South East Coastal Strategy Pipeline, Site F - Caldicot
ST 4853 8756; Tim Carew; Excavation; 7th - 19th October 1999; Dwr Cymru / Welsh Water; WWTW99F
Site F was located a few metres to the S of the railway line that defines the southern edge of Caldicot. It was at +10m OD, on land that slopes down to the Severn floodplain and estuary, and about 300m from the site of Stoop Hill Roman Villa. It may have been connected with activities on the villa estate.
The underlying geology of the site comprised sandstone in various states of weathering, from stone to sand. Most of the site was on sand, but part of it was on a sandstone outcrop. The sandy conditions meant that there was little bone preserved, and no organic or waterlogged deposits were encountered.
All the pottery recovered from the site was Roman and indicates two main periods of activity. The first was around AD 120-200, when there was quarrying of the sandstone outcrop. The second was during the late 3rd to the early 4th Centuries, when a building was constructed and surrounded by a fence and other features associated with it. The quantity of pottery and other waste suggests the building was used for domestic occupation, albeit on a small scale. Other possibilities are that it was related to agricultural activities, or quarrying.
A substantial pit on the W side of the site is interpreted as resulting from quarrying, as are two smaller pits near it. The quarrying cuts a N-S ditch that is likely also to be related to quarrying. Two N-S ditches cut into the area of the sandstone outcrop have relatively few finds, and were probably associated with the quarrying phase.
The features interpreted as wall footings form an L-shape, and there were shallow pits within the area defined by this cut. On the north side the footing was 5.0m long, with a rectangular pit, probably also a foundation, of 1.8m by 1m at the E end of this. On the W side the foundation was 3.3m long. No evidence was found for a S or E wall, and these sides may have been a less substantial type of construction, with foundations that have been truncated by ploughing, or may have been lean-tos. The pits within the structure had irregular bases, and each probably represents a number of pits with indistinguishable fills. The structure dates to around AD 300, and the internal features within it are loosely dated to the 2nd to the 4th Centuries, although this wide range may reflect both construction and robbing activities.
A pair of gullies to the W of the structure had a gap between them of 0.85m, with a posthole in the gap. These probably constitute a fence enclosing the structure, with an entrance on the W side. The function of the other features between the structure and the area of quarrying, except for the fence, is uncertain. Several of them, including ditches and a double line of postholes, were oriented S-W to N-E.
There were virtually no archaeological deposits to the east of the structure. It is suggested that it was the presence of the sandstone outcrop that protected the site and prevented it from being ploughed out, so that any deposits that were away from the outcrop were more vulnerable to truncation by ploughing. Some truncation had also been caused by the easement of a water pipe (unrelated to the SECSP). The pipe trench itself lay about 3m to the north of the north edge of Site F, but disturbance from its easement extended about 2.5m into the site on the north side.
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