Watchfield Parish Council
Ed Vaizey, MP
House of Commons,
LONDON,
SW1a 0AA
March 11th, 2014
Dear Mr Vaizey,
Re: Recent planning application (P14/V0287/FUL) on land of high archaeological importance
You may be aware that Watchfield is the site of a Scheduled Ancient Monument in the form of an Anglo-Saxon burial
ground, first discovered during the construction of the A420 by-pass in 1983.
As can be seen from the designation overleaf, the cemetery is extensive with 47 identified graves. Limited
magnetometer readings showed the site extends beyond the designation to 3ha. The above planning application
proposes to build 16 houses on the field closest to the burial ground. A desk-based archaeological assessment has
identified it as an area likely to be of high archaeological value. However, our experience of developers and the
planning system indicate that a field survey may only consist of a limited number of trial pits on site.
The attached paper on the 1983 brief salvage excavation and 1989 limited magnetometer readings state that the land
would be extremely vulnerable to changes of use. The Watchfield cemetery, being surrounded by development now,
and still having possibly over 100 graves in the ground, is an unusual case; there are only two cemetery designated as
Scheduled Ancient Monuments in the Vale of White Horse. The other one is Goldbury Hill Anglo-Saxon Cemetery,
near Ginge and the Hendreds with only a handful of graves.
The settlement associated with the cemetery has never been definitively identified but was proposed in the area of this
development by Margaret Gelling. There are currently no early examples of Anglo-Saxon settlements in the Thames
Valley and so to lose this potential site without sufficient research would be a huge loss.
We ask you, as the Minister of Culture, to contact the Vale of White Horse District Council to insist on a full
geophysical survey of this site prior to any development. Only by doing this can we ensure that potentially nationally
important archaeological information is not lost forever. Discovery of the settlement site and full excavation of the
grave goods in the cemetery could provide a unique insight into Anglo-Saxon life in this area.
Evelyne Godfrey has carried out work on the grave goods from this site and can be contacted via
eggodfrey@gmail.com and David Moon is the conservator of the collection for Oxfordshire County Council
david.moon@oxfordshire.gov.uk
We would be very grateful for any help you could offer in this matter.
Yours sincerely,
Sally Mckendrick
Clerk to Watchfield Parish Council
All correspondence should be addressed to the Clerk
Chairman
Sue Nodder – 11 Oxford Square – Watchfield – Oxon – SN6 8TB
Tel: 01793 780329 – e-mail francisandsue2004@yahoo.co.uk
Clerk
Sally Mckendrick – Watc hfield Village Hall – Chapel Hill – Watchfield – Oxon – SN6 8TA
Tel: 01367 242247 – e-mail watchfieldclerk@hotmail.co.uk
Watchfield Parish Council
List Entry Summary
This monument is scheduled under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act
1979 as amended as it appears to the Secretary of State to be of national importance. This
entry is a copy, the original is held by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.
Name: Watchfield Anglo-Saxon cemetery
List Entry Number: 1010755
Location
The monument may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.
County: Oxfordshire
District: Vale of White Horse
District Type: District Authority
Parish: Watchfield
National Park: Not applicable to this List entry.
Grade: Not applicable to this List entry.
Date first scheduled: 16-Jul-1992
Date of most recent amendment: Not applicable to this List entry.
Legacy System Information
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
Legacy System: RSM
UID: 20602
All correspondence should be addressed to the Clerk
Chairman
Sue Nodder – 11 Oxford Square – Watchfield – Oxon – SN6 8TB
Tel: 01793 780329 – e-mail francisandsue2004@yahoo.co.uk
Clerk
Sally Mckendrick – Watc hfield Village Hall – Chapel Hill – Watchfield – Oxon – SN6 8TA
Tel: 01367 242247 – e-mail watchfieldclerk@hotmail.co.uk
Watchfield Parish Council
Asset Groupings
This List entry does not comprise part of an Asset Grouping. Asset Groupings are not part of the
official record but are added later for information.
List Entry Description
Summary of Monument
Legacy Record - This information may be included in the List Entry Details.
Reasons for Designation
Beginning in the fifth century AD, there is evidence from distinctive burials
and cemeteries, new settlements, and new forms of pottery and metalwork, of
the immigration into Britain of settlers from northern Europe, bringing with
them new religious beliefs. The Roman towns appear to have gone into rapid
decline and the old rural settlement pattern to have been disrupted. Although
some Roman settlements and cemeteries continued in use, the native Britons
rapidly adopted many of the cultural practices of the new settlers and it soon
becomes difficult to distinguish them in the archaeological record. So-called
Anglo-Saxon cemeteries are dated to the early Anglo-Saxon period, from the
fifth to the seventh centuries AD. With the conversion to Christianity during
the late sixth and seventh centuries AD, these pagan cemeteries appear to have
been abandoned in favour of new sites, some of which have continued in use up
to the present day. Burial practices included both inhumation and cremation.
Anglo-Saxon inhumation cemeteries consist predominantly of inhumation burials
which were placed in rectangular pits in the ground, occasionally within
coffins. The bodies were normally accompanied by a range of grave goods,
including jewellery and weaponry. The cemeteries vary in size, the largest
containing several hundred burials. Around 1000 inhumation cemeteries have
been recorded in England. They represent one of our principal sources of
archaeological evidence about the Early Anglo-Saxon period, providing
information on population, social structure and ideology. All surviving
examples, other than those which have been heavily disturbed, are considered
worthy of protection.
All correspondence should be addressed to the Clerk
Chairman
Sue Nodder – 11 Oxford Square – Watchfield – Oxon – SN6 8TB
Tel: 01793 780329 – e-mail francisandsue2004@yahoo.co.uk
Clerk
Sally Mckendrick – Watc hfield Village Hall – Chapel Hill – Watchfield – Oxon – SN6 8TA
Tel: 01367 242247 – e-mail watchfieldclerk@hotmail.co.uk
Watchfield Parish Council
The cemetery at Watchfield shows a range of burial types with a rich diversity
of grave goods. As such it provides important information on the variety of
beliefs and social organisation amongst early Anglo-Saxon communities in the
fifth and sixth centuries.
History
Legacy Record - This information may be included in the List Entry Details.
Details
The Anglo-Saxon cemetery is situated 500m north-east of Watchfield on a low
north-south ridge. It extends about 50m south and 60m north of the bypass.
The monument therefore comprises two areas separated by the bypass.
The cemetery consists of extended and cremation burials of Anglo-Saxon type,
as discovered during the course of building the bypass in 1983. Excavations
revealed a total of 43 inhumations, 7 of which were juveniles, 2 infants and
the rest adults. The graves vary in depth, some shallow and damaged by later
ploughing but some well below the level of the ridge and furrow. The remains
are close to the surface to the north of the site but the digging of test
trenches revealed deeper deposits to the south-east. All the cut graves were
orientated north-south except the two infant burials which were lying
east-west. Two complete urned burials and the remains of other urns reveal
that the cemetery is of `mixed' type with both cremation and inhumation rites
represented. A variety of grave goods has been found at the site which
demonstrate a late 5th and 6th century date for the burials. A magnometer
survey carried out in 1985 to the north and south of the site showed that it
was part of a larger complex of archaeological features extending over at
least 3 hectares. The density of the graves excavated and the distribution of
human bone finds would suggest that there were originally c.360 graves of
which up to half survive unexcavated.
All correspondence should be addressed to the Clerk
Chairman
Sue Nodder – 11 Oxford Square – Watchfield – Oxon – SN6 8TB
Tel: 01793 780329 – e-mail francisandsue2004@yahoo.co.uk
Clerk
Sally Mckendrick – Watc hfield Village Hall – Chapel Hill – Watchfield – Oxon – SN6 8TA
Tel: 01367 242247 – e-mail watchfieldclerk@hotmail.co.uk