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T H A M E S V A L L E Y
S E R V I C E S
ARCHAEOLOGICALARCHAEOLOGICAL
Christ Church, Northcourt Road, Abingdon, Oxfordshire
Archaeological Watching Brief
by Susan Porter
Site Code: CCA11/48(SU 5015 9834)
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Christ Church, Northcourt Road, Abingdon, Oxfordshire
An Archaeological Watching Brief
For Christ Church, Abingdon
By Susan Porter
Thames Valley Archaeological Services Ltd
Site Code CCA 11/48
April 2012
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i Thames Valley Archaeological Services Ltd, 47–49 De Beauvoir Road, Reading RG1 5NR
Tel. (0118) 926 0552; Fax (0118) 926 0553; email [email protected]; website: www.tvas.co.uk
Summary
Site name: Christ Church, Northcourt Road, Abingdon, Oxfordshire Grid reference: SU 5015 9834 Site activity: Watching Brief Date and duration of project: 27th April 2012 Project manager: Steve Ford Site supervisor: Susan Porter Site code: CCA 11/48 Area of site: 0.35ha Summary of results: A drainage trench was dug through the floor of an existing barn on the site. No deposits of archaeological interest were observed. Location and reference of archive: The archive is presently held at Thames Valley Archaeological Services, Reading and will be deposited at Oxfordshire County Museum in due course, with the accession code OXCMS:2011.155. This report may be copied for bona fide research or planning purposes without the explicit permission of the copyright holder. All TVAS unpublished fieldwork reports are available on our website: www.tvas.co.uk/reports/reports.asp. Report edited/checked by: Steve Ford 30.04.12 Steve Preston 30.04.12
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Christ Church, Northcourt Road, Abingdon, Oxfordshire An Archaeological Watching Brief
by Susan Porter
Report 11/48b
Introduction
This report documents the results of an archaeological watching brief carried out at Christ Church, Northcourt
Road, Abingdon, Oxfordshire, SU 5015 9834 (Fig. 1). The work was commissioned by Ms Jenny Corps on
behalf of Christ Church, Northcourt Road, Abingdon, Oxfordshire.
Planning permission (ABG/4080/4) has been granted by Vale of White Horse District Council to redevelop
and refurbish the site with the demolition of a small office complex, the building of a new church and conversion
of the four barns to other uses. This consent is subject to a condition relation to archaeology. Due to the potential
disturbance of below ground archaeological features a watching brief is to be maintained during the period of
groundworks following on from the results of an earlier field evaluation.
This is in accordance with the Department for Communities and Local Government’s Planning Policy
Statement, Planning for the Historic Environment (PPS5 2010), and the District’s policies on archaeology. The
field investigation was carried out to a specification approved by Mr Hugh Coddington, Archaeological officer
of Oxfordshire County Archaeological Service, advisers to the District on archaeological matters. The fieldwork
was undertaken by Susan Porter on 27th April 2012 and the site code is CCA 11/48.
The archive is presently held at Thames Valley Archaeological Services, Reading and will be deposited at
Oxfordshire County Museum in due course, with the accession code OXCMS:2011.155
Location, topography and geology
The site is located to the north of Abingdon, just to the west of the A4183 (Fig 1). To the north the site is
bounded by Northcourt Road, beyond which is residential housing. The south and east of the site are bounded by
the Abingdon Football Club playing field. Beyond the western edge of the site is more residential housing (Fig
2). The underlying geology is mapped as Second Terrace Gravels (BGS 1971) and the site lies at an elevation of
59m above Ordnance Datum.
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2
Archaeological background
The archaeological potential of the site area has been highlighted in a brief for the project initially prepared by
Mr Hugh Coddington of Oxfordshire County Archaeological Service. The site is located on that of Northcourt
Grange which was part of the property of Abingdon Abbey. The Abbey, which dates from the 7th century,
became one of the major religious houses in medieval times prior to its dissolution in 1552 (Munby et al. 1975).
The current church was originally a tithe barn and dates probably to the earlier medieval period. The other four
barns (now offices) are of later medieval date and it is anticipated that other domestic buildings and possibly a
chapel were originally also present on the site. Large pieces of masonry have been found to the west of the tithe
barn suggesting the presence of other structures. In the 20th century the site was the location for a dairy and in
1961 the tithe barn was converted into an Anglican church. An archaeological evaluation in the church car park
in 2011 revealed several intercutting ditches of probable medieval date along with a residual prehistoric struck
flint and Roman pottery (Lewis 2011).
Objectives and methodology
The purpose of the watching brief was to excavate and record any archaeological deposits affected by the works.
This was to involve examination of areas of intrusive groundworks within the buildings, in particular observation
during the digging of a possibly deep drain within a barn followed by shallow ground reduction. Archaeological
deposits which were exposed by the groundworks were to be recorded but not further excavated unless
threatened by the groundworks.
Results
A drainage trench was dug through an existing barn (Fig 3 and Pl. 1). The trench was 10.40m in length and
0.50m wide, and was excavated with a ditching bucket to a depth of 0.70m. The stratigraphy comprised 0.30m
light yellow brown sandy silt with gravel made ground, and 0.20m mid grey brown clayey sand, overlying dark
orange brown silty sand natural geology (Fig. 4). No deposits of archaeological interest were observed and no
finds were recovered.
Conclusion
Within the barn, the excavation of the drainage trench revealed no archaeological deposits or previous surfaces,
and no finds of archaeological interest were recovered from the excavation. The stratigraphy comprised 0.20m of
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made ground above a subsoil, as such any ground reduction (which would not be as deep as the drain) would be
into this made ground layer and should not affect the archaeologically relevant levels. As the drainage trench
crossed the full width of the barn and no pre-existing ground surface was encountered it is highly unlikely that
ground reduction within the barn would encounter a relevant level such as any earlier surface.
References BGS, 1971, British Geological Survey, 1:63360, Sheet 253, Drift Edition, Keyworth Coddington, H, 2011, ‘Christ Church, Northcourt Road, Abingdon; Design Brief for Archaeological Field
Evaluation’ Oxfordshire County Archaeological Service, Oxford. Lewis, J, 2011, ‘Christ Church, Northcourt Road, Abingdon, Oxfordshire, An Archaeological Evaluation’,
Thames Valley Archaeological Services report 11/48, Reading Munby, J, Rodwell, K and Turner, h, 1975, ‘Abingdon,’ in K, Rodwell (ed), Historic Towns in Oxfordshire: a
survey of the new County, Oxford Archaeol Unit Survey no. 3, Oxford, 33-40 PPS5, 2010, Planning for the Historic Environment, The Stationery Office, Norwich
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97000
98000
99000
SU49000 ` 50000
SITE
Christ Church, Northcourt Road, Abingdon, Oxfordshire, 2012
Archaeological Watching BriefFigure 1. Location of site within Abingdon and Oxfordshire.
CCA 11/48b
Reproduced from Ordnance Survey Explorer 170 at 1:12500Ordnance Survey Licence 100025880
SITEBicester
Henley-on
Banbury
OXFORD
-Thames
Witney
Wantage
Thame
Abingdon
Didcot Wallingford
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Christ Church, Northcourt Road, Abingdon, Oxfordshire, 2012
Archaeological Watching BriefFigure 2. Detailed location of site off Northcourt Road.
SU50100 50200
CCA 11/48b
Reproduced from Ordnance Survey digital mapping under licence. Crown copyright reserved. Scale: 1:1250
98300
98400
SITE
N
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N
CCA 11/48b
Figure 3. Location of observed works and previous evaluation trenches.
Christ Church, Northcourt Road, Abingdon, Oxfordshire, 2012
Archaeological Watching Brief
0 50m
SITE
Football Ground
Christ ChurchBarns (Offices)
Northcourt
Road
SU50100 50200
98300
98400
No. 31No. 13
Post Office
Pavillion
2
3
1
Dairy shed removed
1-7
modern truncation
Drain(watching brief)
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CCA 11/48b
Figure 4. Representative section.
Christ Church, Northcourt Road, Abingdon, Oxfordshire, 2011Archaeological Watching Brief
0 1m
N S
Light yellow-brown sandy silt and gravel
Mid grey-brown clayey sand
Base of trench
Dark grey-brown silty sand
59.0m aOD
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Plate 2. Interior of the barn, looking southwest.
Plate 1. Drain trench, looking south. Scales: 1m and 0.5m.
Christ Church, Northcourt Road, Abingdon, Oxfordshire, 2012
Archaeological Watching BriefPlates 1 and 2.
CCA 11/48b
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TIME CHART
Calendar Years
Modern AD 1901
Victorian AD 1837
Post Medieval AD 1500
Medieval AD 1066
Saxon AD 410
Roman AD 43BC/AD
Iron Age 750 BC
Bronze Age: Late 1300 BC
Bronze Age: Middle 1700 BC
Bronze Age: Early 2100 BC
Neolithic: Late 3300 BC
Neolithic: Early 4300 BC
Mesolithic: Late 6000 BC
Mesolithic: Early 10000 BC
Palaeolithic: Upper 30000 BC
Palaeolithic: Middle 70000 BC
Palaeolithic: Lower 2,000,000 BC
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Thames Valley Archaeological Services Ltd,47-49 De Beauvoir Road, Reading,
Berkshire, RG1 5NR
Tel: 0118 9260552Fax: 0118 9260553
Email: [email protected]: www.tvas.co.uk
acover.pdfCCA11-48wbtext.pdfF1.pdfF2.pdfF3.pdfF4.pdfPl1-2.pdfzbackcover.pdfbackcover.pdfcover-~1.pdf