C. and N.

Hollinrake

Consultant Archaeologists

WALPOLE LANDFILL SITE, PAWLETT, SOMERSET

the archaeology
Evolution of the landscape on the shores of the Bristol Channel
sponsored by

PROJECT UPDATE
4th November 2014

worked
Neolithic stake

The watching brief

Although we thought the watching brief was finished in September, a few
more days of observation were necessary in early October. The rest of the month was
taken up with washing, recording and photographing the prehistoric wood recovered
from the site.
On October 29th the site portacabin was emptied and cleaned.
The Structures
146 items of worked & numbered wood have been recorded & recovered on
site during the 2014 archaeological watching brief. Some of the numbers referred to
groups of large upright stakes, which, when numbered individually, amounted to 172
individual pieces of worked wood.
The worked wood was almost exclusively associated with three wooden
structures (Structures 18, 19 & 21) with some isolated worked wood associated with
ancient channels and a small collection of un-worked bog trees (<20 items mostly
recorded as Structure 20). The structures have been relatively dated to the early
Neolithic (S18), the middle Neolithic (S19) and the Bronze age periods of pre-history
(S21) by their respective stratigraphic positions.
The early Neolithic wooden material from S18, is very rare both on the site
and for the country as a whole. One of the horizontal worked wood elements of S21
was seen to have been pollarded, examples of which are similarly very rare.
The recovered wood has now been sorted and quantified in the following
table. Preliminary suggestions for the analysis for the different pieces of wood have
been added to this table as a working discussion document towards finalizing the postexcavation strategy for this body of wood. Richard Brunnings spent a day inspecting
the wood and recording the tool marks and his arising comments and
recommendations have been added to this table. The final programme of specialist
analyses will be based upon this table after suitable consultation with all interested
parties.

Walpole Project Update November 2014

C. and N. Hollinrake

Consultant Archaeologists

type of wood
number
Structure 18 (Early Neolithic)
pegs
20
1
plank
1 (W7)
worked roundwood W7
Structure 19 (Middle Neolithic)
worked roundwood 10
worked roundwood

context

analysis

ass. with W7

4x (20%) species ID
C14 date
cut by polished stone
axe

from
superstructure
from
substructure

18 total
1 (W150)
beaver-cut
?
roundwood
W91
cut both ends
W73
worked wood from 1 (W48)/ (1922)/ channel
wood groups
(WG17)
[1932]
1 (W87)/
(WG26)
1 (W15)/
(WG27)
1 (WG127)
1 (WG128)
brush wood

peat samples

25 <182>
superstructure
1 (W163)
25 <183>
substructure
1 (W145)
2 <480> (1912)
<481>

species ID

C14
species ID
?conserve
?conserve
C14
species ID
C14
species ID
C14
species ID
C14
species ID
C14
species ID
species ID
C14
species ID
C14

Structure 20
bog trees

22 total
10
species ID
Structure 21 (Bronze Age)
worked round wood > 10 pieces
species ID
2
C14
total
203 pieces
Table of prehistoric wood recovered during 2014 with samples and suggestions for
further analyses.

Walpole Project Update November 2014

C. and N. Hollinrake

Consultant Archaeologists

Processing the wood

Tables were set up next to the wood tank so that the wood could be scrubbed clean,
labelled and recorded. The archaeologists portacabin was reorganized to record the
cleaned wood with a wet table for labelling and a separate table with a backdrop for
photographs. Viridor engineer Morag Aitkin visited during these operations.
When the wood was washed, recorded and photographed, Richard Brunning was
contacted to arrange a date for his specialist recording of the tool marks and
recommendations for further research.
Richard noted that most of the brushwood and worked wood from Structure 19
carried tooth marks of beavers. Initial interpretation is that this structure originated as
a beaver lodge, which was adapted by the people using the Lias island for their own
uses. This would explain the unusual inter-connecting palaeochannels below S19
observed during the fieldwork. Many pieces of beaver-cut wood showed compression
bends, suggesting that they were green when deposited.

The palaeochannels associated with Structure 19 show as pale grey alluvial silts.
Dr. Bryony Coles, formerly of the Somerset Levels Project and now Emeritus
Professor of Archaeology at the University of Exeter, has been making a special study
of ancient beaver activity. She is to be consulted on this special category of
prehistoric wood and the impact of beaver activity on the interpretation of Structure
19.
Samples
During Richards recording visit samples were taken from all of the main worked
wood and from all of the bog trees for identification. The identification samples
consisted of cross sections, 5cm-8cm thick, sawn from the end of the wood opposite
the worked ends (or the roots, in the case of the bog trees). These can also be used for
radiocarbon dating.
The worked ends of all pegs, poles and stakes were sawn off and retained. All beaver
marked wood was retained.
All wood not kept for samples was discarded on site.

Walpole Project Update November 2014

C. and N. Hollinrake

Consultant Archaeologists

Publication
Richard Brunning recommended that the Walpole results 1999 2014 be the subject
of a monograph by the Council for British Archaeology. We have already been in
touch with Prof. Martin Bell, who is helping us to lay out our Walpole book as a
companion to his two CBA volumes: Prehistoric Coastal Communities: The
Mesolithic in Western Britain (vol. 149) and The Bronze Age in the Severn Estuary
(vol. 172).
Once the fieldwork report is finished we will begin compiling the book.
Gallery
recovered worked wooden
artefacts originating from
this structure. Brushwood
was laid upon longer poles
and stabilized with pegs
and posts. In many cases,
as here, the longer poles
were laid within a pool
among
several
palaeochannels (see the
photograph above).

Structure 19 represents one of the most complex and

complete wooden structures recorded from the
Walpole Landfill Site, with the majority of the

A hitherto unrecorded
feature appeared in S19
in the form of clusters
of large posts, which
were
given
group
numbers as well as
individual
wood
numbers. The location
of this structure on a
nexus
of
palaeochannels
suggests that these
groups of strong stakes
were probably used as
mooring posts.

Walpole Project Update November 2014

C. and N. Hollinrake

Consultant Archaeologists

Structure 21, which appears to be the first Bronze Age structure recorded on
the site, contained two very large examples of worked wooden timber laid
horizontally behind several long worked upright wooden stakes. Most of this
structure was destroyed by modern disturbance, but its location on the bank of a large
palaeochannel suggests it was formerly used as a landing stage. .

For purposes of comparison, a photograph of a traditional style landing stage from the
medieval port at Bucklers Hard is included1.

Thanks again for all your support for our work.

Nancy Hollinrake
5th November 2014

Plate D7: WA4077. Remains of the post-medieval landing stage at Buckler's Hard, New Forest Rapid
Coastal Zone Assessment Survey Phase 2: Field Assessment, Prepared by Wessex Archaeology, Report
ref.: 72201.1, December 2010

Walpole Project Update November 2014