Appletree, Thames Street, Sonning Berkshire An Archaeological Watching Brief for Mr and Mrs A Popham by Sian Anthony Thames Valley Archaeological Services Ltd Site Code ATS 02/83 October 2002
Summary Site name: Appletree, Thames Street, Sonning, Berkshire Grid reference: SU 7589 7553 Site activity: Watching Brief Date and duration of project: 7th 8th October 2002 Project manager: Steve Ford Site supervisor: Sian Anthony Site code: ATS 02/83 Area of site: - Summary of results: No archaeological features or finds were recovered Monuments identified: None Location and reference of archive: The archive is currently held at Thames Valley Archaeological Services Ltd, 47-49 De Beauvoir Road, Reading, RG1 5NR and will be deposited with 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: Steve Ford 10.10.02 Steve Preston 09.10.02 i
Appletree, Thames Street, Sonning, Berkshire An Archaeological Watching Brief by Sian Anthony Report 02/83 Introduction This report documents the results of an archaeological watching brief carried out at Appletree, Thames Street, Sonning, Berkshire (SU 7589 7553) (Fig. 1). The work was commissioned by Mr Steven Berger, of Glanville Consultants, Corinthian Court, 80 Milton Park, Abington, Oxon., on behalf of Mr and Mrs A Popham, Appletree, Thames Street, Sonning, Berkshire. Planning permission (application F/2002/6240) has been granted by Wokingham District Council for the erection of a new detached double garage and new fence and gates subject to a condition which requires the implementation of a programme of archaeological work. This is in accordance with the Department of the Environment s Planning Policy Guidance, Archaeology and Planning (PPG16 1990), and the District s policies on archaeology. The field investigation was carried out to a specification approved by Mr Kevin Beachus, Senior Archaeologist of Babtie Environmental, archaeological advisers to the council. The fieldwork was undertaken by Sian Anthony and Pamela Jenkins on the 7th and 8th October 2002 and the site code is ATS 02/83. Location, topography and geology The site is located in the centre of Sonning village which lies to the east of Reading and the north of Woodley. The River Thames flows directly to the north-west of the village (Fig. 1). The village is centred on a slight rise in the ground that slopes gently down to the river and down to the south-east. The site itself (Fig. 2) slopes gently down from Thames Street at 50.11m above Ordnance Datum, to the rear of the site at 49.19m AOD. Geology of the area is Valley Gravel with some Middle Chalk areas (BGS 1946). Geology seen in the trenches consisted of a sandy yellow clay with some occasional chalk areas. Archaeological background Sonning was first known as a Saxon administrative centre although the exact location of the Saxon settlement is unknown. The medieval village forms the core of the present-day village and parts of this have been demonstrated archaeologically. Recent excavations carried out in advance of the building of a new vicarage 1
revealed dense Medieval activity represented by a large pit group (Hall and Hull forthcoming). The site of the palace of the Bishop of Salisbury, who held the lordship at the time of the Domesday Survey (1086), lies 500m to the west of the outskirts of the village (Ford 1987). Objectives and methodology The purpose of the watching brief was to observe, excavate and record all archaeological deposits within the area of ground disturbance associated with the groundworks. The foundation trenches proposed for the double garage were located just to the south-west of the demolished garage. They were intended to be 7m long, 0.6m wide and c.1.2m deep (Fig. 3). All spoil was to be monitored for finds. Results The foundation trenches were inspected, as shown on Figure 3. No archaeological features or finds were observed. The sections of the trenches consisted of 0.6m of made ground and rubble onto 0.5m of a mid brown silty clay with occasional brick rubble. This lay on the yellow-brown sandy clay natural, which fluctuated in height from 1m to 1.3m below the surface. Occasional patches of dirty chalk were exposed where the sandy clay rose in the section. Only modern brick rubble, modern iron objects and occasional cattle bones were recovered from the rubble and the brown silty clay layers. Conclusion No deposits of archaeological interest were observed in the foundation trenches and no finds recovered from the spoilheaps. References BGS, 1946 British Geological Survey, 1:50 000, Sheet 268 Drift Edition, Keyworth Ford, S, 1987, East Berkshire Archaeological Survey, Berkshire County Council Dept Highways and Planning Occas Pap 1, Reading Hall, M and Hull, G (forthcoming), The excavation of medieval features at Sonning Vicarage, Sonning (Berkshire Archaeol J), Thames Valley Archaeological services report 95/67, Reading PPG 16, 1990, Archaeology and Planning, Dept of the Environment Planning Policy Guidance 16, HMSO 2
SITE 76000 SITE 75000 SU75000 76000 Appletree, Thames Street, Sonning, Berkshire, 2002 ATS 02/83 Figure 1. Location of site within Sonning and Berkshire. Reproduced from Ordnance Survey Pathfinder 1172 SU67/77 1:12500 Ordnance Survey Licence AL52324A0001
Thames Street N 75600 SITE 75500 SU75800 76000 75900 0 100m Appletree, Thames Street, Sonning, Berkshire, 2002 ATS 02/83 Figure 2. Location of site within Sonning and Berkshire.
N New garage 75840 Foundation trenches observed 75830 Appletree SU75870 75880 75890 Appletree, Thames Street, Sonning, Berkshire, 2002 ATS 02/83 Figure 3. Location of foundations observed for erection of the new garage.