6805-Road-East-of-Plot-B-Belmont-Works-Birmingham-EVAL-report

Road East of Plot B Belmont Works Eastside Locks Birmingham Archaeological Evaluation for Peter Brett Associates on behalf of Goodman Eastside Locks UK Ltd CA Project: 6805 CA Rep

Road East of Plot B Belmont Works Eastside Locks Birmingham

Archaeological Evaluation

for

Peter Brett Associates

on behalf of

Goodman Eastside Locks (UK) Ltd

CA Project: 6805

CA Report: 6805_1 OASIS ID: cotswold2-334109

May 2019

Road East of Plot B Belmont Works Eastside Locks Birmingham

Archaeological Evaluation

CA Project: 6805

CA Report: 6805_1 OASIS ID: cotswold2-334109

Document Control Grid Revision Date Author Checked by Status Reasons for revision Approved by

A 25 April 2019 Sam Wilson Thomson Alex Draft Internal Review Coleman Laurie

This report is confidential to the client Cotswold Archaeology accepts no responsibility or liability to any third party to whom this report, or any part of it, is made known Any such party relies upon this report entirely

at their own risk No part of this report may be reproduced by any means without permission

© Cotswold Archaeology

CONTENTS

SUMMARY 2

1 INTRODUCTION 3

2 ARCHAEOLOGICAL BACKGROUND 4

3 AIMS AND OBJECTIVES 5

4 METHODOLOGY 6

5 RESULTS (FIGS 2-10) 6

6 THE FINDS 8

7 DISCUSSION 8

8 CA PROJECT TEAM 9

9 REFERENCES 10

APPENDIX A: CONTEXT DESCRIPTIONS 11

APPENDIX B: THE FINDS 11

APPENDIX C: OASIS REPORT FORM 12

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Fig 1 Site location plan (1:25,000)

Fig 2 Trench location plan showing archaeological features (1:500 and 1:250)

Fig 3 Trench location plan showing 1889 First Edition Ordnance Survey mapping (1:500)

Fig 4 Photographs

SUMMARY

An archaeological evaluation was undertaken by Cotswold Archaeology in April 2019 on

land at Plot B, Belmont Works, Eastside Locks, Birmingham Three trenches were

excavated

A wall and cobbled surfaces were identified, probably dating to the 19th century, correlating

to structures shown on historic mapping Evidence for modern disturbance and levelling was

also recorded throughout the evaluation trenches

1 INTRODUCTION

1.1 In April 2019 Cotswold Archaeology (CA) carried out an archaeological evaluation

for Peter Brett Associates on behalf of Goodman Eastside Locks (UK) Ltd on land at

Plot B, Belmont Works, Eastside Locks, Birmingham (centred at NGR: 407980

287458; Fig 1) The evaluation was undertaken in accordance with a condition

attached to outline planning consent for the construction of an access road, granted

by Birmingham City Council (BCC, ref: 2015/07915/PA, Condition 16) These works

form the first phase of a wider development for which a decision is pending on an

application for the part demolition, alteration and extension of the former Belmont

Works to provide retail and office space (BCC, ref: 2018/10197/PA)

1.2 The evaluation was carried out in accordance with the requirements of Chris Patrick,

City Archaeologist, Birmingham City Council (BCC), and with a subsequent detailed

Written Scheme of Investigation (WSI), produced by CA (2019) and covering both

planning applications, and approved by BCC The fieldwork also followed Standard

and guidance: Archaeological field evaluation (CIfA 2014)

The site

1.3 The area subject to this phase of evaluation measured 840m2 in extent and

comprised a parcel of land within the east of the wider site area The entire

proposed development area measures approximately 0.44ha, and comprises the

built remains of the Belmont Works and an area of brownfield land to the north The

site lies immediately to the south-east of Jennens Road (A47), the southern

boundary of the site comprises Cardigan Street and Belmont Row, the Digbeth

Branch Canal runs c 20m to the north of site and further brownfield space lies to the

east of the site The site lies at approximately 118m AOD

1.4 The underlying bedrock geology of the area is mapped as sandstone of the Helsby

Formation formed during the Triassic Period (BGS 2019) Superficial deposits of

Devensian sand and gravel are also recorded, formed during the Quaternary Period

(ibid.) The natural geological substrate identified during the course of the evaluation

comprised greyish-red clay, and was identified in Trench 10

2 ARCHAEOLOGICAL BACKGROUND

2.1 The wider site area has previously been the subject of a Desk-Based Assessment

(Cook 2001), an archaeological evaluation (ULAS 2007), two phases of

archaeological excavation (APS 2008; NPA 2009) and an Archaeological

Assessment (CA 2017); the below is a summary thereof Reference should be made

to these documents for further detail

2.2 There are no archaeological assets recorded within the site that date to between the

prehistoric and medieval periods (CA 2017, 12) Evidence of prehistoric finds from

Birmingham are largely known from unstratified and chance finds, with much of the

area known to be woodland during this period Clearance activities were likely

undertaken from the Mesolithic onwards, with Bronze Age, Iron Age and Roman

farming communities likely active in the area (ibid.) However, no clear evidence of

such settlements has been recorded within the city

2.3 The Domesday survey of 1086 recorded the manor of Birmingham as an

‘insignificant agricultural settlement’ (Bassett and Holt, 2016) In 1166, Henry II

granted Peter de Birmingham a market charter, at which point Birmingham was

granted borough status, and a new town was established, laid out in burgage plots

(ibid.) The north-eastern extent of the medieval/post-medieval settlement is located

c. 480m to the south-west of site, with the proposed development area lying in the

agricultural hinterland thereof, on the fertile floodplain of the River Rea (CA 2017,

14)

2.4 During the 18th and 19th centuries the area became the site of extensive industrial

activity The Belmont Glassworks are depicted on 19th-century mapping, with a

number of glass-making cones constructed by the 1850s and 1860s, with the

Belmont Row Glassworks built later in the 19th century (ibid, 15) Excavations within

the site in 2007 and 2009 found the below-ground remains of an earlier

glass-making cone (APS 2008; NPA 2009) and it is possible that there may have been

glass-making activities within the site from the late 17th century onwards (CA 2017,

15) Small-scale workshops and industrial buildings occupied much of the area to

the south of the glassworks (within the current area proposed for development),

along with lodgings for workers The truncated remains of these structures were

recorded during the previous evaluation and excavations

2.5 Located within the north-western extent of the site, Belmont Row Methodist chapel

was opened by the Wesleyans in 1789 and in 1851 provided sittings for 1,085

people (BHO 2018); the chapel and associated class rooms are shown to extend

into the western part of the site on the First Edition Ordnance Survey mapping of

1889 (see Fig 3 of this report) The congregation dwindled through the late 19th and

early 20th centuries and the chapel ceased to be registered for public worship in

1932 (ibid.) In 1961 the shell of the building was still standing as part of the

premises of the Birmingham Waste Company and it was probably demolished in the

middle of the 20th century during the construction of the A47 to the west of site

2.6 The Belmont Row glassworks were demolished during by the late 19th-century, with

some expansion of the smaller scale buildings occurring on the site during this time

(CA 2017, 16) and a number of walls, robbed-out wall foundations and floor surfaces

were recorded during the preceding fieldwork

2.7 The site was extensively re-developed during the later 19th century and early 20th

century, with large industrial buildings illustrated on the site by contemporary

mapping (ibid., 17) One of these structures was the former Belmont Works, the

fire-damaged remains of which still stand within the south-western area of site These

were built in 1899 for the Cooper Cycle Fitting Company and were used throughout

the 20th century for various light-manufacturing industries, with extensions and

outbuildings covering some of the site to the north of the main works

3.1 The objectives of the evaluation are to provide information about the archaeological

resource within the site, including its presence/absence, character, extent, date,

integrity, state of preservation and quality, in accordance Standard and guidance:

Archaeological field evaluation (CIfA 2014) This information will enable Birmingham

City Council to identify and assess the particular significance of any heritage asset,

consider the impact of the proposed development upon it, and to avoid or minimise

conflict between the heritage asset’s conservation and any aspect of the

development proposal, in line with the National Planning Policy Framework (DCLG

2012)

4 METHODOLOGY

4.1 The fieldwork comprised the excavation of three trenches, measuring 10m in length

and 2m in width, in the locations shown on the attached plan (Fig 2) Trench 10 was

re-positioned slightly from its proposed location due to the presence of on-site

obstructions and a buried service Trenches were set out on OS National Grid

(NGR) co-ordinates using Leica GPS and surveyed in accordance with CA

Technical Manual 4 Survey Manual

4.2 All trenches were excavated by mechanical excavator equipped with a toothless

grading bucket All machine excavation was undertaken under constant

archaeological supervision to the top of the first significant archaeological horizon or

the natural substrate, whichever was encountered first Where archaeological

deposits were encountered they were excavated by hand in accordance with CA

Technical Manual 1: Fieldwork Recording Manual

4.3 Deposits were assessed for their palaeoenvironmental potential in accordance with

CA Technical Manual 2: The Taking and Processing of Environmental and Other

Samples from Archaeological Sites No deposits were identified that required

sampling All artefacts recovered were processed in accordance with Technical

Manual 3 Treatment of Finds Immediately after Excavation

4.4 The archive and artefacts from the evaluation are currently held by CA at their

offices in Andover Subject to the agreement of the legal landowner the artefacts will

be deposited with Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, along with the site archive

A summary of information from this project, set out within Appendix C, will be

entered onto the OASIS online database of archaeological projects in Britain

5.1 This section provides an overview of the evaluation results; detailed summaries of

the recorded contexts and finds evidence are to be found in Appendix A and B

respectively

5.2 The stratigraphic sequence exposed during the course of the evaluation was broadly

uniform The natural geological substrate 1005 was only identified in Trench 10, at a

depth of 2m below present ground level (bpgl) and appeared to have been disturbed

and truncated to this depth, being directly overlain by demolition rubble 1006 Made

ground deposits, measuring a total of at least 1.2m in thickness, were recorded

within all excavated trenches Structural remains were recorded within all trenches

Trench 8

5.3 Overlaying made-ground deposit 803, as identified at the base of the excavated

trench, remnant cobbled surface 802 was identified at a depth of 0.9m bpgl (see Fig

4) It measured at least 2.2m in length, 1m in width and 0.13m in thickness; the

cobbles were regularly sized and laid, each stone measuring approximately 0.17m in

length and 0.13m in width This was overlain by a deposit of dumped material 801

and sandy-silt topsoil 800, from which modern material was recovered

Trench 9

5.4 Identified bedded into made-ground deposit 903, remnant cobbled surface 902 was

identified within Trench 9 at a depth of 0.95m bpgl (see Fig 4); it measured at least

2.6m in length, 2m in width and 0.13m in thickness and was identical in construction

to surface 802 seen in Trench 8, c 15m to the north The surface was sealed by

dumped deposit 901 and topsoil 900

Trench 10

5.5 The natural substrate 1005 was encountered at 2m bpgl, within a machine

excavated sondage This was overlain by made-ground deposit 1006, which

measured 0.53m in thickness Construction cut 1002 cut into this deposit, and

contained wall 1004, which measured 2.75m in length, 0.52m in width and 0.43m in

height (see Fig 4) It comprised three courses of brickwork upon a wider concrete

foundation; bricks were hand-made, unfrogged and measured 0.25m in length

0.13m in width and 0.9m in thickness Abutting wall 1004, construction backfill 1003

contained twenty sherds of pottery and ten fragments of window glass dating to the

19th century; one sherd of Frechen stoneware and two sherds of glazed

earthenware of 16th to 18th-century date were also recovered, but are probably

residual The structural remains were sealed by dumped deposit 1001 and topsoil

1000, measuring a total of 1.47m in thickness

6 THE FINDS

6.1 Artefactual material recovered from the evaluation is listed in Appendix B and

discussed further below Alphanumerical codes have been applied to pottery fabrics

Pottery

6.2 A small group (23 sherds, 414g) of post-medieval to modern dating pottery was

recovered from construction backfill 1003 The earliest-dated sherds are a single

item of Frechen stoneware, of mid 16th to 18th century date, and two sherds of

glazed earthenware of similar date The majority of sherds comprise transfer-printed

refined white wares (eight sherds, 115g) and pearl wares (six sherds, 56g) Six

sherds (35g) of flow blue ware were also recorded, marked ‘Kaolin Ware NANKIN

F&R P &C’, indicating the vessel was manufactured by F&R Pratt, Fenton

(Staffordshire), probably in the early to mid 19th century

Other Finds

6.3 Two items of ceramic building material, both bricks, were recovered from two

deposits Both are similar in their dimensions (240mm long, 110mm wide, between

75 and 85mm high) The brick from wall 1004 is unfrogged, whereas the brick from

made ground 801 has a frog on one side stamped with ‘Castle Brick Co.’

6.4 A small group of glass (ten items, 68g) was recovered from foundation cut 1002 (fill

1003) The group comprises two fragments of window and one of vessel in pale

blue/green glass, two vessel fragments in brown glass and four colourless

fragments The remaining item is a large fragment of degraded pale-coloured glass

The group is of probable 19th to 20th-century date

7.1 The archaeological features identified during this phase of evaluation show good

correlation to structures illustrated on historic cartographic sources Wall 1004

closely matches the north-eastern corner of a building first shown as a ‘smithy’ on

the First Edition Ordnance Survey mapping of 1889 (see Fig 3), with the recovered

dating evidence supporting this The building is depicted on historic mapping until

the mid-20th century