Record Details

Summary

A wide ditch containind a brick built culvert and sluice structure, identified during an archaeological evaluation on land off Western Springs Road, Rugeley in February 2016. The form of the brick indicates a possible late 18th century date for the culvert and sluice and it is considered likely that they relate to 18th century landscaping activity associated with Hagley Hall.

Monument Type(s):

• SLUICE (Georgian - 1784 AD? to 1799 AD?)
• CULVERT (Georgian - 1784 AD? to 1799 AD?)
• DITCH (Georgian - 1784 AD? to 1799 AD?)

Associated Finds:

• BRICK (Georgian - 1784 AD? to 1799 AD?)

Associated Events:

• EST2719 - An archaeological evaluation at Western Springs Road, Rugeley in February 2016. (NRHE Name - Western Springs Road) (Ref: Report No. 1446)
• EST2720 - A targeted archaeological excavation at Western Springs Road, Rugeley in December 2016. (Ref: Report No. 1536)

Full description

An archaeological evaluation in February 2016 revealed evidence for a probable 18th century sluice and culvert set in a wide ditch.
A wide linear feature up to three metres in width was determined to be a shallow loping ditch cut into the natural. The ditch feature had various infill episodes and ceramic building material and occasional whole bricks were recovered from the fills.
Located within the cut was a brick built feature, T-shaped on plan and measuring up to 1.9 metres along its widest axis. It contained a brick-built, roughly square structure measuring 0.8 metres by 0.7 metres. It was capped by a large sandstone slab with an inset iron ring. Removal of the capping showed the structure to be a vertical shaft of brick and lime mortar exactly 2 metres deep. A culverted watercourse was flowing in a north-easterly direction at the bottom of the shaft. Parallel insets within the side of the shaft, set at 90 degrees to the direction of the water, appear to have once held the wooden framework of a probable sluice gate. The shaft was neatly constructed of small, irregular-sized, handmade bricks of likely late 18th century date (with the small brick-size making a pre-1784 'Brick Tax' date a likely earliest possible date for them).
Also within the ditch feature, at a depth of 1.3 metres below the ground surface, the top of an arched brick culvert was exposed. Further exposure of the brickwork showed it to be composed of the same bricks as the sluice feature, though without the bonding, with the form of the culvert being held together by its arched shape. Upon exposure the line of the arched culvert appeared to terminate with the culverted brick watercourse beneath the sluice feature. Additional excavation of the brick arch culvert was not undertaken once its likely age and orientation had been ascertained in order to minimise the risk of damaging the structure.
Layers of made ground encountered in the evaluation trench have been suggested to represent upcast deposits associated with the construction trench for the brick culvert and sluice.
The top of the sluice, as defined by the cap stone with the iron ring, is likely to reflect the height of the ground when it was constructed, with the 0.5 metres of topsoil above possibly reflecting subsequent levelling of the area for use as playing fields.
The only finds from the evaluation comprised fifteen fragments of ceramic building material recovered from the fill of the three-metre wide ditch. All of the building material was of probable late 18th century date, with fragments appearing identical to the bricks forming the culvert and sluice.
It is considered likely that the features relate to 18th century landscaping activity associated with Hagley Hall. (SB, 05-Dec-2017) <1>

Further, targeted excavation of the projected course of the culvert was undertaken in December 2016 in advance of proposed flood alleviation works, circa 150 metres to the north-east of where the culvert was originally exposed. The initial area of excavation failed to located the culvert. An on site re-assessment of the alignment of the culvert was undertaken by re-excavating the top of the previously exposed sluice feature. An estimation of the line culvert was made and the area of excavation extended accordingly to try and locate it. No evidence of the culvert was located in the extended excavation area and it was concluded that the culvert may not extend this far north. (SB, 05-Dec-2017) <2>

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