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7/27/2019 Angidy Ironworks Outfall
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A.P.A.C. Ltd.
Archaeological Perspectives Analysis Consultancy
ARCHAEOLOGICAL
WATCHING BRIEFWB/AONB2/09
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Contents
1 ............................................................................................................................3Non Technical Summary2 ................................................................................................................................................3Introduction
2.1 ..............................................................................................................4Location and scope of work2.2 ...................................................................................................................4Geology and topography2.3 ........................................................................................5Archaeological and historical background
3 ..................................................................................................................................5Aims and Objectives3.1 ..................................................................................................................................5Watching Brief
4 .....................................................................................................................5Watching Brief Methodology
4.1 ..........................................................................................................................................5Fieldwork4.2 ..........................................................................................................................................6Recording4.3 ..................................................................................................................................................6Finds
5 ..............................................................................................................................6Watching Brief Results5.1 ..............................................................................................................6Soils and ground conditions5.2 ........................................................................................................................................7Description
6 .....................................................................................................................8Discussion and Interpretation6.1 .......................................................................................................8Reliability of field investigation6.2 .....................................................................................................................................8Interpretation
Fi d 8
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List of Figures
Figure 01 Site location map
Figure 02 Site PlanFigure 03 1763 Estate Map
Figure 04 1821 map
Figure 05 1866 map
Figure 06 1921 map
List of Plates
l 01 C l f ll/
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1 Non Technical SummaryOn the 16th December 2009, Dr. N. Phillips of A.P.A.C. Ltd was appointed to
undertake a watching brief during clearance work on a stream identified as the
outfall for drainage from the Abbey Tintern Furnace Site, Tintern, Monmouthshire.
The archaeological watching brief was commissioned by Wye Valley AONB, to be
undertaken during the work outlined in the project design supplied by Mr.B
Saunders of Furnace Cottages Tintern.
The watching brief was identified by Dr. N. Phillips of A.P.A.C. Ltd as a secondphase of work included in the conservation project being undertaken at the site;
namely, an attempt to reinstate the drainage system from the furnace floor in order
that conservation and consolidation of extant structure of the furnace site could be
commenced.
The work to uncover original drainage structures and their reinstatement was
partially successful. Work was completed to the specification outlined in the
project design and an amount of archaeological resource was uncovered andcleared. This in turn has allowed for improved drainage, however; there is a
considerable amount of structure remaining to be cleared of silt and a further
depth to be reached before the system can become efficient.
2 IntroductionI F b 2005 M th hi C t C il f Th A id I k i i d
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Unfortunately, none of the work proposed for the Angidy Ironworks site; as laid out in (MCC 2005), was
possible due to the presence of standing water over the lower floor. Indeed the presence of the standing water
was causing problems as far back as the 1979-81 excavations, where full excavation was impossible due towater levels, (Pickin 1982, 12 & Probert 1982, 26).
In the summer of 2007, Dr N. Phillips A.P.A.C. Ltd, undertook a watching brief at the site of and adjacent to
the Angidy Ironworks, Phase 1, (WB04/AONB/07. A.P.A.C. Ltd 2007). That watching brief concerned itself
with excavations south of the Devauden/Tintern road designed to locate and unblock the outfall from the
furnace site. This phase 1 work was partially successful in that the outfall was located but unsuccessful in
that the outfall remained blocked. Furthermore, the blockage was to such an extent as to force the flow of the
outfall to run above the original drainage culvert; the culvert itself having been buried in subsequent silting.
The purpose of this present undertaking therefore, is an attempt to unblock the outfall by clearing the build
up of silt. This would then drop the water level and encourage the outfall to flow back through the culvert
ultimately improving drainage from the furnace floor.
2.1 Location and scope of workAngidy Ironworks, SO5200, is situated south of the Angidy stream, in the steep sided Angidy valley west of
Tintern, Monmouthshire,fig 01. If travelling north from Chepstow to Monmouth on the A466, the first left
turn after Tintern Abbey is the lane to Llanishen which passes by the furnace site after approximately 4
kilometres.
The Angidy Ironworks site is a Scheduled Monument, Cadw reference MM197. It is lozenge shaped
measuring some 100m by 35m. However, excavation work undertaken during this watching brief was
concentrated on land south of the Ironworks site on land bounded by the garden of Furnace Cottages and
d d (Ci d B k DBA/TAP/08 20 A P A C L d 2008) i h l f h
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2.3 Archaeological and historical backgroundAs mentioned above, the site has had some archaeological investigation in relation to other works in thevicinity.
There have been three archaeological episodes at the adjacent Ironworks site:
An excavation centred on the leat and the wheel pit, undertaken by Parr and Tucker in 1975, (Parr &Tucker 1975 V9 .2).
A second, much larger scale excavation conducted by John Pickin for Gwent County Councilbetween 1979 and 1981.
The third, an evaluation of the leat above the Angidy Furnace, Phillips EV/TAP/08. A.P.A.C. Ltd.Further archaeological work has been undertaken in the immediate vicinity:
A watching brief in the north east corner of the garden, to find and clear the drainage culvert fromthe furnace. Phillips WB04/AONB/07. A.P.A.C. Ltd, 2007.
A desk top assessment on the archaeological resources of the Angidy Valley. Phillips. DBA/TAP/08.A.P.A.C. Ltd, 2008.
A topographical and geophysical survey of the land belonging to Furnace Cottages in which the areaof this watching brief was included, SC/JBT/09, 2009.
Th hi t i l b k d t th i ll d t d i th b t ll i th
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The groundwork started by tracking the digger upstream to the known culvert outfall, or more accurately
described as resurgence, plate 01.
The clearance was then undertaken by removing the silt from the stream bed and depositing the spoil on the
bank, plate 02.
A first scrape removed a good half proposed depth of soil along the stream bed which reduced the level of
the water in relation to the culvert top, as expected.
Using the expertise of the digger driver and the variance in sounds produced by the bucket dragging thesurface; it was possible to identify differences in ground structure. When such variances happened,
excavation ceased to allow the water to clear and visual examination to be made.
Once the full length of the stream had been scraped, the machine was tracked back to the culvert outfall and
a further amount of silt was removed to achieve the required drop in level of 500mm, plate 03.
4.2 RecordingWhere possible and with due regard to health and safety issues; features uncovered, were cleaned back to
provide a reasonable surface for photographic recording. Such photographs included a scale.
All photographs taken have been given a unique number and listed in the archive of this report. The archive
includes a contact sheet and a digital copy of all the photographs.
All features were surveyed using a Topcon GPT 3007, reflector less Total Station. The raw data was initially
processed in CivilCad 6, imported to Autocad 2000 and converted to Illustrator format for final presentation,
fi 02
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5.2 DescriptionThe stream below the culvert appeared to have eroded a channel through the surrounding ground to a depthof
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6 Discussion and Interpretation6.1 Reliability of field investigationThe watching brief was conducted in very cold conditions in icy water in a very restricted passage. This will
have had negative consequences on the accuracy of the recording. In addition, working under shallow water
did not make observation very easy, with archaeological resources being identified on the spoil heap rather
than in situ or by the sound of their discovery on contact with the bucket of the digger. That said;
investigation of the spoil deposits and excavated sections, where possible, revealed that the remarkable
paucity of finds was representative of the archaeology and not the watching brief process.
6.2 InterpretationPrior to this work being undertaken, the visible evidence on the ground was that the remains of the covered
outfall culvert from the Angidy Furnace flowed into the natural stream which then flowed to the Furnace
Pond. The clearance work from this watching brief however has revealed that the path of the stream is not
natural but a man made channel.
It is apparent on the 1763 estate map, fig 03 that there is no stream or culvert flowing from the edge of thecottage by the road, although arguably this may reflect the cartographers interest rather than the lay of the
land. The map also shows the bridge at a different angle and position but again this could be down to the
cartographer.
It is not until 1821 that the culvert is recorded; possibly as an open channel, fig 04. In a later Ordnance
Survey map 1866 fig 05, the channel is not recorded again which my suggest that it had been covered;
however, the evidence is rather suspect in this case as the map shows a completely different layout for a
ibl t hi h if t ld it t hill ti
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6.3 Overall interpretationIt has been shown from the archaeological resources uncovered, that the stream course was constructed to
remove the outfall from the furnace floor culvert to the furnace pond. It is possible from the map evidencethat its construction occurred some time between 1763 and 1821, hypothetically as a result of meeting
different demands occurring from a change or increase in from iron production.
A possible cause for its construction was the need to prevent the Angidy stream from flowing to the lower
level of the culvert. Although there is no survey data on the stream bottom it is noticeable that the Angidy is
at a much higher than the culvert until it flows over the weir, just after the bridge. Both the Angidy and the
culvert outfall then retain separate courses to the Furnace pond.
The maps also suggest that by 1866 the entire length of stream may have been covered, a possibility which
may be investigated by further work to examine the ground immediately above both walls.
By 1921, the maps also suggest that the known length of covered culvert may well have become too blocked
to function resulting in the situation prior to this work where a stream has bypassed the culvert.
The work to clear the culvert has already produced a positive effect in helping to drain the furnace floor. It is
believed that further clearance is necessary to complete the work; in order to best undertake the conservationplanned.
In order to do this, the clearance must be made from above the stream rather than in it and more preparation
must be made to remove the spoil form the sides of the excavation.
Such work would also provide an opportunity to investigate the revetment walls and any relationship to
possible structures atop the bank. The nature of the spoil atop the banks suggest that this area was subject to
a very different human presence than those associated with the higher Ironworks area.
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Bibliography and references
Aram. J., Estate Map. Badminton Survey Book II, SHEET 6. 1763.
British Geological Survey 1981 England and Wales Sheet 250 Chepstow. Solid and Drift
Geology 1:50 000.
Cadw. Angidy Ironworks MM197(MON)
Coates, S.D., 1992. The Water Powered Industries of the Lower Wye Valley, Monmouth
Borough Museums Service.
MCC., 2005. Angidy Ironworks, Monmouthshire. Conservation Plan.
Monmouthshire County Council (unpublished).
Paar, H.W., & Tucker D.G., 1975. The old wireworks and ironworks of the Angidy valley at Tintern
Gwent.Journal of the Historical Metallurgy Society V9 2.
Pickin, J., 1982. Excavations at Abbey Tintern Furnace,Journal of the HistoricalMetallurgy Society V16. 2.
Phillips. N., 2007. Angidy Ironworks Tintern, Archaeological Watching Brief
WB04/AONB1/07. A.P.A.C. Ltd. (unpublished).
Phillips. N., 2008. Proposed Hydro-Electric Project Angidy River Tintern,
Archaeological Desk Based Assessment. DBA/TAP/08. A.P.A.C.
Ltd ( bli h d)
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ARCHIVE COVER SHEET
PRINCETOWN,TREDEGAR
Site Name: Merthyr rd
Site Code: WB02/PR/07
PRN: -
NPRN : -
SAM: -
Other Ref No: CAP Report No. 274
NGR: SO 5890 7405
Site Type: Medieval
Project Type: Watching Brief
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Angidy Ironworks, Tintern
EP
EP
Post
EP
Post
Post
Post
Post
TP
TPTP
TP
TP
.20.9
.556
55
5454
55
56
53
RoadBank top
Bank bottom1m contour
0.2m contourHedges
Overgrown
WallsBuildings
Stream
E Cables
Key
Car
ParkDevauden
Tintern
Ang
idd
y
Floor depth 52.21m OD
Drain depth 51.15m OD approx
C l 51 194 OD
Area of watching brief
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Figure 06: Curved revetment
Figure 04: Submerged, eastern revetment
Figure 05: West bank revetment
Figure 03: East bank revetment wall
A.P.A.C. WB/AONB2/09
Angidy Ironworks, TinternfromParr&Tucker1975
fromParr&Tucker1975
fromOrdnanceSurvey19211:2,500
fromAram1763
1763 1821
1866
1921
Cottage
Cottage
stream
Cottage
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Plate 04: Prior to work
Plate 02: Restricted conditions for spoil heap
Plate 03: New water level after silt removal
Plate 01: Culvert outfall, resurgence
A.P.A.C. WB/AONB2/09
Angidy Ironworks, TinternDSC05930
DSC05935
DSC05908
DSC05909
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Plate 08: Curved revetment
Plate 06: Submerged, eastern revetment
Plate 07: West bank revetment
Plate 05: East bank revetment wall
A.P.A.C. WB/AONB2/09
Angidy Ironworks, TinternDSC05927
DSC05934
DSC05928
DSC05932