Site location
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Fig 1: Location of the site
The site lies immediately north-east of the town of Nailsea, in the parish of Wraxall, in the Unitary Authority of North Somerset (formerly Woodspring District Council). The centre of the site lies at ST48767137, some 9 km west of Bristol. The site can be seen from a public footpath which crosses the site, but it is privately owned, and permission should be sought from the landowner before leaving the path.
Land use and geology
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Fig 2: Geology of the area immediately around Whelp’s Place
The site lies immediately to the north of the flood plain of the natural course of the Land Yeo, represented by the band of alluvial material (hatched buff in above), which lies along the boundary between the Coal Measures of Nailsea to the south-west (stripes of grey and olive in the above), and the Head Deposits and marls of the foot of the Failand Ridge. The site itself sits on the marl, a soft, red geology, which breaks down into a bright red loamy soil (f6; soft orange in above). The course of the Land Yeo no longer occupies its natural course, having been re-routed on several occasions. In rainy periods, the site becomes very wet, with standing water in some of the earthworks, perhaps giving a clue as to their nature.
Historical & archaeological context
Previous work at the site appears to have been extensive, although sadly, no archive of the work has been located, and no academic account published. A newspaper account in 1965 simply stated that a Mr C M Sykes had excavated at the site, and that an L-shaped building had been uncovered. Pottery from the site had been showed to Mr Philip Rahtz (now Professor Rahtz) who had pronounced it medieval (Pers comm K Gardner, 2006). Some of the mounds on the site may well be Sykes’ spoil heaps, and the resistivity survey has almost certainly re-located the site of his excavations (below).
The site was sketch-surveyed by H. Quinnell in 1962, and his sketch appears to be the basis for the depiction of the earthworks on the modern OS digital data.
The site was also discussed by Gardner in his Who made the Land Yeo? (Gardner 1998). Gardner re-interpreted the site as that of one of a sequence of mills on the Land Yeo at this point, and as the description of the current work indicates (below) this is probably part of the truth.
A limited field walking exercise in the ploughed field immediately surrounding the site in 2000 revealed a thin spread of Roman pottery, along with high status pottery of 12th century date, and other finds from 13th century to date (Russett pers comm 2008).
A systematic earthwork survey was carried out in 2005-6 by NEAT (NEAT 2008.1), and a suggested interpretation for the earthworks made, to be tested by the resistivity survey reported on in this document.
Very little documentary work has been carried out at this site. Master (1900) suggested that this might be the site of a Berkeley manor house, and it was he who identified the site as Whelp’s Place. Unfortunately, much of the historic archives of Wraxall are inaccessible in the private archive of the Gibbs family who used to reside at Tyntesfield, and until these are available, probably little further productive documentary work is possible.
Survey objectives
The survey had several objectives.
Following the earthwork survey, suggestions for the site of Sykes’ ‘L-shaped building’ were made, and part of the purpose of this resistivity survey was to attempt to clarify which (if any) of these is the site. This seems to have been successfully done, with a candidate building identified.
The survey was also intended to further elucidate the nature of the earthworks at the site, and to record any features no longer visible as earthworks at the surface: again, some degree of success was obtained.
The survey was also used for training purposes by NEAT.
Previous archaeological work at the site
For archaeological work carried out before 2005, see NEAT 2008.1. No new information about earlier work has come to light since this was published.
The 2005-6 survey (Appendix 4 of NEAT 2008.1) above
The site at Whelp’s place has always been described as a ‘deserted (medieval) settlement’ and the rather confused entry in the North Somerset HER, originally derived from the Avon SMR entry (Appendix 1) reflects this.
Both English Heritage (1993) and Gardner (1998) have, however, suggested a different analysis, with the earthworks largely representing the remains of a watermill, intermediate in sequence between one to the south of Wraxall House (ST48337148: HER43925), and that to the west of Wraxall House (ST48377157; HER02169), only demolished for road widening in the 20th century. This hypothesis would appear to have some support from the earthwork survey.
The full analysis of the earthwork survey is contained in NEAT 2008.1. The main survey is reproduced above: the rectangle marked represents the area of the geophysical survey.
The resistivity survey
Raw data
An area of 100m x 80m over the central area of the site was surveyed, in which most of the earthworks that looked like structures were located.
The clarity of the response was superb, with the stoney features contrasting well with the underlying alluvium and marls.
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Fig 3: Raw geophysical data, Whelp’s Place
Fig 4: General interpretation of geophysical data, Whelp’s Place
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Fig 5: Detailed interpretation of geophysical data, Whelp’s Place
1 A rectangular structure, with clearly defined positive edges, visible in places as stone walls, a minimum of 24m x 14m in size, consisting of an apparent unit at the northern end some 10m by 3m, with two walls running off at right angles. These two walls have signs about half-way down their length of possible gaps or door / gateways. There are the remains of other potential right angular positive features to the north of the structure, and another to its east, the latter obscured by an apparent tip. The clarity of this feature, the lack of a stone rubble spread over it, the potential spoil heap to the east, a second possible spoil heap to the north, seen in the earthwork survey but not in the geophysics, and most importantly, the ‘L’ shape of the main structure, all make it highly likely that this is the site of Sykes’ L-shaped building of 1959. Given all the other structures at the site (features 6 and 7, potentially a mill-pond and service leat), this site is likely to have been a water-mill, one of sequence that have been constructed on the Land Yeo around this site. Indeed, it is even possible that the negative feature running away from the structure to its south forms the wheel-pit and tail race of the potential mill. These points could only really be tested further by excavation. It is noticeable that the parch-marks seen in the 1991 air photograph (appendix 4) also strongly hint at this L-shaped building, although it was not really apparent in the earthwork survey.
2 A square structure, outlined by substantial and strong positive readings, roughly 17m square. The feature is visible as a rectangular structure in the earthwork survey. While this is most likely to be a small walled enclosure (? a walled garden), it should be borne in mind as a possible candidate for the high-status medieval building (Whelp’s Place) supposedly at the site, although it need not be of the same phase of the site as Structure 1.
3 A circular positive feature, 8 – 10m across, and with ‘walls’ apparently around 1m thick. While not entirely clear, the wall does seem to overly the existing banked and ditched enclosure. The English Heritage Scheduling document mentions a ‘windmill mound c 10m across and c 1m high’. This geophysical anomaly does seem to coincide with the site suggested for a windmill by EH, although curiously, it was not visible as an earthwork in 2005-6.
4 This linear feature (like most of the other linear positive features on the site) appears to be a stoney bank, probably the remains of either robbed-out walls or banks with stoney cores, forming the elements of a group of small enclosures. It has been exposed in several places by cattle tracks, and consists of a thin line of stones, possibly a bank core. All the linear positive and linear negative features showed up as banks and ditches on the earthwork survey.
5 An elliptical mound, up to 12m long and up to 5 wide, and apparently with a high concentration of stones, seems to be a tip, and probably the best interpretation of this is as a spoil heap resulting from the 1959 excavation, implying that the excavation trench for the building may not have been completely backfilled at the time (hence the clarity of its geophysical response).
6 A central triangular depression, still wet most of the time even today, around 23m on a north-south axis, and up to 19m wide on the southern wider end (although the northern end is obscured by tip 5, and may be wider beneath, something which the 1946 air photograph is not detailed enough to clarify). This is likely to be (given the interpretation of structure 1 as a probable water mill and associated structures) a mill pond, fed by ?leat 7 from a point some way east along the course of the Land Yeo.
7 A double line of positive features running from the direction of the Land Yeo, joining up with feature 6. It is possible to interpret the remains in two ways. The two positive anomalies are around 10m apart (which seems quite wide for a leat, unless it contained the full flow of the Land Yeo). If it is the full width (and the earthwork survey suggests that it is), then the large mound in the centre is probably another tip. The other possibility is that the two negative anomalies may be that of a leat and spillway.
8 The negative anomaly along this line is a foul water pipeline of mid-20th century date, identifiable by its accompanying inspection chambers with their cast-iron lids.
The earthwork survey and resistivity survey are complementary, with some features only seen in one survey, some in the other. In particular, structure 1 shows up well in the resistivity survey, although it cannot really be seen without the eye of faith as an earthwork.
The whole site, then, seems to fit into place as one of a sequence of water-mills, along with its accompanying leat, race and other water management earthworks, constructed during the medieval period on the various engineered courses of the Land Yeo. The pottery found in 1959 would seem to date it to the 14th century, and means that this may be the middle of a sequence. This begins with a mill associated with the natural course of the Land Yeo and an existing pond some 400m east of this site, in the grounds of what is today Wraxall house, and ends with the current course of the Land Yeo, and the mill demolished during road widening in the 1960s, of which fragments still stand close to the entrance to Wraxall House.
Structure 2 is also intriguing. High status medieval pottery, such as fragments of 12th century glazed ‘Pill-type’ Ham Green jugs have been found in field walking immediately to the north of the site, and it is just possible that the structure is the remains of a high-status stone-built dwelling of that age suggested for the site by Master (1900), although the interpretation as a small walled enclosure is perhaps more likely.
Recommendations for further work
The availability of pseudo-sectioning equipment for the TR Systems resistivity meter may offer the potential for some useful sections of the various structures on the site, perhaps giving some confidence (or otherwise!) to the current interpretation of the site as largely that of a water-mill.
A useful area of further work would be the compilation of an Archaeological Management Plan (AMP). This has been a very successful way of informing landowners of issues around the future management of such sites, and in the balancing of the archaeological requirements of the site with others, such as biodiversity and access.
References
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Gardner, K.S. 1998
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Who made the Land Yeo? Nailsea and District Local History Society, Nailsea
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Master, Rev G.S. 1900
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Collections for a parochial history of Wraxall. Somerset Archaeological and Natural History Society (northern branch), Bristol
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NEAT 2008.1
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Land at Whelp’s Place, Wraxall
Earthwork survey, February 2008 Nailsea Environmental and Archaeological Team, Nailsea
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Appendix 1
EH Scheduling document
SCHEDULE ENTRY COPY
ENTRY IN THE SCHEDULE OF MONUMENTS COMPILED AND MAINTAINED BY THE SECRETARY OF STATE UNDER SECTION 1 OF THE ANCIENT MONUMENTS AND ARCHAEOLOGICAL AREAS ACT 1979 AS AMENDED.
MONUMENT: Deserted medieval settlement 300m ESE of Wraxall House
PARISH: WRAXALL
DISTRICT: WOODSPRING
NATIONAL MONUMENT NO: 22840
NATIONAL GRID REFERENCE: ST48757137
DESCRIPTION OF THE MONUMENT
The monument includes a deserted medieval settlement situated on low-lying ground adjacent to the river Yeo, 330m ESE of Wraxall House.
The monument is defined by the present extent of earthworks which represent the remains of structures including houses, enclosures and an associated irrigation system. The earthworks survive to a maximum height of 1.6m.
Among the earthwork remains at least two large building platforms can be identified, to the north and at the centre of the site. The northern example is 30m long and 10m wide and the central example 20m long and 8m wide. In the north-eastern area of the site there is a windmill mound c 10m across and c 1m high. Linking these features, and connecting with the river Yeo, is a network of water channels, now dry, surviving up to 1.2m wide. These suggest that the site may have had an industrial function, possibly including a watermill, a further and possible later example of which is located beyond the monument c 300m downstream.
Partial excavation of the site in 1959 confirmed the medieval date of the monument and also identified a structure of ‘L’ shaped plan which dated to the 13th century AD. Finds of pottery dating to the 14th century suggest that the site was occupied over an extended period.
Excluded from the scheduling are the field gate and all fence posts relating to field boundaries although the ground beneath all these features is included
ASSESSMENT OF IMPORTANCE
This site 300m ESE of Wraxall House is one of a number of medieval settlements known in the area of the Levels to the north-west of the Mendip Hills. This area became more intensively occupied during the medieval period when large areas were drained for the first time. The site has an unusual form with earthworks suggesting the use of the adjacent watercourse to run a watermill. The site survives well as earthworks, and partial excavation has demonstrated the survival of buried archaeological remains and environmental evidence relating to the monument, its occupants, their economy and the landscape in which they lived. The site of the monument is shown on the attached map extract outlined in black and highlighted in red.
SCHEDULING HISTORY
Monument included in the Schedule on 13th December 1977 as:
COUNTY/NUMBER: Avon 173
NAME: Deserted medieval village site E of Wraxall House
The reference of this monument is now:
NATIONAL MONUMENT NUMBER: 22840
NAME: Deserted medieval settlement 300m ESE of Wraxall House
SCHEDULING REVISED ON 27TH January 1994
SIGNED BY: I. Newton
On behalf of the Secretary of State for National Heritage
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Appendix 2
Original Avon SMR entry for Whelp’s place
AVON SITES AND MONUMENTS RECORD
Site No. 572
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District Woodspring
Parish Wraxall
6" Map ST47SE 25" Map
NGR ST487713A ST 487 713 A
SAM No. 173 HBMC 22840
Height 15 m Area ha
Site Name Deserted Medieval Village site E of Wraxall House
Place Wraxall
Description:
Medieval house platforms and other evidence of a depopulated site, below
Wraxall village and by the side of the River Yeo, led to excavation by
CM Sykes and others in 1959. P Rahtz has identified the sherds as C13. A
house nearby is on the site of a C14 house.<1>
The earthworks, centred at ST48727136, consist of a number of irregular enclosures and platforms from 0.1m high to 0.6m high and all bounded on the N and E by field ways 0.5m deep. The only clearly distinguishable building site is ST48747142.<2>
Site under pasture (wet ground, more suitable for fishponds than houses), well
preserved. The house mentioned in <1>, presumably the "Kennels" (ST48877127) which is ruinous, looks C19 with farm buildings, surrounded by a high wall.<3>
Clearly visible earthworks in a field of permanent pasture. On low ground
in a bend of a small stream or drainage ditch.<4>
ST487714, L - shaped building excavated by Sykes.<8>
Well-preserved earthworks with rectangular house platforms 18"-2" high, and a series of sunken ways 3-4' deep. In field used for pasture.<9> NE corner of SAM is in arable field and is ploughed most years (i.e. to the NE of footpath shown on scheduling maplet crossing field diagonally from N-E).<10>
Period general Medieval Site Type Settlement
Period specific Site Type specific Form
Medieval Settlement-deserted Earthworks
Survival 3 Condition C
Land Classification, on site - date
Grassland2-1982,1987 Cultivated land4-1987
Land classification, around site - date
Grassland2-1982 Cultivated4-1982
Site status SAM
Archaeological History
Event Survey-full Name Quinnell N-OS Date 1962
Excav-part Sykes 1960
Visit Dennison E-ACC Date 6.1.1982
Rees S-IAM 2.1977
Williams SMW-FMW 13.10.1982
Williams SMW-FMW 30.7.1987
Sources
Type Corres
Collection OS
Author Sykes C Date 1960
Other ST47SE13 Ref. No. 1
Type Desc text
Collection OS
Author Quinnell N Date 1962
Other ST47NE13 Ref. No. 2
Type Desc text
Collection ACC
Author Iles R Date 1976
Other Site visit SMR, ST4871 Ref. No. 3
Type Desc text
Collection HBMC
Author Williams S Date 1982
Other SMR, ST4871 Ref. No. 4
Type AP
Collection WAP
Title 34490
Other SMR, ST4871 Ref. No. 5
Type AP
Collection ACC
Author - Date 1976.7
Other 5, 330 Ref. No. 6
Date of compiling, Updating BJW 11 1983 DKP 11 1989
DRE 10 1994
Appendix 3
Suggested revised text for North Somerset HER
The monument is defined by the present extent of earthworks which represent the remains of structures including houses, enclosures and an associated water management system. The earthworks survive to a maximum height of 1.6m.
Among the earthwork remains at least two large building platforms can be identified, to the north and at the centre of the site. The northern example is 30m long and 10m wide and the central example 20m long and 8m wide. In the north-eastern area of the site there is a windmill mound c 10m across and c 1m high. Linking these features, and connecting with the river Yeo, is a network of water channels, now dry. These suggest that the site may have had an industrial function, possibly including a watermill, a further and possible later example of which is located beyond the monument c 300m downstream.
Partial excavation of the site in 1959 confirmed the medieval date of the monument and also identified a structure of ‘L’ shaped plan which dated to the 13th century AD. Finds of pottery dating to the 14th century suggest that the site was occupied over an extended period. (1)
Earthwork and resistivity survey in 2005-7 by Nailsea Environmental and Archaeological Team confirmed and clarified the above, identifying the site of the 1959 building and the various elements of the mill and water management features, one of a sequence of three in the area (2). The windmill mound was identified as a resistivity feature. A series of fishponds, along an old course of the Land Yeo was also identified within the Scheduled area. (3) (4)
Field walking finds, from a CBA training day in 2000, and from local detectorists, indicate a Roman presence at the site, as well as the presence of high status pottery of 12th century date (5)
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1 English Heritage 1974
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NATIONAL MONUMENT NUMBER: 22840
Deserted medieval settlement 300m ESE of Wraxall House English Heritage, London
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2 Gardner, K.S. 1998
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Who made the Land Yeo? Nailsea and District Local History Society, Nailsea
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3 NEAT 2008.1
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Land at Whelp’s Place, Wraxall
Earthwork survey, February 2008 Nailsea Environmental and Archaeological Team, Nailsea
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4 NEAT 2008.3
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Land at Whelp’s Place, Wraxall
Resistivity survey, May 2008 Nailsea Environmental and Archaeological Team, Nailsea
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5 Pers Comm
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V. Russett May 2008
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