{"id":434,"date":"2014-09-15T12:47:54","date_gmt":"2014-09-15T12:47:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/slightlymuddy.com\/kuriosum\/?p=434"},"modified":"2014-09-15T12:47:54","modified_gmt":"2014-09-15T12:47:54","slug":"the-trench-phase-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/slightlymuddy.com\/kuriosum\/?p=434","title":{"rendered":"The Trench. Phase 2."},"content":{"rendered":"
\"IMGA0602\"<\/a>

Figure 1. Garage site – terminal of previous trench at the left of 0.5m scale<\/p><\/div>\n

Last year I reported on excavating a trench <\/a>for power cables to supply a new garage in our back garden. I have now finally got round to preparing the site for the garage, and accordingly could not resist digging a test pit on the site to see what information I could add to the previous post.<\/p>\n

The site is a level area approximately 4m x 6m which was paved with (mainly) concrete paving slabs. This was the site of our 2 garden sheds, but I wonder if a larger structure stood there previously. As mentioned in the previous post, my assumption is that this area was laid out in the early 1960s when the house was sold to a private buyer by the adjacent Bryn Chapel. The entire garden having been landscaped at this time. I should also reiterate that on the north side of this plot (to the right in figure 1) there is a boundary formed by a clawdd bank – i.e. a bank that would have been revetted with stone and have had a hedge planted on top. This bank is marked on the first edition Ordnance survey map and may well be medieval in origin. Just to the north west of the plot in figure 1 there is a fairly mature oak that appears, at one time, to have been layed into a hedge, so I am guessing the boundary is at least several hundred years old.<\/p>\n

The Test Pit<\/h2>\n
\"IMGA0607\"<\/a>

Figure 2<\/p><\/div>\n

Having cleared the site of sheds and paving, a task that has taken some months :-(, I excavated a small test pit c.a. 1m wide and 1.5m in length, oriented roughly NE-SW (figure 2). I was hoping that any sign of an underlying slope in the natural subsoil would show up in this, and was too lazy to dig a longer trench. As it turns out I hit natural at c.a. 30-40cm. The overlying layer being heavily compacted and dessicated garden soil that had lain for c.a. 50 years under the paving. The natural here, whilst having the same orange clay sand matrix as elsewhere, was notable for a high density of cobbles, many of which appear to have been rolled (see figure 3).<\/p>\n

\"IMGA0610\"<\/a>

Figure 3<\/p><\/div>\n

As previously discussed, I interpret this subsoil as a periglacial deposit overlying the pennant sandstone of the hard geology. Just why there are more cobbles in the matrix here may be entirely stochastic, in other areas I have found few or no cobbles even to a depth of 1m (I have never actually hit the underlying sandstone). Moreover there was no sign here of any marked slope in the natural and there is no indication that this ground was leveled to accommodate the slab paving. This might suggest that the ground had already been leveled when the clawdd bank was constructed.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Finds<\/h2>\n
\"IMGA0613\"<\/a>

Figure 5<\/p><\/div>\n

\"IMGA0617\"<\/a>

Figure 4<\/p><\/div>\n

As previously noted, the north east end of the garden seems to have been used as a refuse dump, with many glass bottles littering the clawdd. As before I found a large piece of animal (almost certainly cow) bone that had clearly been butchered (Figure 4). Another interesting find was a large number of cockle shells (Cerastoderma edule <\/em>see Figure 5). This is not entirely surprising. Until recent years, there was a major cockle fishery in the nearby Lougher Estuary\/Burry Inlet, centred around Penclawdd <\/a>and Crofty. Although pollution seems to have destroyed the cockle polulation, the estuary is still exploited for laverbread (seaweed) and marsh samphire.<\/p>\n

\"IMGA0616\"<\/a>

Figure 6<\/p><\/div>\n

Finds also included a large number of glass fragments. Whilst some were clearly bottle\/container fragments, many appeared to be window glass; Figure 6 shows evidence of window putty on the edge. Moreover, much of the glass appears very thin, at c.a. 2mm. This suggests to me that it came from a greenhouse, possibly suggesting that one stood on or near the site in the past.<\/p>\n

\"IMGA0614\"<\/a>

Figure 7<\/p><\/div>\n

Other finds included the inevitable blue and white ware, and a mysterious object made of brass (Figure 7). This is clearly a surface fitting of some kind, given the two small countersunk screw holes. But what did it retain? I wonder of this might not have been associated with gas lighting, and would welcome suggestions.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

<\/h2>\n

Conclusion<\/h2>\n
\"(c)<\/a>

Figure 8 Cockle Woman<\/p><\/div>\n

I sometimes wonder if these activities are frovolous, but it is surprising what one can learn from a pretty simple test pit in your back garden.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last year I reported on excavating a trench for power cables to supply a new garage in our back garden. I have now finally got round to preparing the site for the garage, and accordingly could not resist digging a test pit on the site to see what information I …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":448,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[10,53,57],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-434","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academicy-stuff","category-field-archaeology","category-material-culture","has-thumbnail"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/slightlymuddy.com\/kuriosum\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/sw_gv_gv1946_998_large.jpg?fit=731%2C944","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7sHEp-70","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":204,"url":"http:\/\/slightlymuddy.com\/kuriosum\/?p=204","url_meta":{"origin":434,"position":0},"title":"The Trench: An exercise in back garden archaeology.","author":"slightly","date":"August 23, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Is this the World's narrowest evaluation trench? No. Its a cut I made across our garden for ducting to carry electricity to a new garage. But every time I dig holes in our garden, which has been many times over the last 15 years, I have learned a little more\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Academicy Stuff"","block_context":{"text":"Academicy Stuff","link":"http:\/\/slightlymuddy.com\/kuriosum\/?cat=10"},"img":{"alt_text":"IMGA0477","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/slightlymuddy.com\/kuriosum\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/IMGA0477-300x225.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":250,"url":"http:\/\/slightlymuddy.com\/kuriosum\/?p=250","url_meta":{"origin":434,"position":1},"title":"Plugged In","author":"slightly","date":"September 26, 2013","format":"aside","excerpt":"Temporarily moving my home recording studio, I found myself sorting through a mass of tangled cables and leads, some of which I have owned for more than 30 years. 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