Highways Agency - Safe roads, Reliable journeys, Informed travellers

Introduction

INTRODUCTION

New development anywhere affects and interrupts the existing pattern of landscape, ecology and archaeology. As with all Highways Agency schemes there was long and careful consideration of all environmental issues on the Alvaston Bypass, even before the road design was commissioned

.Modern or Living Landscapes

It is essential that development retains the original composition, character and feel of the natural environment once the scheme has been completed. Linear developments such as roads are particularly challenging in terms of retaining environmental character throughout their lengths because modern (and ancient) natural landscapes can change over quite short distances. To understand these changing micro-landscapes a wide range of surveys take place before any road construction begins. Information gathered in the early stages of a project enables the design of sympathetic planting schemes and re-creation of suitable new habitats for the likes of badgers, bats, owls and newts.

Ancient Landscapes

Surveys are also undertaken to examine the ancient landscapes in order to deal effectively with any archaeology on the route. At Alvaston, a Desk Based Assessment, fieldwalking on the river valley and geophysical survey at the south end of the route preceded the award of the contract. A ditched enclosure on the road line near the Thulston roundabout was also part excavated prior to construction. Finally, a Watching Brief was maintained on all earthmoving during construction of the route and ancillary infrastructure.

The end results?

The purpose of these detailed surveys, at Alvaston and elsewhere, is to present a scheme that will recreate the character, interaction and harmony of each specific local living landscape and will enable interpretation of the activities of the ancient communities who once inhabited the area.

GEOLOGY, GEOMORPHOLOGY AND THE GRAVEL TERRACES

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On the floodplain are deposits of the silty Mercian Mudstone beneath waterlain sands and gravels. In some places in the river valley peats and organic clays have also been recorded, mainly filling ancient river channels. These later gravels, deposited during the last ice age or in early post-glacial times, are overlain by up to three metres of alluvium, the silty mud carried and laid down by the river. Alluvium originated as top soil which found its way into the river systems of Britain during the Neolithic period when the land was first cleared and farmed and in the Iron Age and Roman periods when arable farming intensified.

Away from the floodplain and south from Stocker Flat the gravel terraces had a long and complex evolution. The Stocker Flat (Beeston Terrace) and associated gravels, such as the Allenton Terrace, have revealed the bones of straight tusked elephant, spotted hyena and hippopotamus. From the gravels at nearby Boulton Moor came a near-complete hippo skeleton dated from the Ipswichian interglacial (a warm period separating two ice ages and occurring some 130-115 thousand years ago).

UNDERSTANDING ANDING THE ANCIENT LANDSCAPE

Archaeology is the story of people, their lives, customs, and the lands they inhabited. The Alvaston bypass is a good example of a road scheme traversing two very distinct ancient landscapes

• the wide valley of the river Derwent encompassing all the northern end of the route as far south as Stocker Flat,
• the upland gravel terraces from Stocker Flat south to the Thulston roundabout

Both landscapes would have provided vital but different resources to ancient communities.

The upland gravel terraces would have formed the major food supply area, with arable land for growing crops and favourable conditions for settlements along with pasture thatcould be grazed by animals. The upland was also the location of woodland which would have been managed to produce timbers.

THE ALVASTON ASTON BYPASS EDUCATION AREA

At the northern end of the bypass where the road swings round to meet the Raynesway roundabout an area of approximately three hectares is situated between the road and the houses of Alvaston. Jackson Civil Engineering (JCE) wanted this space to be attractive, informative and of benefit to the local community. Following consultation with the local schools, JCE has turned the space into an Archaeological and Ecological Education area.

Within the Education area are re-creations of some of the archaeological monuments and landscape features discovered along the route of the bypass and in the surrounding area. Integrated into this pattern of new ancient monuments is a scheme of tree and shrub planting that reflects the local natural landscape at specific times in history.

The end result is a structured walk through 10,000 years of local archaeological and ecological history, all designed to fit in with the National Schools Curriculum. In conjunction with the Education Area JCE are producing a series of information leaflets to accompany the walk and a CD ROM for use in the classroom.

When we see the river Derwent today, controlled and confined within narrow banks, it is hard to imagine its former existence as a whole series of smaller interconnecting channels meandering through the near 3km wide valley. A wide multi-channelled valley such as this would have provided numerous opportunities for supplementing dietary and other needs of the emerging populations. Fishing and the hunting of wildfowl and animals attracted to the waters edge and to the rich summer grazing on the floodplain would have been major resources. Reeds and rushes would have been used for building and thatching, withies (thin willow poles) for basket making and, perhaps in places, peat was cut for fuel (thin peat deposits were recorded at the southern end of the valley). The river would also have been a major communication route linking to the nearby Trent and perhaps formed aboundary between different groups of people in later times. Finally, there is substantial evidence for the deliberate deposition of fine weaponry and metalwork in rivers and wet places throughout Britain during the prehistoric period, indicating that such places were significant in ancient ritual and religion.

EARLY PREHISTORIC PERIOD 8,000 2000 BC

From hunter-gatherers to the first farmer to the builders of big ceremonial monuments such as Stonehenge ancient communities came a long way in this six millennia timespan. We saw only a few traces of these people on the bypass route. During the Neolithic period (4000-2000 BC) someone set about making a leaf-shaped arrowhead out of flint. After some beautiful shaping of the object the flintknapper either didnt finish it or, more likely, accidentally broke the pointed end rendering the weapon useless. After getting so far with it we can imagine the craftsman throwing it down in a fit of Neolithic pique. In any case, the arrowhead remained lost until sharp-eyed archaeologist Vicky Mellor spotted it near the Thulston roundabout.

THE WOODEN STRUCTURE

Fish weirs have been used in rivers and estuaries all around the world from the Stone Age to the present day. Two parallel rows of posts found in the river valley south of the Raynesway roundabout almost certainly once formed part of a structure used for trapping fish. The reconstruction drawing of how the Alvaston structure may have originally looked is based on the plan of an Anglo-Saxon fish weir excavated on the river Trent near Nottingham. Wattle panels placed between uprights and set in a V or L shape would guide the fish into a wicker basket from which they would be unable to escape. Only a small part of the Alvaston structure has survived, the remainder probably washed away during periods of flood. The uprights were excavated and a small part of the wattle- work lay central to the posts and out of position. We do not know the date of this structure yet but some of the wood has been sent for radiocarbon dating.

LATER PREHISTORIC PERIOD 2000 BC AD 43

The introduction of metalwork, first copper and bronze and much later iron, characterises this period. Construction of the big ceremonial monuments came to a close and the landscape was set out with extensive field systems. During this period many settlements became enclosed by ditches, usually with internal banks. One such site was found partlyon the bypass route, initially by aerial photography, and was excavated by University of Leicester Archaeology Service in advance of construction.

Although the site had been severely damaged by ploughing, a ditched enclosure with east facing entrance was revealed. From remains within, the presence of two round houses has been suggested.

Pottery from the ditches is distinctive scored ware, a type common in the East Midlands on sites of midlate Iron Age date (c. 400BC AD 50). During the Watching Brief remains of a pit containing abundant similar pottery was found on the road-line just to the northeast of the enclosure.

ROMAN (AD 43 410)

Despite the presence of the nearby Roman town of Derby very little evidence from the period was found on the road scheme. A single Roman ditch, probably a field boundary, was crossed by the bypass south ofElvaston Lane. Pottery from the ditch was of a type called Derbyshire ware, a hard-fired type of pottery with a gritty fabric described as being like petrified goose-flesh. Several kilns making this type of pottery are known from the Holbrook/Hazelwood region some 10- 15km north along the Derwent

The Late Iron Age and Roman Environment

In the river valley, adjacent to the higher land at Stocker Flat, a 50cm core sample taken from a channel for pollen analysis was dated by radiocarbon methods to between 40BC and AD80. Given the position of the channel, adjacent to the higher ground, it is not surprising that both wetland and dryland pollens were identified. Trees were predominantly oak, but hazel, birch and lime were also present in the vicinity. The willow and alder pollen probably came from trees growing on the edge of the channel. Wetland plants included sedges and pondweed. Pollen of open landscape type was also present indicating herb-rich pasture and open, rough soils. Some cereal pollen was present along with weeds of arable land such as cornflower. Together the pollen indicates a largely cleared Roman landscape with some grazing, some cereal production and perhaps some stands of woodland, all existing next to the wetland of the Derwent valley.

SAXON AND MEDIEV MEDIEVAL (AD 410 1500)

Following the Roman period the Saxon dark ages remained true to their word with nothing of the period being found. Eventually place names began to be recorded, usually first in the Domesday book of 1086. Thus we hear of Alhwalds Tun (or farmstead) (Alvaston) and lfwalds Tun (Elvaston). Derby was recorded as Deoraby in AD 917 and was a Scandinavian name for the place/hamlet where deer were seen. Stocker Flat was known as Stockwell Flat in 1300, probably, meaning the stream by the tree stumps. At some point the stumps were cleared and the land ploughed. Ridge and furrow, the strip field system of medieval times, was recorded there. By 1695 Stocker Flat had returned to pasture and, as it was still described as such again in 1750, it is likely to have remained in that state ever since. Perhaps that is why the ridges and furrows were so well defined.

A small scatter of medieval pottery was found during the fieldwalking survey of the river valley but it seems an unlikely location for a permanent settlement. Trenches were dug over the area prior to road construction but no medieval settlement features were present. Neither were such features seen during the Watching Brief. The pottery sherds could have represented some small-scale temporary habitation, perhaps associated with summer grazing or hay cutting.

Further Information

The A6 Alvaston Bypass was sponsored by the Highways Agency and managed by Scott Wilson as the Employers Agent. Design was undertaken by URS and construction by Jackson Civil Engineering. Archaeological work in advance of the road was undertaken by Trent and Peak rchaeological Unit and University of Leicester Archaeological Services. Archaeological work during road construction was carried out by Archaeological Project Services. A full report is in preparation. Finds will be deposited in Derby Museum.

The image of the cropmark and details of the Iron Age enclosure excavation were kindly provided by Matt Beamish of University of Leicester Archaeological Services. The remaining images and text were provided by Archaeological Project Services. David Hopkins of APS drew the reconstructions, with the fish weir illustration based on the work of Dr Chris Salisbury. The booklet was designed by Susan Unsworth of APS.