Old Town Hall, Market Place, Faringdon, Oxfordshire Building Recording and Archaeological Watching Brief for Great Faringdon War Memorial Trust by Jamie Preston and Steve Ford Thames Valley Archaeological Services Site Code MPF 00/02 March 2000
Summary Site name: Old Town Hall, Market Place, Faringdon Grid reference: SU 2888 9558 Site activity: Building Recording and Watching Brief. Date and Duration of Project: 10th January - 18th February 2000. Area of Site: 50 sq m. Summary of Results: Examination of foundation trenches did not reveal any archaeological features nor any finds. All of the trenches revealed 19th C or later deposits overlying the natural geology (Corallian Beds). Location and reference of archive: The archive is currently held by Thames Valley Archaeological Services, 47 49 De Beauvoir Road, Reading, RG1 5NR, and will be deposited with Oxfordshire Museum Service, Centre for Oxfordshire Studies and the RCHME in due course. Site Code: MPF 00/02 i
Old Town Hall, Market Place, Faringdon, Oxfordshire Building Recording and Archaeological Watching Brief by Jamie Preston and Steve Ford Report 00/02 Introduction This report documents the results of building recording prior to and during proposed improvements to the Old Town Hall, Market Place, Faringdon (Fig. 1) with an archaeological watching brief carried out during the digging of new wall foundation trenches. The work was commissioned by Ms A Page of Andrew Townsend Architects, Marlborough House, Bromsgrove, Faringdon, Oxfordshire, SN7 7JQ on behalf of Great Faringdon War Memorial Trust. Planning permission had been granted by The Vale of the White Horse District Council for refurbishment of the interior of the building and the addition of new accommodation. The permission was granted subject to a condition for an archaeological watching brief and building recording. This is in accordance with the Department of the Environment s Policy and Planning Guidance Notes, Archaeology and Planning (PPG16 1990), Planning and the Historic Environment (PPG15, 1994) and the Borough policies on archaeology. The field investigation was carried out to a specification approved by Mr Hugh Coddington of Oxfordshire County Archaeological Service, archaeological advisors to the District Council. The fieldwork was undertaken by Jamie Preston and Luis Huscroft in January and February 2000. The site code is MPF00/02 and the archive will be deposited with Oxfordshire Museum Service. Location, Topography and Geology The Old Town Hall is located within the Market Place at the centre of the historic core of Faringdon (SU 2888 9558)(Fig. 1). According to the British Geological Survey (BGS 1971) the underlying geology is limestone, silt and sand of the Corallian Beds. This was observed in the foundation trenches. The site lies at a height of c. 100 m above Ordnance Datum. The building comprises a free standing rectangular structure with an open ground floor and with a second floor supported on pillars. Archaeological Background The early history of the town of Faringdon is poorly documented but there is thought to have been a Saxon 1
settlement with a Royal residence (Munby et al. 1974, 117). It was, however, not of sufficient importance to merit fortification during the defence of Wessex from Danish incursions. In Medieval times, a castle was built to the east of the town during the reign of Stephen and the settlement may have developed further as a result of its presence. Objectives and Methodology The purpose of the watching brief was to excavate and record any archaeological deposits affected by the new construction work within the proposal area. This was to comprise examination of the foundation trench and any deep service runs for the new building. Building Recording Market halls were common features of English towns. The earliest surviving examples date to the 15th and 16th centuries. However, many were demolished during the 18th and 19th centuries as the function of these structures fell into decline. Many were replaced with buildings with enclosed rooms taking the place of the open arcade. The Old Town Hall, Faringdon, is a survival of a late 17th century open arcade structure (Plate 1). The building was originally used as a town hall and market. It later housed a fire engine and most recently was an Oxfam shop. It presently has a war memorial. The Old Town Hall, Faringdon, is a two storey timber framed building and is a grade II* listed structure. The open arcade consists of Tuscan columns with square sub-bases and abaci. The columns are shelly limestone and show clear signs of weathering. The piers on the angles at the front of the structure are square with two pilasters each facing inwards. The internal face of the square pier on the right has an L-shaped cut which is likely to have been for a fitting, possibly a door. There are two sash windows to the front and rear, each with 12 panes and heavy glazing bars that are 34mm wide. Another 12 pane sash is situated on the side wall. All these windows stand proud of the wall face suggesting a pre-1709 date. The architraves consist of bead, cyma reversa, fillet and then bead mouldings. The first floor has been rendered over but a breach in the inside wall at the top of the stairs demonstrates that the structure is timber framed with lath and plaster walls. The floor is supported on two transverse beams. The wall plate is not exposed but covered by panelling consisting of ovolo and bead mouldings. With the removal of the old stairway the wall plate of the east elevation was exposed revealing a chamfer along the top internal edge. The external panels on the sides are straight boards while the front and rear each have two segmental arches. Access 2
to the first floor is gained by a stairway situated in the south-east corner of the building. There is a panelled entrance at the top of the stairs. There is a cornice with wooden scroll modillions on the external wall of the first floor composed of ovolo and cyma reversa mouldings. The roof is hipped with weather vane. Six holes were cut through the floor of the upper room (Fig. 2). One of these (4) was 1.5 x 2m in extent but the other were typically 0.2m wide and 0.3-3m long. These holes revealed that the original rafters and planking had been enhanced with new rafters and planks. The new rafters raised the old ones to the height of the old floor and the new floor was laid on top. The removed floor timbers, ranging from between 200 250mm width, relate to this remodelling of the interior space. Although this episode may relate to the insertion of the staircase in the 1920 s the possibility that they represent an earlier modification to the floor cannot be ruled out. It is also quite likely that existing materials were re-used. A photographic catalogue comprising 19 black and white prints and 17 colour prints is presented in Appendix 1. Watching Brief Trenches for the new footings of the walls to enclose the ground floor were monitored (Fig. 3). These trenches were hand dug and were between 0.56 and 0.70m wide and were between 0.54 and 0.72m deep below the modern ground surface. Beneath the modern capping of tarmac, flagstones or cobbles, concrete or other modern material overlay the sandy clay with limestone bedrock. Trench 3 exposed the foundations of one of the pillars. This was shown to rest upon a stone base which then overlay the sandy clay with limestone bedrock. No archaeological features were observed nor finds recovered. Conclusion The building recording made a number of observations concerning the fabric of the listed structure. This indicated that the upper floor was timber framed with lath and plaster infill. The original floor had mostly been retained but had been overlain by a new floor probably in the early part of the 20th century. The watching brief on the ground floor foundation trenches did not locate any deposits or finds of archaeological significance. 3
References Munby, J, Rodwell, K and Turner, H, 1974, Faringdon, in K Rodwell (ed), Historic Towns in Oxfordshire, Oxford Archaeological Unit Survey No 3, Oxford 117-141 BGS, 1971, British Geological Survey, 1:63360, Sheet 253, Drift Edition, Keyworth Pevsner, N, 1998, Buildings of England, Berkshire. Penguin, Harmondsworth PPG15, 1994, Planning and the Historic Environment, Department of the Environment Planning Policy Guidance note 15, HMSO PPG 16, 1990, Archaeology and Planning, Department of the Environment Planning Policy Guidance Note 16, HMSO RCHME, 1996, Recording Historic Buildings, A Descriptive Specification. Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), Swindon 4
Appendix 1 Photographic catalogue Photo no. Feature Location Neg. no. Film Building Recording 1 E elevation 1 b & w 2 S elevation 2 b & w 3 W elevation 3 b & w 4 N elevation 4 b & w 5 Tuscan column NW corner 5 b & w 6 Tuscan column with hand grip SW corner 6 b & w 7 Pier NE corner 7 b & w 8 Pier NE corner 8 b & w 9 Pier NE corner 9 b & w 10 Lateral beams 11 b & w 11 Cornice with scroll modillions NE corner 13 b & w 12 Interior panelled entrance SE corner 18 b & w 13 Interior panelled entrance SE corner 19 b & w 14 Interior panelled entrance SE corner 20 b & w 15 Lath & plaster walling Interior E wall 21 b & w 16 Lath & plaster walling Interior E wall 22 b & w 17 Interior W wall 23 b & w 18 Stairway SE corner 24 b & w 19 Interior E wall 25 b & w Watching Brief 1 S elevation 4 colour 2 W elevation 5 colour 3 W elevation 6 colour 4 N elevation 7 colour 5 E elevation 8 colour 6 View from west 15 colour 7 Interior floor Hole 5 Film 2; 4 colour 8 Interior floor Holes 4 and 5 5 colour 9 Interior floor Holes 4 and 5 6 colour 10 Interior floor Hole 3 7 colour 11 Interior floor Hole 2 8 colour 12 Interior floor Hole 1 9 colour 13 Interior floor Hole 1 10 colour 14 Interior floor Hole 1 11 colour 15 Interior floor Hole 5 12 colour 16 Interior floor SW corner 13 colour 17 Floor plank 14 colour 5
98000 Abingdon 97000 SITE SITE 96000 95000 94000 SU27000 28000 29000 30000 The Old Town Hall, Market Place, Faringdon, Oxfordshire, 2000 MPF00/02 Figure 1. Location of site within Faringdon and Oxfordshire. Reproduced from Ordnance Survey Pathfinder 1135 SU29/39 1:25000
N Old Town Hall, Market Place, Faringdon, Oxfordshire, 2000 3 4 2 1 95580 lift shaft stair well 5 SU25880 25890 0 5m Figure 2. Location of inspection holes on the first floor. MPF00/02
N Old Town Hall, Market Place, Faringdon Oxfordshire, 2000 1 3 2 95580 3 SU25880 SU25880 0 5m Figure 3. Plan of Ground floor showing foundation trenches monitored during watching brief. MPF00/02
Plate 1. View of Faringdon Old Town Hall looking west. MPF00/02