Throckley Middle School, Hexham Road, Throckley
NZ 1543 6686; (Robin Taylor-Wilson, Alan Telford and Emma Allen); evaluation, building recording and watching brief; TMS02
Several phases of evaluation, watching brief and building record have been undertaken at the site.
6th June 2002: the archaeological evaluation comprised one trial trench sited to investigate the survival of Roman remains in the scheduled area. The area of investigation was the access road to the school from Hexham Road, which lies within the scheduled area. The northern half of the evaluation trench revealed natural boulder clay truncated by a probable 19th century land drain beneath a soil horizon of similar date. The southern half of the evaluation trench contained a substantial feature, of probable late 19th century origin, in which cast iron pipes had been laid. Modern strata and services were also recorded. No archaeological features of significance were encountered within the evaluation trench.
24th-25th July 2002: the Phase 2 archaeological evaluation comprised two trial trenches on playing fields to the north of Throckley Middle School. The first of these, Trench 2, was sited to investigate a complex of linear anomalies, possibly relating to a former colliery waggonway, as identified by an earlier geophysical survey. A small pit of Late Bronze Age date was discovered, along with two linear features of rather uncertain date. Multi-phase evidence of the colliery waggonway, in the form of a sequence of linear features, was recorded, along with several land drains of relatively recent origin. Trench 3, the second Phase II evaluation trench, was sited to investigate a large amorphous geophysical anomaly, possibly relating to former colliery workings in the extreme west of the development area. Natural glacial drift deposits of varying composition were exposed along the trench, a land drain of
relatively recent origin being the only man-made feature to be exposed.
August, September and October 2002: watching brief in the area of the former playing field north of the existing school. Groundworks associated with the construction of a new access road off Hexham Road were also monitored. The watching brief recovered no further evidence of prehistoric occupation on the playing field to the north of the school. However, part of the eastern trackside ditch of the colliery waggonway was observed, along with a stone-lined drain of probable post-medieval date. The construction of the new access road did not expose any archaeological remains of note.
February and March 2003: watching brief in the area of a former playing field located to the north of the school, along its northern, eastern and western edges. The earliest archaeological remains to be exposed were the remnants of three furrows, which would have formed part of a wider 'ridge and furrow' field system of probable medieval date. However, the majority of archaeological features exposed were of post-medieval origin. Ten groups of sleeper impressions were recorded, probably representing a single track waggonway diverging into fan of sidings leading towards the former Hill Pit. Further south, there may also have been a single track diverging from the main way and leading to the earlier Honey Pit, although the evidence for this was inconclusive. Two phases of trackside ditches associated with the waggonway were recorded to the east of the trackways.
4th-8th August 2003: a single evaluation trench was excavated situated between an existing manhole, adjacent to the school entrance, and the northern edge of the southern pavement of Hexham Road, to the south-east of the existing school buildings. The trench was located across the known route of Hadrian's Wall and associated features. The archaeological investigations located a truncated length of the foundation of Hadrian's Wall, surviving to a maximum width of 1.44m, and including the southern edge. The Wall was truncated to the north by an east-west aligned feature, presumed to represent the trench for an existing main sewer. A scan of the sewer pipe revealed that it lies directly below the northern part of the surviving wall section, indicating that the sewer trench undercuts the Wall. At 3.50m north of the southern face of the Wall, and thus c. 0.50m north of the postulated northern face, a
truncated sub-rectangular pit was recorded. This was interpreted as a pit associated with a defensive system of Roman entanglements, known from previous investigations to exist on the berm between the Wall and the associated ditch to the north.
The ditch to the north of Hadrian's Wall was not encountered during the evaluation. However, the northern part of the trench, where the ditch would be expected, could not be excavated due to the presence of a large number of, mostly live, services. The services were encountered close to the modern ground surface, and it is possible that the ditch, with a probable depth of up to 3m, survives in situ below modern disturbance. Subsequent to the abandonment of the Wall, there was a build-up of deposits to the north, the earliest of which contained sandstone blocks that may represent ex situ masonry from the wall, deriving from its gradual degeneration. The uppermost of the post-Roman accumulated deposits may represent the road surface prior to the construction of the existing tarmac road. Subsequent features and deposits were associated with the tarmac road and with modern service trenches.
August 2003: a historic buildings survey of the Victorian school building at Throckley Middle School and a World War Two air-raid shelter in its grounds.
|
