was carried out to a specification approved by Mr Jonathan Smith, Planning Archaeologist for Hertfordshire County Council. The fieldwork was undertaken by Erlend Hindmarch on 5th and 27th September and Siân Anthony on 17th September The site code is RFN 01/82. Location, topography and geology The site is located at Roman Farm to the west of the centre of the village, south of the Nettleden Road, on a steep south-facing hillside. Nettleden lies to the north of Berkhamsted and its medieval castle, and to the north-west of Hemel Hempstead in the Chiltern Hills (Fig. 1). The area is extremely hilly, with heights reaching 170m above Ordnance Datum. The entire site (an area of some 7600 sq. m) had been terraced at some date in the past, being cut deep into the hillside. To the south of the site the terracing cuts down into the slope by over 2.5m; to the north of the site, the hill slopes steeply down to the Nettleden Road. The result of this is that no topsoil is evident over the entire site and no subsoil occurs over the south side of the site. A small amount occurs at the very northern corner of Area A and Area E (Fig. 2): the maximum depth of subsoil was 0.18m, this went straight down to the natural clay levels. The geology of the area (BGS 1980) is clay-with-flints, with some lower areas consisting of soft chalk with flints. The geology observed at the site consisted of orange-brown clay with frequent inclusions of flint. 1

4 Archaeological background The village is in an area designated in the Local Plan as an Area of Archaeological Significance (No. 17) because of the medieval date of the village, which is now much reduced. It is not known if the origin of the village can be dated to any earlier period. Roman Farm is close to the 13th-century church and so is thought to lie at the core of the medieval village. Objectives and methodology The purpose of the watching brief was to monitor the ground works involved in the development, specifically the soil and overburden stripping and the digging of foundation and service trenches for the conversion, and to record any archaeological remains encountered. Monitoring took place on three visits. Some areas had already been stripped and some smaller trenches were dug while archaeologists were present. Spoil heaps were examined for archaeological material and sections of trenches were examined for archaeological features. Results The largest area monitored was Area A, c. 23m long and 4.5m wide, with a maximum depth of 0.5m (Fig. 2). The other areas (B E) were smaller foundation trenches, typically c. 2m long and 1m wide; depths varied from 1.3m to 0.38m. In addition four further small foundation trenches were dug (F I) within the barn in the northeast cell. These measured 1m wide by 2m long. The depths of these trenches was 0.75m. Area A was a large area inside the main barn, dug to below natural levels; clearing the ground of concrete ( m) and made ground of hard core rubble (0.16m). Natural orange-brown clay with frequent flint inclusions occurred at this level. No archaeological features were observed in this area or on the spoil heaps. Area B consisted of a small foundation trench towards the south side of the main barn conversion area, 2m long and 1.5m wide going to a depth of 1.3m. The stratigraphy was concrete onto hardcore onto natural geology. No archaeology was found. Area C was inside the barn. It was 2m long and 3.5m wide, uncovering the concrete foundation of the barn. Stratigraphy was again concrete onto hardcore, onto natural levels. The natural changes into a light brown sandy clay at 1.1m depth. No archaeology was found. Area D butted against the western barn wall, on the exterior of the barn. Only 1.5m long and 1m wide, the trench here went to only 0.38m to uncover undisturbed natural. Concrete, 0.25m deep, gave onto natural orange- 2

5 brown clay. No topsoil or subsoil was observed in the sections of the trench. The concrete only covered a small area of the trench that was actually dug. No archaeology was found. Area E also butted against the western wall of the barn, but further to the north of the site. The length of this area was 3m, its width 1.8m, and depth went to 0.45m with a thin layer of subsoil (0.05m) directly beneath the concrete. This subsoil lay over the undisturbed natural. No archaeology was found. Areas F I were dug against and below the southern wall of the north-eastern cell. They were all 2m in length and 1m wide. They were separated by c. 1m baulks. The depths and sections of all these areas were the same. The upper surface of concrete lied on top of a layer of hard core up to 0.05m thick which in turn was laid on the existing natural clays as seen in other areas. The holes were dug to a depth of 0.75m. No archaeology was observed in any of these areas. Finds No finds were recovered from any part of the site. Conclusion Although Roman Farm lies within the core of the village of Nettleden, no archaeological features were recorded, and no finds were recovered during this watching brief. There is no potential for future archaeological work on this site. This is due to the past levelling of the site, probably for the construction of the modern barns, which cut deeply into the natural levels of the hillside, removing topsoil, subsoil and some natural geological layers. Had any archaeological traces ever been present, they would have appeared in these layers. Some terracing may have occurred at an earlier date but, if so, it will also have been destroyed by the modern terracing. Although the levelling seems to have had less effect towards the northern edge of the site, where there is still some subsoil surviving, no archaeological evidence was found within the boundaries of Roman Farm. References BGS, 1980, British Geological Survey, 1:50 000, Sheet 238, Drift Edition, Keyworth PPG 16, 1990, Archaeology and Planning, Dept Environment Planning Policy Guidance 16, HMSO 3

6 APPENDIX 1: SITES AND MONUMENTS RECORD SUMMARY SHEET Site name and address: Roman Farm, Nettleden County: Hertfordshire District: Dacorum Village/ Town: Nettleden Parish: Nettleden with Potten End Planning application reference: 4/01/0134 Client name, address, and tel. no.: MV Oates, Mercantile Land Development Ltd, The Old Stables, Sholebroke, near Towcester, Northants, NN12 8TF Nature of application: Planning permission granted subject to condition requiring archaeological watching brief. Present land use: Farmyard Size of application area: c sq. m Size of area investigated: c sq. m NGR (to 8 figures): TL Site Code: RFN 01/82 Site Director/ Organisation: Erlend Hindmarch/ Thames Valley Archaeological Services Ltd Type of work: Watching Brief Date of work: 5th, 17th and 27th September 2001 Start: 5th September 2001 Finish: 27th September 2001 Location of finds/ Curating museum: None (archive to go to St Albans Museum) Related SMR nos: None Periods represented: Modern Relevant previous summaries/ reports: None Summary of fieldwork results: No archaeological features were seen nor finds recovered. Author of summary: Siân Anthony Date of Summary: 10th October

7 SITE SITE TL Roman Farm, Nettleden, Hemel Hemstead, Hertfordshire, 2001 RFN01/82 Figure 1. Location of site within Nettleden and Hertfordshire. Reproduced from Ordnance Survey Pathfinder 1095 TL01/11 1:25000 Ordnance Survey Licence AL52324A0001

8 N Roman Farm, Nettleden, Hemel Hempstead, Nettleden Road E A D F GH I B C Roman Lane TL m Figure 2. Loction of areas monitored during watching brief. RFN01/82