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Summary - not yet available

Monument Type(s):

• GARDEN WALL (18th century - 1701 AD to 1800 AD)
• BANK (EARTHWORK) (Post Medieval - 1540 AD to 1900 AD)
• DITCH (Post Medieval - 1540 AD to 1900 AD)

Associated Events:

• Excavation in Wimpole Park, 2000

Full description

1. On the west side of the field in the side of the drain at TL 3373 5172 fieldwalking recorded some brickwork which may relate to the site of a building shown on the map of 1638 and an area of cobbles recorded previously. The majority of the brick and tile was found between this point and the area showing the heaviest concentration of medieval pottery on the plan.

2. Small scale excavations were undertaken as part of National Archaeology Day 1999 to find one of two 18th century pavilions or summer houses which are depicted on early maps of Wimpole Park, located to the N end of the bowling green. The pavilions were constructed as part of a scheme of improvements to the garden undertaken by Lord Harley, 2nd Earl of Oxford in 1721. A design for the pavilions is depicted in a drawing by James Gibbs, although there is no record of what was actually built. The summer houses are shown on the 1752 plan by Robert Greening for Philip York, although it is recorded that they were to be pulled down as part of a radical de-formalisation of the garden thereafter. Excavations located a brick built structure, with substantial foundations, but little evidence of the superstructure remaining. One small area of possible flooring was identified in the NE internal corner, and finds of window glass and cut Ketton stone were also recovered, indicating glazed windows and a stone facing to the brickwork. The building had been systematically demolished and levelled.

3. Two trenches were excavated to investigate the site of 18th century garden walls to the N of Wimpole Hall. The walls are depicted on Bridgeman's plan of 1721, and later removed during the remodelling of the garden. The foundation trenches were located, although no brivckwork or rubble from the walls was encountered.

4. A small scale excavation was undertaken to locate the site of a fountain depicted on a 1708 map by Kipp. Although no evidence of the fountain was located, a brick cistern was located at a shallow depth which might relate to the 18th century garden drainage system. The cistern overlay a substantial ditch running NW to SE, which contained redeposited clay and pottery of medieval date. The ditch is suggested to be the northern arm of moats surrounding the former house, which are shown on Hare's map of 1638.

5. A linear trench was excavated on the site of the Castello d'acqua. The excavation identified feature predating the construction of the Castello in the late 18th century, comprising two earlier pits and a ditch containing a uniform dark grey clay. The pits and ditch were covered by a broken brick foundation and thick gravel layer, which was cut by the foundation trench for the Castello.

6. In an attempt to establish the validity of Soame's drawing of the Castello d'Acqua, two trenches were excavated on the site of two plinths depicted on the drawing. No evidence for these was found, although a continuation of the NE-SW clay filled ditch was found. No evidence of the S side of the ditch was located, suggesting it may have been at least 5m in diameter, and probably associated with the pre-1640 moated house.

7. An excavation was undertaken to locate any remains of a fountain to the N of the house, depicted in an engraving by Kip and Knyff in 1707. The fountain was probably built for Lord Radnor as part of his refurbishment of the house and gardens in the 1680s. No physical remains of the structure are visible, although magnetometry survey suggested the possible site of the fountain and adjacent features. Four trenches were excavated to investigate the construction of the fountain and to investigate other anomalies visible on the geophysics. The basin of the fountain was found to be constructed in brick as a 14m diameter retaining wall, with a deposit of grey clay on the outside. Following the demolition of the fountain, a brick conduit had been had been constructed on the floor of the basin, with a drain extending to the W cutting the outer basin wall. To the N, abutting the basin wall was a brick built square chamber fed by a wooden pipe with a lead end plate. Although not fully excavated, there is some evidence that the construction of the basin cut earlier features, possibly earlier garden walls, which may belong to a garden constructed for Thomas Chicherley between 1640 and 1686.

8. Excavations were designed to test the intersection of features which had previously been identified through geophysics - two parallel east-west features connect by north-south features. Trial trenches revealed the features to be foundation walls which had been demolished at the time of the building of the fountain found during the 2005 excavations. There is indications that there were several phases of building.

9. Five trial trenches were excavated and positioned across cropmarks which seemed to represent a possible structure. The evaluation revealed a 17th century building, with five rooms running on from each other. Foundation walls show there was originally a red brick structure with an extension built at a later date in yellow brick on the west side of the building.

10. Following on from the 2010 excavations (ECB3831) in 2011 three further evaluation trenches were placed at Mr. Ratford's house to establish the extension of the building on the west side and the south side. The excavations confirmed the 2010 findings and found the extent of the western 17th century building. Later additions to the building (a large clunch structure) was discovered on the south side dating to the late 18th century, with wine bottles being recovered from the foundation trenches.

11-13. The SW Cambridgeshire NAIS project identified earthworks associated with the Walled Garden. The earthwork features includes banks and ditches. The features were visible on aerial photography from 1975 and 2013 and LiDAR imagery from 2008.

Wilson, S., 2010, Aerial photographs of Wimpole Hall (Aerial Photograph). SCB21840.

<1.> Cambridge Archaeology Field Group (no named author), 2000, Brick End, Wimpole. A Fieldwalking Study 1995 (Unpublished report). SCB17400.

<2.> Cambridge Archaeology Field Group, 1999, An Excavation for the National Trust of National Archaeology Day. The Park Wimpole - the report of work on 17th, 24th and 25th July 1999 (Unpublished report). SCB20460.

<3.> Cambridge Archaeology Field Group, 2000, Report on excavations in The Park Wimpole Hall July 2000 (Unpublished report). SCB20461.

<4.> Cambridge Archaeology Field Group, 2001, Report of excavation of the supposed site of the Fountain, The Park, Wimpole Hall. Excavation in 2001 (Unpublished report). SCB20462.

<5.> Cambridge Archaeology Field Group, 2003, Wimpole Hall. The Castello d'Acqua (Unpublished report). SCB20463.

<6.> Cambridge Archaeology Field Group, 2003, Excavation Wimpole 2003 (Unpublished report). SCB20464.

<7.> Cambridge Archaeology Field Group, 2006, The Fountain Wimpole. Preliminary report of excavations in July 2005 and 2006 for the National Trust (Unpublished report). SCB20465.

<8.> Coles, M., 2012, Excavation at Wimpole, 2009 (Unpublished report). SCB22270.

<9.> 2012, Excavation of Mr Ratford's House, Wimpole Hall (Unpublished report). SCB22271.

<10.> 2012, Excavation of Mr Ratford's House, Wimpole Hall, July 2011 (Unpublished report). SCB22272.

<11> SW Cambridgeshire project 2014 (NHPP), 2016, Next Perspectives APGB Imagery TL3351 15-JUL-2013 (Geospatial data). SCB51398.

<12> SW Cambridgeshire project 2014 (NHPP), 2016, CUCAP Wimpole Lidar DTM 04-SEP-2008 (Geospatial data). SCB51393.

<13> SW Cambridgeshire project 2014 (NHPP), 2016, CUCAP BSG47 09-APR-1975 (Aerial Photograph). SCB51407.

Sources and further reading

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