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| HER Number | MWB5397 |
|---|
| Record Type | Monument |
|---|
| Name | Opposite the Coopers Arms, Bartholomew Street |
|---|
Summary
A wooden platform on fir poles discovered in peat about 6 feet under Bartholomew Street in 1894 and interpreted as an Iron Age pile structure
Associated Legal Designations or Protected Status
- Conservation Area: Newbury Town Centre
Other Statuses and Cross-References
- Berkshire SMR No. (pre 2000): 04007.00.000
- National Monuments Record No.: SU 46 NE 56
SU 4695 6686
Monument Type(s):
Full Description
Money and Richards observed the geology and antiquities revealed during drainage operations in Newbury in 1894 <1><2>. Walter Money interpreted a wooden platform unearthed in Bartholomew Street as a Neolithic pile dwelling. Part of Plate 4 in his Popular History of Newbury <2> shows a sketch section of the site of the 'pile dwelling', opposite the Coopers Arms. Beneath the road metal and medieval road metal is fresh water marl and then peat; within the peat is the wooden structure. This was about 6 or 7 feet under the roadway, and was constructed of fir poles about 6 inches across, driven into the peat with numerous parallel timbers crossing the pile tops. Only a small portion of the surface was exposed, so it was not possible to determine how the horizontal timbers were fixed, but Money was sure they must have been joined 'otherwise when the lake covered them they would have floated'. Beneath the peat was clay, and below that the lower river gravel <2>.
Sources and further reading
| <01> | Newbury District Field Club. 1886-95. TRANS NEWBURY DISTRICT FIELD CLUB 1886-95 VOL 4. p206-10. [Article in serial / SWB10455] |
| <02> | Money, W. 1905 & 1972. A Popular History of Newbury (also Walter Money's History of Newbury). P5, Plate 4, p221. [Monograph / SWB11278] |
| <03> | Peake, H. 1931. The Archaeology of Berkshire. P70;213-4. [Monograph / SWB10018] |
| <04> | 1962. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 1962 28. 28. P329. [Article in serial / SWB11780] |
| <05> | NEWBURY MUSEUM RECORDS. [Unpublished document / SWB11781] |
| <06> | Wymer, J J (ed). 1977. Gazetteer of Mesolithic Sites in England and Wales with a Gazetteer of Upper Palaeolithic sites in England and Wales. 20. p10 Newbury, Bartholomew St, opp Coopers Arms. [Monograph / SWB10038]
http://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/catalogue/adsdata/arch-281-1/dissemination/pdf/cba_rr_020.pdf (Accessed 07/10/2015) |
| <07> | Ordnance Survey. 1960s-70s. Ordnance Survey Field Investigators Comments. F1 JP 18-OCT-63. [Personal observation / SWB14640] |
| <08> | Ditchfield and Page (eds). 1906. Victoria County History (VCH) Berks I 1906. Vol 1. p193. [Monograph / SWB10017]
https://archive.org/details/victoriahistoryo01ditcuoft (Accessed on 22/12/2021) |
Related Monuments
| MWB10113 | Newbury - black gravel under Bartholomew Street, Cheap Street and Market Street (Find Spot) |
| MWB10113 | Newbury - black gravel under Bartholomew Street, Cheap Street and Market Street (Find Spot) |
| MWB5399 | CHEAP ST - 'pile structures' (Monument) |
| MWB5396 | In Northbrook Street - Mr Cary's shop (Monument) |
| MWB10113 | Newbury - black gravel under Bartholomew Street, Cheap Street and Market Street (Find Spot) |
| MWB10113 | Newbury - black gravel under Bartholomew Street, Cheap Street and Market Street (Find Spot) |
Associated Excavations and Fieldwork
None recordedIf you have any comments or new information about this record, please email us.
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