Warwickshire Museum Field Archaeology Projects Group |
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Archaeological Recording on the Barford Bypass 2005-2007 |
Archaeological investigations were carried out during the construction of the long awaited bypass on the west side of Barford on behalf of Warwickshire County Council. The investigations recorded archaeological remains dating from the Bronze Age to the Anglo-Saxon period, reflecting perhaps some 3000 years of occupation on the banks of the River Avon. |
Barford Bypass - Observation of topsoil stripping.
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The Environmental Statement produced during the planning stage of the road scheme identified a number of archaeological sites that might be affected. These included a probable later prehistoric settlement south of the River Avon showing as a cropmark (Warwickshire Sites and Monuments Record No MWA 4621), a possible barrow (burial mound) suggested by place name evidence on the Barford-Wasperton parish boundary by the river at the south end of the route (SMR MWA 7287), a Romano-British settlement under Barford Nursery (SMR MWA 701) and a scatter of prehistoric flints found during fieldwalking (SMR MWA 7308). The A429 is an early routeway. The existing Barford Bridge (SMR MWA 707) is late 18th-century and stands on the site of an earlier medieval bridge, and during the 18th and 19th centuries the road was a turnpike road (SMR MWA 4184).
Trial trenching of the areas with the most potential within the bypass route (Areas A, B and C) was carried out in Summer 2005 followed by open area excavation of remains revealed in Areas A and B. When construction work began in early 2006 a programme of observation and recording was carried out during earthmoving operations. |
Barford Bypass - Areas of archaeological excavation and recording. |
The Middle to Late Bronze Age (c 1500 BC-600 BC) |
A few flints of this date were recorded during the fieldwalking survey and once the topsoil was removed several pits dated by pottery were identified dotted along the bypass route (Areas B and F). Although not in sufficient densities to suggest the location of a permanent settlement, these finds provide some evidence for activity and use of this part of the Avon valley in this little understood period. |
Area F, middle-late Bronze Age Pit.
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Area C
An L-shaped trench was excavated around the outside of a modern warehouse at the southern end of Oldhams' yard on a low bluff overlooking the River Avon, south of a recently culverted former tributary stream. The trench was designed to locate the possible barrow suggested by place-name evidence. The trench revealed an undated, shallow hollow and a buried soil horizon but no evidence for a barrow or a ditch that might have surrounded one. Further observation during bypass construction was also negative. |
The Iron Age (700 BC–43 AD)
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Area A
Area A lay immediately north-east of the probable later prehistoric cropmark site (SMR MWA 4621) which consists of a large double rectangular ditched enclosure with an eastern entrance from which antennae ditches extend to the east. An L-shaped cropmark joined by a spur to the corner of the enclosure was excavated to reveal a large V-shaped ditch up to 3.6m wide and 1.7m deep. Finds from the ditch were restricted to a few crumbs of Iron Age pottery and a human maxilla (upper jaw) recovered from near the base of the eastward arm. The occurrence of human bone on sites of this date is not unusual and probably reflects the way in which human remains were viewed by the occupants rather than careless disposal. The northward arm extended to the edge of the river terrace and followed the line of an existing alignment of pits that appeared to define an earlier boundary.
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Area A, under excavation. |
Area A, Iron Age ditch section with human jaw bone in fill (lower right).
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Detail of human jaw bone in Iron Age ditch. |
A further arrangement of five pits, some of which contained dumps of charred material and Iron Age pottery, were aligned along the western side of the ditch and a further group of seven pits was examined north-east of the L-shaped ditch. One of these pits contained a large dump of charred wheat grain. The analysis of this deliberate dump of grain will provide significant new data on Iron Age crop production and processing in the region. |
Area A, Iron Age pit containing a layer of charred wheat grain.
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Area B
Area B was excavated some 125m to the south-east of Area A on the north side of Westham Lane. Here a group of large, deep pits had been used during the Iron Age for storing grain. One of the larger examples had a central posthole cut through its base and a further two postholes were positioned at surface level on its north and east sides. A nearby pit had a similar arrangement of postholes at surface level to the south and west. The purpose of these unusual features is uncertain but may reflect a subsequent use once the stored grain had been removed. A collection of undated postholes immediately east of the pit group may have held structural timberwork associated with the settlement to which the pits were related although no actual building plans could be discerned. |
Area B, Iron Age pit with posthole cut through base.
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| Romano-British (43 AD–410 AD) |
Areas B, E, G and H
The excavations have shown that by the end of the Roman period much of the bypass route would have been divided into fields. This was evident as a series of narrow gullies that would have defined the edges of the fields, perhaps with adjacent banks on which hedges would have been planted. In Area B they were aligned north-west to south-east, some curving sharply to the north-east to form field corners. These features align with some elements of a cropmark complex located under the Nursery on Westham Lane (SMR MWA 701) and with other gullies identified during the watching brief undertaken during bypass construction in areas E, G and H. The two parallel gullies in Area G appeared to form a north/south aligned trackway running between fields. Two gullies in Area H formed the opposed terminals of an entrance gap and large quantities of Romano-British pottery had been deposited within them.
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Area B: Romano-British field boundary gullies prior to excavation showing as linear soil marks. |
Early Anglo-Saxon (410–600 AD) |
Area D
An early Anglo-Saxon building was recorded to the north of Area A on the very edge of the river terrace during the watching brief. Only the sub-surface elements survived which included a sub-rectangular hollow that represented the sunken floor beneath a timber hut. A posthole located outside the sunken area on its longitudinal axis probably held a load bearing post which supported the ridge of the roof. This building may well have been part of the settlement from which the present village developed.
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Area D: Anglo-Saxon sunken floored building under excavation. |
Undated timber piles in River Avon floodplain |
On the north side of the River Avon in the excavation for the northern bridge abutment a line of five timber piles running parallel to the bank was found set into the silts of the floodplain. Their purpose is uncertain. They seem unlikely to have belonged to an early bridge, but may have formed part of a revetment to the bank or a structure in the river such as a fish trap. Examination by Dr Dan Miles of the Oxford Dendrochronology Laboratory revealed 121 measureable tree-rings on one and 75 on another, but, unfortunately, they could not be matched to a dated sequence. |
Timber piles from River Avon. |
Timber pile in bridge abutment excavation. |
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Field Archaeology Projects Group, Warwickshire Museum Field Services
The Butts, Warwick, CV34 4SS Tel: 01926 412280/412278 Fax: 01926 412974
Email: fieldarchaeology@warwickshire.gov.uk
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