New Swimming Pool,West Meon House, West Meon, Hampshire An Archaeological watching brief and building recording for Mr and Mrs Younger by Danielle Milbank Thames Valley Archaeological Services Ltd Site Code AY296 July 2007
Summary Site name: West Meon House, West Meon, Hampshire Grid reference: SU 6451 2385 Site activity: Watching brief and building recording Date and duration of project: 10th August- 1 st September 2006 Project manager: Steve Ford Site supervisor: Andy Taylor Site code: AY 296 Summary of results: Location and reference of archive: The archive is presently held at Thames Valley Archaeological Services, Reading and will be deposited at Winchester 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 15.08.07 Steve Preston 15.08.07 i Thames Valley Archaeological Services Ltd, 47 49 De Beauvoir Road, Reading RG1 5NR Tel. (0118) 926 0552; Fax (0118) 926 0553; email tvas@tvas.co.uk; website : www.tvas.co.uk
Introduction New Swimming Pool House West Meon House, West Meon, Hampshire An Archaeological watching brief and building recording by Danielle Milbank Report 06/105 This report documents the results of an archaeological watching brief and building recording carried out at West Meon House, West Meon, Hampshire (SU 6415 2385) (Fig. 1). The work was commissioned by Mr N Carey- Thomas of Radley House Partnership, Radley House, 8 St Cross Rd, Winchester, Hampshire, SO23 9HX on behalf of Mr and Mrs Younger. Planning consent (W12829/10) has been granted by Winchester City Council for construction of a new swimming pool, pool house and greenhouse and refurbishment of the garden wall on the site. The consent is subject to a condition requiring an archaeological watching brief to take place during groundworks, with recording of the walled garden. This is in accordance with Archaeology and Planning (PPG16 1990), Planning and the Historic Environment (PPG15 1994) and the City s policies on archaeology and built heritage. The field investigation was carried out to a written scheme of investigation approved by Ms Tracey Matthews, Winchester City Sites and Monuments Officer. The work was undertaken by Andy Taylor and Steve Ford between 8th August and 1st September 2006 and the site code is AY 296. The archive is presently held at Thames Valley Archaeological Services, Reading and will be deposited at Winchester Museum Service in due course, with accession code WINCM:AY296. Location, topography and geology The site is located on the east side of Station Road, on the south-east side of the village of West Meon, which lies in the Meon valley in Hampshire (Fig. 2). The River Meon flows west, immediately to the north and west of the site, and the site is currently bordered to the south and east by agricultural land and houses comprising the village outskirts. The site is at an elevation of c.80m above Ordnance Datum and the underlying geology of the site is localized alluvium, bordering river and valley gravel, within an area of Upper Chalk (BGS 1975). The site is currently occupied by West Meon House itself and its grounds, including the walled garden where the new pool and pool house are to be located. 1
Archaeological background The archaeological potential of the site is derived from the location on the fringes of the historic core of West Meon. The village is mentioned in medieval documents including Domesday Book, where it is called Menes, and has Saxon origins. The village is named for the river, and the name, first attested c. AD880, is Celtic, with an uncertain meaning, possibly swift (Mills 1998, 239). At the time of Domesday Book (AD1086) the estate housed 42 villagers and 8 slaves. The manor, belonging to the Bishop of Winchester, was assessed at 12 hides (another hide attaching to the church) and possessed enough arable land for 12 ploughs, woodland for 40 pigs, and 10 acres of meadow (quite a small amount of land for so many villagers). The manor also owned the rents of eight closes (town houses and their land) in Winchester. There was a church and two mills. The Domesday entry contains the unusual comment that the manor cannot support the activities of the tax farmer, who was extracting 40 from a manor only valued at 30 and indeed, only worth 20 in King Edward s day (Williams and Martin 2002, 96). Despite the antiquity of the settlement, there are very few entries predating post-medieval period within the Winchester Sites and Monuments Record. Most entries are for buildings, mostly houses but including the former railway station and church. A small number of late medieval houses are recorded. The parish church, fully rebuilt in the 19th century, lies close to the site of the previous medieval church and presumably the late Saxon church. A linear earthwork and a circular cropmark visible from the air are undated but may be of archaeological interest. The walled garden and greenhouse structures were not constructed until some time after 1892 and most likely within the early part of the 20th century. A plan of West Meon Rectory in Hampshire Record Office shows the site as open ground traversed by a path to a bridge across the River Meon (Fig. 3). There is a summer house roughly where the new pool house is to be located, but no walled garden. Objectives and methodology The purpose of the watching brief was to identify, and where necessary, excavate and record, any archaeological deposits affected by the proposed development. All areas of intrusive groundworks, in particular any topsoil stripping, ground reduction, and the digging of foundation and service trenches were to be carried out under supervision of an experienced archaeologist. The building recording action of the walled garden was to comprise examination of the wall, in particular its construction and any special features, measured sketches and photographs. 2
Results Watching brief The watching brief comprised observation of the foundation trenches for the new pool house and the new greenhouse only. The pool house was located in the acute angled corner of the walled garden (Fig. 4) The foundation trenches curved and were 0.8m wide and 1.1m deep. The stratigraphy revealed 0.3m of made ground above 0.3m of light grey silt clay above a grey clayey gravel (natural geology) to the base of the trench (Fig. 5). No archaeological deposits were observed. A foundation trench for a new greenhouse was dug at the western end of the site located on the footprint of the old greenhouses. It comprised a trench parallel to the garden wall (Fig. 4). The trench was 0.3m wide and 1.1m deep. The stratigraphy revealed 0.7m of made ground (brick rubble) above 0.35m of light grey silt clay above natural geology (chalk). Within this trench on the south side only were revealed brick built arches and a brick floor (Plate 3). The arches were 0.6m across and the foundations were 0.4m deep. The voids between the arches were infilled. It is assumed that these foundations were a part of the former greenhouse structures in this part of the site. Building recording (Fig. 6; Pls 1 and 2) The garden wall partially encloses a roughly rectangular plot of c.3800m sq, with an acute corner of 60 0 at the north east. The main part of the garden is currently taken up by lawns and modern brick-built cold frames, and a greenhouse and shed have recently been removed. The north-west corner of the plot was previously occupied by two successive glasshouses built against the wall, the more recent of which appears in photographs of the site from c.1900. Where the glasshouse butted the wall, a large area still has a covering of rendering, and it is also possible to see the outline of the earlier, smaller glasshouse. The long straight part of the boundary wall extends (from the west end corner) 97.5m, then from the corner extends 42.5m to the south-west in a straight line. From here, the wall curves round to the west (this section 85m in length overall), the final 35m being aligned roughly east-west, though it is slightly irregular in plan. The wall stands 3.25m tall overall, and is constructed of bricks whose bond pattern is a variation on Flemish bond, with red stretcher bricks and dark purple grey headers. On the exterior of the wall, there are buttresses 0.4m wide at 7.25m intervals (measured from the centre of one buttress to the next). Midway between these, there are matched buttresses both exterior and interior. The buttresses are of the same construction and 3
colour as the wall, and fully bonded in, thus appear to be contemporary. The top of the wall is capped with overhanging sloped blue/grey tiles with red ridge tiles. There are two doorways on the main section of the wall: One on north side, and one on the south-east, both corresponding with the pathways. Further doorways are present in the vicinity of the old glass houses to the west. The doorways are both 1.15m wide and have a relatively flat brick arch. Conclusion The watching brief did not record any features of archaeological interest. A record was made of the garden wall (c. 1900). References BGS, 1975, British Geological Survey, 1:50,000, Sheet 300, Drift Edition, Keyworth Mills, A D, 1998, Dictionary of English Place-Names, Oxford PPG 16, 1990, Archaeology and Planning, Dept of the Environment Planning Policy Guidance 16, HMSO Williams, A and Martin, G H, 2002, Domesday Book, a complete translation, London 4
SITE 26000 25000 SITE 24000 23000 22000 SU63000 64000 65000 West Meon House, West Meon, Hampshire, 2006 An archaeological watching brief and building recording AY 296 Figure 1. Location of site within West Meon and Hampshire. Reproduced from Ordnance Survey Pathfinder 1265 SU62/72 at 1:12500. Ordnance Survey Licence 100025880
24000 23900 SITE SU64100 64200 West Meon House, West Meon, Hampshire, 2006 An archaeological watching brief and building recording AY 296 Figure 2. Detailed location of site on Station Road. Reprodced from Ordnance Survey digital mapping under licence. Scale 1:1250
N SITE West Meon House, West Meon, Hampshire, 2006 An archaeological watching brief and building recording AY 296 Figure 3. Plan of West Meon Rectory in 1892 (Walled garden not present) Not to scale
N Walled garden New greenhouse Plate 1 New pool and pool house Plate 2 23900 West Meon House SU64100 64200 West Meon House, West Meon, Hampshire, 2006 An archaeological watching brief and building recording AY 296 Figure 4. Detailed location of areas observed within walled garden. Scale 1:625
Walled Garden West Meon House, West Meon, Hampshire, 2006 Poolhouse trench Made ground Subsoil (light grey silty clay) Natural geology (grey clayey gravel) Base of trench 0 1m Figure 5. Representative section of foundation trench. AY296
W Walled garden North Wall (internal face) E continues below NE Walled garden East Wall (internal face) SW NE SW West Meon House, West Meon, Hampshire, 2006 An archaeological watching brief and building recording AY 296 Figure 6. Detailed elevations of garden wall (representative). Scale 1:100
Plate 1. Walled garden and site of old glass houses looking north-west. Plate 2. Walled garden looking north east towards acute-angled corner. AY296
Plate 3. Arched foundations in service trench. AY296