1 SUMMARY
The following report summarises the results of an archaeological evaluation undertaken by AOC Archaeology on the 31st August - 2nd September 2004 ahead of development works for a new parsonage and two houses at All Saints Church Hall, 9-11 The Square, Carshalton. Three trenches were excavated and revealed a stratigraphic sequence of top soil and sub soil overlying glacial sands and natural chalk. Trenches 1 and 2 revealed the remains of a chalk foundation that was post medieval in date. No other archaeological features or were recorded on the site.
2 INTRODUCTION
2.1 Site Location
2.1.1 The site is located on The Square, Carshalton, in the London Borough of Sutton and is centred on National Grid Reference (NGR) TQ 2797 6435. The site is bounded to the north by a library and to the northwest by All Saints Church and its associated graveyard. Residential houses lie to the south with The Square to the east. The site covers a total area of approximately 840m2.
2.2 Development Proposals
2.2.1 The development plan included the demolition of the existing church hall and refectory and the construction of a new parsonage and two new houses.
2.3 Planning Background
2.3.1 In accordance with Planning Policy Guidance: Archaeology and Planning (PPG 16, conditions 16 & 17) issued by the Department of the Environment in 1990 (DoE, 1990) and following an application for the Outline Planning Permission (Ref.: W13031/02), English Heritage requested that an archaeological evaluation be carried out in order to determine the potential archaeological impact to the site during development.
2.3.2 A Written Scheme of Investigation was produced, based on an advisory letter and instruction from Mark Stephenson, Greater London Archaeology Advisor to the London Borough of Sutton.
3 ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
An Archaeological Desk Based Assessment was prepared by Thames Valley Archaeology Services (2001), the results of which are summarised below:
3.1 Geology
3.1.1 The site is located on the Upper Chalk, with Thanet Beds and terrace gravel present to the north.
3.2 Archaeological Background
3.2.1 The site lies within an Archaeological Priority Area, as defined in the London Borough of Sutton Unitary Development Plan. This is due to the presence of a wide range of archaeological potential from Mesolithic to the medieval village which would have included the parish church of All Saints as a focus.
3.2.2 Prehistoric
The majority of the archaeological evidence relates to the Prehistoric period ranging from the Mesolithic to Bronze Age. Two Mesolithic sites were partially excavated in the surrounding area. The first was an excavation at Orchard Hill to the north of the church where tools including microliths, scrapers, borers and burins and a complete axe were recovered. To the north-east of the site was a Mesolithic/Neolithic occupation site consisting of ditches, pits and a small flint assemblage.
Late Bronze Age archaeology has been recorded in the Sites and Monuments Register, mainly consisting of isolated finds. An excavation was undertaken at Queen Mary's hospital, during which archaeology thought to have been a 'mini fort' was recorded.
Little occupational archaeology has been excavated dating to the Iron Age. However, the occasional isolated find has been recorded.
3.2.3 Roman
Little Roman archaeology has been recorded in the local area except for the villa complex in the village of Beddington, to the east of Carshalton.
3.2.4 Saxon
No Saxon sites have been recorded in the local area other than at Beddington to the east of Carshalton. Only a small number of pot sherds have been recovered and these were residual in later features. A church is mentioned in the Domesday Book in 1086 and it is thought that the Saxon church lies within close proximity to the current church.
3.2.5 Medieval
The village itself has its origins in the medieval period, as does the current church, the pond, and other structures that are still present in the village. Anumber of excavated sites date to this period and have revealed burials, pottery and occupational deposits.
3.2.6 Post medieval
Carshalton itself contains many listed building that date to the post medieval period which are still standing. No such structures exist within the confines of the site.
4 AIMS OF THE INVESTIGATION
4.1 The primary aim was to make a record of all archaeological remains that may have been disturbed or destroyed during the course of the proposed development work.
4.2 The evaluation will enable an informed decision to be made regarding the future treatment of any archaeological remains and consider any appropriate mitigatory measures either in advance of and / or during development
4.3 Specific aims included:
* To what extent has modern building and basement truncated the underlying archaeology?
* Is there any evidence of Prehistoric occupation or land use?
* Is there any evidence of Roman occupation or land use?
* Is there any evidence of the Saxon church on site?
* Is there any evidence of medieval occupation or land use?
4.4 To make available to interested parties the results of the investigation subject to any confidentiality restrictions.
5 STRATEGY
5.1 A site code (ALL 04) was obtained from the London Archaeological Archive Research Centre (LAARC).
5.2 Two trenches measuring 11m x 1.5m and one measuring 9.5m x 1.5m at the base were located as shown in Figure 2. Trenches 2 and 3 were sited to evaluate archaeological deposits in areas that would be affected by the proposed development. Trench 1 was located towards the rear of the property to evaluate the area unaffected by previous building activity.
5.3 The field evaluation comprised of the mechanical excavation of the trenches. The base and sides of the trenches were cleaned, as required to define any archaeological features and deposits present.
5.4 A full written record was completed for all the trenches. Context numbers were allocated to each deposit, and heights for each context were established relative to Ordnance Datum (OD). This was achieved by using a benchmark situated on the southern exterior wall of Carshalton library (37.25mOD).
5.5 All of the work was carried out in line with Archaeological Guidance Paper (AGP): 3, Standards and Practices in Archaeological Fieldwork (English Heritage June 1998). The work was monitored by Mark Stevenson (English Heritage Advisor to the London Borough of Sutton).
6 RESULTS
6.1 Trench 1
Ground level 0.00 = 38.4m OD
0.00 - 1.00m (1002) A series of modern rubbish pits containing domestic refuse.
0.00 - 0.55m (1001) Top soil. Loose mid greyish brown clayey sand containing a moderate amount of small rounded and angular pebbles.
0.55 - 1.00m (1003) Sub soil. Relatively firm mid greyish brown clayey silt containing occasional chalk, rounded pebbles and grit.
1.00 - 1.20m+ (1005) Glacial sand. Mixed deposit of mid brownish orange clayey sand and soft fine grained yellow sand. Contained occasional small flint nodules.
1.00 - 1.20m+ (1006) Natural chalk. Degraded yellow sandy chalk. Appeared in lenses throughout the trench.
Cutting the sub soil at the northern end of Trench 1 was the remains of a chalk foundation (1004). This was identified running 1.5m across the width of the trench. The foundations comprised of nodules of chalk in a lime and orange coarse grained sand bonding material and were observed to be up to 0.5m wide and 0.15m deep.
No other significant archaeological features were identified in Trench 1.
6.2 Trench 2
Ground level 0.00 = 37.90m OD
0.00 - 0.20m(2001) Made ground for concrete floor slab, consisting of brick and tile crush in a silty chalk matrix. Remaining floor surface of the demolished church hall/refectory. Existed at the eastern end of the trench only.
0.00 - 0.20m(2002) Top soil. Loose mid greyish brown clayey silt containing occasional chalk, small rounded and sub-angular pebbles and frequent roots. Recorded at the western end of the trench only.
0.20 - 0.95m(2004) Sub soil. Relatively firm mid greyish brown clayey silt with occasional chalk, grit and sub-angular pebbles. A modern service pipe was observed in this deposit running from north to south.
0.95 - 1.26m(2005) Glacial sand. Mixed deposit of mid brownish orange clayey coarse grained sand and soft fine grained yellow sand.
1.26 - 1.60m+(2006) Natural chalk. Degraded chalk in a yellow sand matrix. Appeared in lenses throughout the trench.
Cutting the sub soil at the western end of Trench 2 were the remains of chalk foundations (2003). These were identified running 1.5m across the width of the trench with a return running from east to west for 1.75m. This return is likely to be the same structure that was recorded in Trench 1 (1004). The foundations comprised of nodules of chalk in a lime and orange coarse grained sand bonding material and were observed to be up to 0.5m wide and 0.15m deep.
No other significant archaeological features were identified in Trench 2.
6.3 Trench 3
Ground level 0.00 = 37.70m OD
0.00 - 0.16m (3002) Concrete ground slab. Remaining floor surface of the demolished church hall. Existed at the northern end of the trench only.
0.00 - 0.63m (3003) Top soil. Relatively firm mid greyish brown clayey silt containing occasional chalk, small rounded and angular pebble and frequent roots. A modern service pipe was observed in this deposit running from east to west.
0.60 - 1.00m+ (3004) Glacial sand. Mixed deposit of mid brownish orange clayey coarse grained sand and soft fine grained yellow sand.
0.50 - 1.00m+ (3005) Natural chalk. Degraded chalk in a yellow sand matrix. Appeared in lenses throughout the trench.
The latest recorded feature in Trench 3 was a modern brick wall foundation (3001) running across the width of the trench from east to west. Only two courses of the wall survived to a thickness of 0.20m. The courses were interpreted as the remainder of the southern exterior wall of the demolished church hall with the concrete floor slab (3002) abutting it.
No features of archaeological significance were identified in Trench 3.
7 FINDS
7.1 The only finds recorded during the evaluation was modern rubbish from the pits (1002) in Trench 1. The assemblage included glass bottles, wooden blocks, iron fittings and a bicycle. These finds were not retained.
8 CONCLUSIONS
8.1 Despite the archaeological potential of the site no archaeological features were recorded in any of the trenches.
8.2 The chalk foundations (1004) and (2003) recorded in Trenches 1 and 2 were likely to have been relatively modern in date. This is supported by the cartographic evidence that shows structures occupying the area on the Ordnance Survey map of 1896. These buildings were probably associated with All Saints Church.
8.3 It appeared that the construction of the Church Hall had not impacted upon any potential archaeological remains that may have existed on the site. A sub soil horizon was recorded in all the trenches sealing natural.
8.4 Trench 1 in the western part was targeted to investigate an area that was previously undeveloped and also to confirm that All Saints Church cemetery did not extend onto this site. The evaluation successfully confirmed that no inhumations were present on this site.
9 RECOMENDATIONS
9.1 It is the recommendation of the author and of AOC Archaeology Group that no further archaeological work is required, although the final decision must rest with Mark Stevenson of English Heritage Greater London Archaeological Advisory Service.
10 BIBLIOGRAPHY
Thames Valley Archaeological Services (2001): All Saints Church, Carshalton, London Borough of Sutton, Archaeological Desk-Based Assessment
AOC Archaeology (2004): All Saints Church Hall, Carshalton, London Borough of Sutton, Archaeological Evaluation Written Scheme of Investigation.
English Heritage (1998):Archaeological Guidance Paper 3: Standards and Practices in Archaeological Fieldwork in London (English Heritage London Region 1998).
English Heritage (1998):Archaeological Guidance Paper 4: Standards and Practices in Archaeological Reports. (English Heritage London Region 1998).
Institute of Field Archaeologists (1994): Standard and Guidance for Archaeological Field Evaluations.
ALL SAINTS CHURCH HALL, 9-11 THE SQUARE, CARSHALTON - AN ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVALUATION REPORT
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(c) AOC ARCHAEOLOGY GROUP SEPTEMBER 2004