Evaluation Report
on
33-35 Linom Road,
Clapham, London, SW4 7PB LIR 04: (TQ 3020 7523)
for
London & Continental Securities Ltd
Fig. 1 John Rocque�s map of Surrey (1768)
Evaluation Report
on
33-35 Linom Road,
Clapham, London, SW4 7PB. London Borough of Lambeth
LIR 04: (TQ 3020 7523)
by
J G PERRY: October 2004
� Sutton Archaeological Services 2004
Summary
Sutton Archaeological Services (SAS) carried out an archaeological evaluation at 33-35 Linom
th
Road, Clapham, London, SW4 7PB from 4 October 2004.
The site lay in an area of archaeological importance as defined in London Borough of Lambeth�s
Unitary Plan. Research by Sutton Archaeological Services for the project design indicated that there
was Medieval archaeology in the surrounding area.
One trenches was excavated across the site revealing modern debris and garden deposits over the
natural.
th th
No Medieval archaeology was found. We recovered pottery and CBM dating from the 19 /20
century.
We recommend that no further archaeology is needed, though the decision to discharge the
archaeological condition rests with the archaeological advisor at English Heritage and the local
planning authority.
CONTENTS
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . i
Contents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ii
Illustrations & Plates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . iii
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Planning background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Archaeological potential & background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Research Objectives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Archaeological Methodology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Evaluation results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Trench 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Assessment and Interpretation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Archaeological potential . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Conclusions and recommendations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Publications and dissemination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Archive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
ILLUSTRATIONS
Fig. 1 John Rocque�s map of Surrey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . cover
Fig. 2 Site Location . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Fig. 3 Site Location Plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Fig. 4 Development Plan and Trench Locations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
PLATES
Plate 1 Trench 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Plate 2 East section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Introduction
Origin and scope of report: This report
relates to the site of the proposed
development at 33-35 Linom Road,
Clapham, London, SW4 7PB.
London & Continental Securities Ltd(the
Developers) has commissioned Sutton
Archaeological Services (SAS) to carry out
an evaluation and any subsequent
archaeological work that may be necessary.
Fig. 2 Location Plan � Crown Copyright M C/98/38
Location: The site is situated in the
London Borough of Lambeth, at the end of a terrace of house formed by Linom Road to the north,
Hetherington Road to the west and Ashmere Grove to the south. Clapham Common and the A3 lie
1km to the west, with Stockwell 1km to the north-east. The river Thames lies 3km to the North.
Topography: The site lies on the souther side of the Thames Valley, with the ground sloping
northwards towards the river. Ground levels around the site are between 35 and 38m aOD.
Geology: The basic geology consists of River Terrace Gravels. The sand and gravel deposits have
been overlain in some places with a sandy sub-soil deposit (brickearth).
Planning background
The site was a modern (1960's) building used as a doctors surgery.
The proposed development would demolish the present building.
It was proposed to build 6 residential flats.
The site lies in an area of archaeological importance as defined by policy CD14 in the London
Borough of Lambeth�s Unitary Development Plan (Appendix II of our project design).
Fig. 3 Site Location Plan � Crown Copyright MC/98/38
1
English Heritage has advised the borough that an archaeological condition under PPG 16 should
be included in the planning approval.
The London Borough of Lambeth included the following condition in the grant of planning
permission
8 No development shall take place until the applicant has secured the implementation
of a programme of archaeological work in accordance with a scheme for
investigation which has been submitted by the applicant and approved by the Local
Planning Authority. The archaeological works shall be carried out by a suitably
qualified investigating body acceptable to the Local Planning Authority.
Archaeological Proposals and Background
Taking the evidence as a whole, the potential for Prehistoric, Roman and Saxon settlement in the
area of the site seems low. There is also a low to medium potential for Medieval and Post-Medieval
settlement in the area of the site.
1
Department of the Environment: Planning Policy Guidance: Archaeology and Planning, HMSO, 1990.
Prehistoric: There have been some scattered finds of flint and stone artefacts across the area, but
no firm evidence of settlement. Pre-evaluation evidence suggested there was a low potential for
Prehistoric archaeology on this site.
Roman: The A3 is thought to follow the alignment of Stane Street, the Roman Road from Chichester
to London. Few Roman artifacts have been found, though a watching brief on the Pavillion Service
Station at 33 Clapham High Street was though to have produced some Roman plough soil. Pre-
evaluation evidence suggested there was a low potential for Roman archaeology on this site.
Saxon: There is no known Saxon occupation in the area, therefore, pre-evaluation evidence
suggested there was only a low potential for Saxon archaeology.
Medieval to Post-Medieval: The evidence for Medieval and Post-Medieval settlement in and around
the site is focussed on the village centre in the area of Stockwell and old town Clapham. At the time
of Rocque in 1745 (fig. 1) these were the two main built up areas.
Pre-evaluation evidence suggested there was a low to medium potential for Medieval and Post-
Medieval occupation on the site.
Research objectives
Sutton Archaeological Services carried out the evaluation following our research design dated
September 2004. After a brief assessment of the evidence, our objectives were to look for signs of
Prehistoric and Roman occupation on the site, and if found to determine their extent, date, condition
and significance.
The Institute of Field Archaeologists has defined the purpose of a field evaluation as follows.
�The purpose of field evaluation is to gain information about the archaeological resource
within a given area or site (including its presence or absence, character, extent, date,
integrity, state of preservation and quality), in order to make an assessment of its merit in
the appropriate context, leading to one or more of the following:
� the formulation of a strategy to ensure the recording, preservation or management of
the resource
the formulation of a strategy to initiate a threat to the archaeological resource
the formulation of a proposal for further archaeological investigation within a
programme of research.�
Standards and Guidance for Archaeological Field Evaluations, IFA, 2001
Archaeological Methodology
Standards: SAS carried out the archaeological evaluation in accordance with
� our project design dated September 2004. (See below for the change we had to make in
positioning Trench.)
� the Institute of Field Archaeologists� Code of Conduct, Code of Approved Practice for the
Regulation of Contractual Arrangement in Field Archaeology, Standards and Guidance for
Field Evaluations
the archaeological guidance papers issued by English Heritage.
the planning condition inserted by the London Borough of Lambeth�s grant of planning
permission.
Control: All excavation work was done under the control of the archaeologists on site.
Trenches: We dug 1 trenches as shown on Fig 3. due to the size of the site it was not possible to
excavated a 10m trench. After discussions with English heritage the 10m x 2m trench was changed
to a 4m x 4m trench.
We broke open each trench with a JCB 3CX Site Master and a wide-bladed (1.50m+) smooth-edged
ditching bucket and, where appropriate, a toothed bucket.
Non-archaeological deposits: We removed by machine, in level spits of no more than 10-15 cm,
the topsoil, subsoil and made ground deposits from the 19th century or later. Work continued
removing all overburden until we reached the first significant archaeological layer (or the natural
deposits), at which point all machine work ceased in that trench. (We excavated up to 20cm into the
natural to make sure we had reached true natural and not re-deposited material.) In this way we
excavated the trenche without finding any significant archaeological deposits.
Fig. 4 Development and trench location plan
Site records: We recorded all features as we proceeded, by written records, plans, sections and
photographs. A Munsell soil colour chart was used to determine soil colour and all readings were
taken with moist soil. In all, we recorded 3contexts - numbered [001] to [003 - in a single context
recording system. The site was recorded in accordance with the Fieldwork Methodology in
Appendix III of our Project Design, and using the Museum of London�s recording system. Fig. 4
shows the site matrix.
Levels: All levels were taken from an Ordnance Survey Bench Mark, value 2090m aOD, on Thomas
House on Kepler Road.
Backfilling: After excavating and recording we backfilled the trenches and roughly levelled the
ground, leaving surplus spoil on site.
Evaluation results
Trench 1
Trench 1 was located in the central part of the site (west: 20.75m aOD. east: 20.63m aOD). Context
th
[001] was a rubble deposit, a friable, brown sandy clay, containing 30-40% 19 century brick rubble.
The depth of the rubble varied across the trench from 20cm to 45 cm.
Underlying [001] was a garden type soil, a friable, dark brown silty clay deposit [002] (west: 20.46m
aOD. east: 20.21m aOD), containing frequent small to medium flint pebles. The deposit had a depth
of between 30cm and 42 cm across the trench.
Context [003] was the natural clay and extended across the whole of the trench. It consisted of a
very soft, brownish yellow (10YR 6/8) (west: 20.20m aOD. east: 19.89m aOD) , containing frequent
small to medium flint pebles. Also contained within the clay matrix were lenses of a friable, very
pale brown (10YR 7/4) medium sand, containing 10-20% small to medium flint pebbles.
th
There were no archaeological finds or features, except modern CBM in context 001 and 19th/ 20
century pottery in context 002.
Assessment and interpretation
The evidence from the SAS preliminary research indicated that there was a possibility of Medieval
archaeology in the surrounding area.
th
The evaluation only revealed debris, possibly demolition material from the 19 century houses that
th
once stood on the site, garden deposits again from the 19 century houses, over the clay and sand
natural.
th
There was no evidence for archaeology in the trench other than the 19 century remains. No
th
archaeological finds made, except modern CBM and 19th/ 20 century pottery.
We found no evidence of Medieval occupation on the site.
Archaeological Potential
Following the evaluation our revised view is that this site has no potential for archaeological remains
of any period.
Conclusions and Recommendations
Our findings set out above lead us to conclude that the proposed development does not threaten to
destroy any archaeological remains of national, regional or local importance, deserving further
investigation or preservation.
We recommend that no further archaeology is needed, though the decision to discharge the
archaeological condition rests with the archaeological advisor at English Heritage and the local
planning authority.
Publications and dissemination
The evidence is not worthy of publication but a note on the evaluation will be placed in the London
Archaeologist�s round-up and a copy of the report lodged in the local library.
Archive
The site archive, including all finds, will be prepared in accordance with the Museum of London�s
standards. The Developer will donate it to the museum and deposit it when the final report has been
completed.
Plate 1 Trench 1
Plate 2 East section
� Sutton Archaeological Services 2004
020-8543-2257
Tel: