Land opposite Ford Close, Kingston Road, Ashford, Surrey
1 - Pre-determination assessment/evaluation identified significant new heritage assets
Pre-determination assessment/evaluation identified significant archaeology on the development site (i.e. the results created significant new knowledge), especially where none was previously known in the HER.
7 - Pre-commencement archaeological conditions were attached to a planning permission
Pre-commencement archaeological conditions were attached to a planning permission and were necessary in order to enable the development to be permitted.
Undesignated heritage assets with archaeological interest
Construction of new single storey fire station and ancillary facilities.
There were no recorded heritage assets within the application site.
In size the development site was in excess of the Local Plan policy threshold (0.4ha) above which archaeological assessment is required. A pre- application desk-based assessment was undertaken, and assessed the archaeological potential of the development site as high in view of the similarity of its topographical and geological location to nearby areas where significant archaeological remains have been identified. Further archaeological evaluation was recommended.
The evaluation identified archaeological features of Bronze Age or Iron Age date. As a consequence a pre-commencement planning condition was attached to the planning permission requiring a programme of archaeological investigation comprising strip, map and sample.
Finds and features from the site were mainly of a date range between the mid Bronze Age and the middle Iron age, with some post-medieval structures.
A Bronze Age ditch system ran from the southeast to the middle of the site and then turned southwest towards the River Ash. It was substantially deeper than successor features and extended to the east beyond the limit of excavation. It may, in part, have been constructed for drainage but is more likely to have formed a land boundary associated with nearby farmsteads and settlement areas beyond the excavation limits.
In the northwest corner of the excavation, a series of curvilinear ditches indicated the presence of settlements associated with roundhouses from the Iron Age period. In the east, Iron Age features consisted of two large, parallel linear ditches that crossed the site, aligned northeast/southwest.
The post-medieval features were located in the middle of the site and took the form of a small building with associated brick lined well and soakaway.
- https://www.surreycc.gov.uk/culture-and-leisure/archaeology/archaeological-unit/spoilheap-publications/archaeological-discoveries-in-ashford-and-laleham
- Surrey County Archaeological Unit 2015, New Spelthorne Fire Station, Kingston Road, Ashford, Surrey, Heritage Statement. Unpublished report.
- Surrey County Archaeological Unit 2015, Proposed fire station development near Fordbridge roundabout, Ashford, Surrey, An archaeological trial trench evaluation. Unpublished report.
- Collie T 2018, A Bronze Age field system and Iron Age settlement at Spelthorne Firestation, Fordbridge Roundabout, Ashford, in Neolithic, later Bronze Age, Middle Iron Age and Medieval discoveries in Ashford and Laleham, Spoilheap Occasional Paper 9, 2018.
