England

CAMBRIDGESHIRE

33. PETERBOROUGH, Saville road, Lysander court (TL 1765 9985).

Evaluation by J. Grant and B. Wilkins (Archaeological Solutions) revealed features probably associated with the former airfield of RAF Peterborough, developed from the 1930s.

DEVON

42. EXETER, Higher Barracks (SX 9216 9339)

R. Parker of Exeter Archaeology conducted building recording and A. Collings documentary study for Barratt Bristol. The barracks were built in 1794 by the contractors James Fentiman and Son, the main accommodation being two long barracks and separate officers' quarters (Fig. 6). Each barrack contained eight ground-floor stables, each of up to sixteen stalls, with accommodation for troops on the first floor, and stores and shops in the roof space. The E barrack and officers" quarters were rebuilt, and the W barrack modernized, following fires in 1868 and 1879. Many minor buildings, including a hospital, canteen, magazine and riding school, remain.

46. EXMINSTER, Former RAF Station (SX 9571 8743).

A. and M. Passmore conducted survey, building recording and documentary research on this site, established in 1941 as a Ground Controlled Interception radar station, becoming a Fixed Station in 1943 and closing in 1958 (private report available c/o Exeter Archaeology).

GREATER LONDON

109. GREENWICH, Church Road, Mast Quay (TQ 4300 7925).

S. Holden of PCA Ltd conducted monitoring for Comber Homes to record remains of the Royal Navy Dockyard that occupied the site from the 16th until the late 19th century. The earliest structures encountered were timber walls forming wharves constructed c. 1720 during the expansion of the dockyard. Built into this reclaimed land were three slipways; the 'spur' running between two slipways at the W side of the site was exposed and recorded in situ. This structure was extended c.1746, when the wharf was enlarged. Timbers recovered from these assemblies were largely second-hand or left-over shipbuilding material; some were marked with signs and symbols made by timber merchants, graders, and perhaps shipwrights.

The cartographic evidence shows many alterations to the slips, including the combining of the two W slips into one in the early 19th century. However, truncation by subsequent alterations had removed much of the detail of earlier layouts. Substantial concrete and brick foundations for tall stanchions supporting the roof structure of the early 19th-century slip sheds were found. Brick footings for a steam kiln built c. 1858 were recorded; its life was short-lived, since the dockyard closed in 1869. Brick and concrete structures relating to the later use of the site for the construction of barges were also recorded.

112. GREENWICH, Woolwich, The Royal Arsenal, IO group phase 2, zone 22 (TQ 443 792).

C. Mayo of PCA Ltd completed a watching brief for IO Group Ltd. The removal of lathe beds in the South Boring Mill, built in 1882, allowed close scrutiny of the construction methods and materials used in the lathes, their foundations and power supply. Adjacent to the South Forge on the N side of the site, brick pier bases and flues of the Boiler House were found; they provided the steam to power the 35-ton hammer in the former building. The brick remains of a Dipping Square structure were found. Built in 1808 and demolished in 1825, it was used in the production of powder cartridges. Elements found included walls, internal supports, pier bases, and wells or soakaways. Upon removal, the structure was seen to have been founded on about 90 timber base-plates. These were all reused parts of naval and land gun carriages and also rare examples of mortar bases, likely to have been produced in the Royal Arsenal. The assemblage is one of the largest of its type found on land in this country.

113. GREENWICH, Woolwich, The Royal Arsenal, IO group phase 3A, zone 17 (TQ 4435 7903).

C. Mayo of PCA Ltd conducted an evaluation for IO Group Ltd. A cut feature most likely a pit, was excavated and found to date from the late 15th to early 17th century. Brick walls of the 19th-century Cartridge Establishment, part of the Royal Laboratory, were also recorded.

114. GREENWICH, Woolwich, The Royal Arsenal, IO group phase 4, ZONE.21 and 23 (TQ4435 7915).

C. Mayo of PCA Ltd conducted an evaluation for IO Group Ltd. Two well-preserved 18th-century cannons were recovered from reworked alluvial clay in the centre of the site. Both were probably brought to the Royal Arsenal for proofing, had failed and were then recycled as mooring posts. At the N of the site were the remains of the 1870s Boiler House that powered a steam hammer (Fig. 10). They consisted of brick flues and boiler base supports founded on timber piles, and the remains of a rolling mill with brick-built furnaces and a chimney base. Modifications to the Rolling Mill included a substantial cast-iron stepped quenching tank, a small hammer base and a different style of furnace. Remains of the South Boring Mill included numerous cast-iron lathe bed supports and machine bases. The lathe beds had been removed for the installation of the ground slab, showing a change in function probably following WW2. A series of bogie tracks and cobbled surfaces lay outside the mill.

HAMPSHIRE

171. GOSPORT, Mumby Road (SU 618 002).

Wessex Archaeology (M. Dinwiddy) was commissioned by CgMs Consulting to undertake a watching brief. The De Gomme Gosport Lines were not located where they were expected; the ramparts and moat are either on a different course or they did not survive later development.

172. GOSPORT Priddy's Hard (SU 6165 0110).

As part of a plan to develop the site of the old Hard of the naval dockyard, the footings of the 19th-century Officers' Residence (demolished 1952) were mapped by H. Moore of Thames Valley Archaeological Services Ltd. The Officers' Residence was located to allow the modern development to be erected within its footings and in a similar style.

ISLE OF WIGHT

205. TOTLAND BAY, Fort Warden Holiday Camp (SZ 8760).

C. Mayo of PCA Ltd conducted a watching brief for Roseberry Homes on Fort Warden, a 19th-century coastal battery that was part of the Needles Defences. Remains of the perimeter wall and moat were recorded enclosing an area of 8.3ha, as were structures associated with gun batteries dating from the 1860s to WW2, by which time the fort was 14.9ha in size. Various subterranean magazines and defensive structures were also exposed.

208. HYTHE, Srabrook Road, Shorncliffe battery wall site (TR 189 349).

G. Priestley-Bell of Archaeology South-East conducted archaeological investigation for Emjay Project Management. Sections of the battery wall of the 19th-century Shorncliffe Battery were revealed and recorded.

LEEDS

223. THORPE ARCH, former Royal Ordnance Filling Factory (SE 4500 4630).

The factory was surveyed by Archaeological Services WYAS. Occupying over 620 acres, the ROFF was built to produce munitions at the start of WW2. It was designed by planners at the Royal Arsenal at Woolwich. Construction began in May 1940 and the factory was fully operational by October 1940. The building design and production flow of the site were analysed, as were social issues at the time when the factory was in use.

NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE

229. KENTON BAR, Former 13 Group Fighter Command Headquarters ( NZ 214 673) and Filter Room (NZ 212 669).

J. Mabbitt (Tyne and Wear Museums) for George Wimpey Homes produced an inventory of portable objects within the former 13 Group Headquarters bunker at Kenton Bar which was reused as the Regional War Room for No. 1 (North) Region from 1952-68, with a full photographic record of the interior and exterior. An electrical sub-station (NZ 2151 6737) and the former Royal Observer Corps monitoring post (NZ 2149 6746) on the Headquarters site were recorded prior to demolition. The Group Filter Room, built 1940-41 at Blakelaw Quarry (750m SW of Kenton Bar) and reused from 1948 as Newcastle City Council Civil Defence Headquarters, was recorded by J. Parker (Tyne and Wear Museums) for Newcastle City Council.

NORTHUMBERLAND

259. CRESSWFXL, Golden Sands Caravan Park (NZ 293 927).

Evaluation by W. Muncaster (Tyne and Wear Museums) for Northumbrian Leisure Ltd confirmed the location of a post-medieval trackway with associated gulleys and shallow linear features tentatively interpreted as WW2-period anti-glider ditches.

PLYMOUTH

266. PLYMOUTH, Devonport, Brickfields (SX 4590 5456).

A. Passmore of Exeter Archaeology conducted further evaluation of the Dock Lines — the defensive circuit constructed round Devonport Dockyard after 1756 — for Plymouth Albion RFC. The earliest phase of defences was not exposed on this occasion, but had been seen in 1992. Portions of the ditch, wall and counterscarp bank of the defences of 1853 68 were examined in 2002-04 over a length of 310m (Exeter Archaeol. Rep. 04.48).

PORTSMOUTH

269. PORTSMOUTH, 6 Admiralty Road (SU 631 005).

C. Cutland of Wessex Archaeology assessed this structure for Portsmouth Naval Base Property Trust. Built in the late 18th century, it is an important survival of Georgian Portsea. Many of the original features including items of trim, joinery, etc survive throughout the building.

270. PORTSMOUTH, Museum Road, Ravelin Park, old student union (SZ 6361 9961).

A watching brief was conducted by C. K. Currie and N. Rushton on a length of the fortifications of old Portsmouth. Two massive stone walls, over 2m and 2.8m thick, appear to be parts of the forward-facing walls of the Town Bastion. Both retained their facing blocks at their backs, but the fronts had been destroyed. Two main walls of the East Ravelin, with three walls between them, probably internal, were found. A small ditch-like cut of possible 18th-century date was recorded.

272. PORTSMOUTH, University of Portsmouth, Frewen Library (SZ 6368 9970).

An assessment and evaluation were undertaken by C. K. Currie. The library appears to lie on the N edge of the outer defensive works surrounding the Town Mount and East Ravelin, part of the defences first erected in the 16th century, remodelled in the 1660s and the mid-18th century, and demolished without record in the 1860s-70s. No clear traces of the fortifications were found.

SOMERSET

307. TAUNTON, 151 56 east reach (ST 2319 2446).

Excavations by S. Reed of Exeter Archaeology were conducted on this c. 4500m² site for Bartlett (Rokbuild) Ltd. A 24m length of V-shaped ditch lying c. 100m outside the E defences of the medieval town was examined. It was c. 2.5m deep and c 3.8m wide. Its upper fills contained a little 17th-century pottery; it is interpreted as a previously unrecorded Civil War defence. Pollen samples from the ditch bottom were analysed (Exeter Archaeol. Rep. 03.31).

WARWICKSHIRE

342. RUGBY, Bilton Road (SP 4197 7478).

Excavation of a Bofors gun emplacement was undertaken by N. Phillips for Cambrian Archaeological Projects Ltd prior to a housing development. This was one of eight Bofors guns set up in 1940 which, with eleven Lewis guns, guarded the rail network of Rugby. The excavation recorded the gun platform measuring 7.2 x 6.4m, a small bunker, gun hold-fast and three magazines. The firing room was missing. (CAP Rep. 344).

WEST YORKSHIRE

359. PONTEFRACT, Ponthfract Castle, St John's Priory and environs (SE 455 223).

Field Archaeology Specialists Ltd completed a Conservation Plan for the castle, priory and their environs. A full measured survey of the castle was undertaken for Wakefield Metropolitan District Council, partly funded by English Heritage. Further evidence for the line of the Civil War siegeworks across the priory site was discovered.

360. PONTEFRACT, Northgate (SE 459 222).

Archaeological evaluation and a watching brief were undertaken by Field Archaeology Specialists Ltd on behalf of Mike Griffiths and Associates for Bellway Homes (Yorkshire) Ltd. A large NW-SE orientated ditch was identified, measuring over 7.0m wide and 2.5m deep, from which 17th-century ceramics and three pieces of lead shot were recovered. It is likely that this ditch represents a Parliamentarian siegework constructed around Pontefract Castle during the Civil War.

The partially infilled ditch was later host to three brick clamps, dated by pottery to the mid-17th century, producing slop-moulded brick, possibly associated with post-Civil War reconstruction. A sinuous stone-filled drain was dated by brick to the 17th to 18th century. A stone culvert was identified which was dated to the later 18th century. During the 18th to 19th centuries large areas of the site were raised by the importation of soils, possibly associated with the landscaping around Castle Lodge (demolished in the 1990s), and the construction of a malt kiln before the 19th century, the remains of which were encountered during the watching brief.

SCOTLAND

ABERDEEN CITY

383. ABERDEEN, Torry Battery, (NJ 964 056).

Following a detailed recording project on this 19th-century battery, A. Cameron excavated three trenches for Nortrail to determine how much of the structure remained underground. The foundations of the store buildings, used as housing for homeless families in the 1930s-50s, were well preserved. Large parts of the hospital and the gun emplacements had been completely removed following demolition.

CITY OF EDINBURGH

459. EDINBURGH, Edinburgh Castle, 52 Infantry Brigade (NT 25068 73477).

D. Sproat (AOC Archaeology) conducted building recording for the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards along two walls of the fourth floor of the 52 Infantry Brigade building or 'New Barracks' (NT27SE 1.37). Removal of plaster from an area where doorways were to be inserted exposed walls of coursed red sandstone rubble and the remains of a removed fireplace. (Archive to be deposited in NMRS.)

476. KIRKLISTON, Ingliston (NT 1540 7255).

R. Murdoch (Scotia Archaeology) undertook evaluation for Halcrow Group Ltd near the site of a Cromwellian battle known as the 'Field of Flashes'. The only features revealed, however, were the truncated remnants of rig and furrow. A metal detector survey was undertaken across the site and beyond its limits by the Scottish Detector Club. Several coins, probably dating to the 17th century, were recovered, but very few pistol or musket shots, suggesting that the Cromwellian battle did not extend into this area.

FIFE

483. ABERDOUR, Inchcolm Island Coast Battery (NT 189 826)

. D Stewart (Kirkdale Archaeology) conducted monitoring and recording for HS during rubble clearance within the ruins of WW1 and WW2 military structures (cf. Post-Medieval Arehaeol. 38/2 (2003), 363 64). The old WW1 military tunnel that cuts under the hill top at the east end of the island contains a vertical shaft at its midpoint. The shaft had a visible height of 4.95m, at which point it was covered over with large iron plates. (Archive to be deposited in NMRS.)

486. ST ANDREWS & ST LEONARDS, St. Andrews, Dunino, Bonnytown POW Work Camp (NO 54521245).

D. Bowler and C. Smith (SUAT) conducted a survey of the derelict POW work camp (NO51SW 61) for Mr Kenneth Thorn. The small cluster of pre-cast concrete huts and other buildings was of interesting late wartime design. Latrines, the antique electrical system and other details of the huts, with an 18th-century doocot (NO51SW 3), which forms part of the group, were recorded. No evidence of the Italian prisoners who worked here was found. After the war, the buildings passed to civilian use, being lived in latterly by students. (Archive to be deposited in NMRS.)

GLASGOW CITY

497. GLASGOW, Gallowgate Barracks. (centre NS 6035 6488).

F. Baker (Firat Archaeological Services) undertook evaluation for GWM Developments Ltd on the site of the 1796 'Napoleonic' Infantry Barracks, previously Maxwell's Auld Pighoose Pottery (1722 and earlier) and possibly also Hyndshaw's Claypipe Factory. The site was heavily truncated by railway goods yards from 1889. The Barracks have largely been removed, but embankments of the old ground surfaces survive along the E and W sides of the site against the enclosure walls, which are the modified 1795 Barrack walls.

The foundations of the outer wall of the E block survive, along with the armouries and a large brick drain. At the SW corner of the site on the Gallowgate frontage, deposits associated with the Barracks, Pighoose and a possible brickworks survive under the 19th-century cobbled railyard. A dump of ceramic wasters (Fig. 18), including drainpipes, jars and jugs (pigs), was located. A 1792 feu map identifies the findspot as within the Auld Pighoose Pottery and adjacent to a brickfield.

Map evidence indicates that a kiln, probably of the Pighoose Pottery, stood at the NW corner of the site. Trenching recovered green-glazed post-medieval reduced ware waster sherds, with a fragment of saggar. (Report lodged with WoSAS SMR.)

499. GLASGOW, Shuttle Street (NS 597 653).

Evaluation and excavation by M. Dalland (Headland Archaeology) for Capita Project Management followed the excavation of Greyfriars Friary (cf. Post-Medieval Archaeol 38/2 (2003), 365-66). Cultivation furrows are probably related to the market garden established in 1705 on the site of the former friary. A V-shaped ditch was found, running roughly parallel with Shuttle Street. It was 1.6m wide, up to lm deep and over 24m long, and may have been part of late 17th-century defences of Glasgow. (Report to be lodged with WoSAS SMR and NMRS.)

HIGHLAND

501. ARDERSIFR, Fort George. (area NH 76 56).

D. Stewart and C. Shaw (Kirkdale Archaeology) undertook monitoring for HS in the Georgian and Victorian latrine blocks, the firing step palisade at the E point of the defences and on the rotted wooden remains found above the tide line in the mud at the shore end of the S pier. Examination of the firing step found evidence of the palisade posts that were put in place before the firing step was built: the revetting wall for the step was built around the posts. A brick setting in the base of the ditch held the posts in place. A minor excavation into the shoreline mud suggested that the deposits at the N end of the pier may hide an almost intact section of original wooden cladding.

At NH 764 569 a rarely seen part of the fort defences was located on the N beach between high and low water — the sluice believed to have been designed to flood the main moat for defensive purposes. It appears to be mostly intact and contemporary with the fort's original construction. The difference in height between the floor of the sluice and the existing floor of the moat (1.4m) suggests that the moat would only have had a shallow layer of water. However a 1796 plan clearly shows a ditch along the central line of the moat linking up at the sluice at both ends, perhaps indicating that a narrow but deep water-filled channel within the moat may be all that ever flooded.

NORTH AYRSHIRE

530. CUMBRAE, Isle of Cumbrae, Millport, Garrison House (NS 1642 5502).

D. Sproat (AOC Archaeology) conducted recording for Armour Construction Ltd prior to the renovation of the ruined property. The building dates to the 18th century, when the house was used as a garrison. Little of the original building remained as the house was extensively renovated in the 19th century. (Archive to be deposited in NMRS.)

PERTH AND KINROSS

541. FINDO GLASK, Clathymore, Findo Glask Airport (NO 0116 2129).

D. Bowler (SUAT) for A. and J. Stephen (Builders) Ltd conducted a survey of the derelict airfield (NO02SW 31.00) and recorded extensive WW2 buildings, including a large T2 hangar, an unusual three-storey control tower modified while under construction, blast shelters, various huts, a pyrotechnics store, an electrical sub-station, a radio broadcasting house, various hard standings, and the perimeter track. Buildings were constructed in steel, colliery bricks from various Fife sources, and in cellular concrete, a wartime austerity material. Some buildings used metal windows to metric specifications. The station was used by various training, operational and maintenance units, and by Polish forces. (Archive to be deposited in NMRS.)

RENFREWSHIRE

552. PAISLEY, Dykebar Hill, Strathcarron Drive (centre NS 499 622).

R. Cachart (SUAT) undertook an archaeological evaluation for O'Brien Properties Ltd. This established that the summit of Dykebar Hill had recently been capped by a major dump of redeposited boulder clay, up to 3m thick, which would have buried the medieval earthwork. One of the circular 18th-century landscape features was investigated, and shallow ditches and a revetting of loose fieldstone were found on its perimeter. At the site of Dykebarhill farmstead, two phases of building remains were found. Evidence of WW2 defences was found in the form of an intact bunker-like structure, and the brick walls and concrete floors of other buildings. (Archive to be deposited in NMRS.)

SCOTTISH BORDERS

556. MERTOUN, St. Boswells, Dryburgh Estate (NT 5937 3154).

A watching brief by M. Kirby (CFA Archaeology) for Northumberland Estates Ltd excavated the foundations of an early 20th-century cobbled platform. According to one local source this was the base of a stable block for cavalry officers, built in 1915 and demolished in 1985. (Archive to be deposited in NMRS.)

PERIODIC LITERATURE IN BRITAIN AND IRELAND 2004

Extracted from information compiled by John Kenyon and published in

Post-Medieval Archaeology 39/2 (2005),429-438

British Archaeology 81 (2005)

C. Tuck and W. D. Cocroft, 'Digging up the space age', 26-31.

Fort 32 (2004)

R. Rolf, 'German defences in the Channel Islands', 4-35.

Maritime Wales /Cymru a'r Mor 25 (2004)

R. D. Smith, The wrought-iron swivel guns from the Bronze Bell wreck site', 21-6.

The Redan 61 (2004)

G. Salter and D. Moore, 'Keys at Fort Nelson', 10-18.

D. Moore, 'St Helens Fort, Isle of Wight', 19-25.

The Redan 62 (2004)

I. Stevenson, 'Milford Haven', 2-42.

A. Beanse and R. Gill, 'The Twydall Redoubts and the 3pr QF on traveling carriage', 43-6.

The Redan 63 (2005)

I. Stevenson, 'Jersey', 19-35.

The Redan 64 (2005)

T. Wilson, 'Thames defences: Lower Hope Point battery', 28-9.

T. Wilson, 'Twydall redoubts: East Tilbury battery', 30-4.

Scottish Archaeological Journal 24.2 (2002)

S. Halliday and C. Moloney, 'A reassessment of Hackness Gun Battery: the results of excavations 1997-2001', 121-45.

Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Magazine 98 (2005)

B. Clarke, 'Cold War monuments in Wiltshire', 1-11.