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)

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

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

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 All TVAS unpublished fieldwork reports are available on our website: www.tvas.co.uk/reports/reports.asp.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

1

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.

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

3

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

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

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

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)

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

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

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

Thames Valley Archaeological Services Ltd,47-49 De Beauvoir Road, Reading,

Berkshire, RG1 5NR

Tel: 0118 9260552Fax: 0118 9260553

Email: tvas@tvas.co.ukWeb: www.tvas.co.uk

acover.pdfCCA11-48wbtext.pdfF1.pdfF2.pdfF3.pdfF4.pdfPl1-2.pdfzbackcover.pdfbackcover.pdfcover-~1.pdf