Normanton
Golf Course
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This document reports on a programme of archaeological fieldwork carried out by Field Archaeology Specialists on the site of Normanton Golf Course, West Yorkshire, undertaken on behalf of Mike Griffiths and Associates for Bellway Homes. Fieldwork commenced in November 1997 but was delayed due to adverse ground conditions until the beginning of the following year. Subsequently, a scheme of archaeological evaluation, excavation and monitoring was undertaken in two separate sessions. The first of these began in February and continued to November 1998; the second from February to November 1999, with a final phase of watching brief in 2001.
The scheme of archaeological evaluation, excavation and monitoring was designed to define, characterise and record archaeological remains present within the development area in advance of the construction of six hundred and fifty new houses. The presence of potential archaeological features on the site had been suggested from aerial photographs. These had indicated the location of a possible ditched field system running across the southern half of the site.
The scale of the groundworks associated with the proposed development were to be of a scale that would lead to the destruction of in situ archaeological deposits and features. In this respect the prime objective of the archaeological evaluation programme was to map the archaeology across the development area. In addition to defining areas for further investigation this process recorded an extensive area of the buried historic landscape. Archaeological features that were identified during this evaluation were sampled at an appropriate level in order to recover information regarding their construction, sequence, function and date.
The construction programme was undertaken in several separate stages. The archaeological evaluation was designed to reflect this. Each development area was defined and incorporated into a construction timetable. Archaeological fieldwork was carried out at least four weeks prior to the planned onset of groundworks in each of these areas. It was intended that the archaeology on the site could be defined, recorded and sampled within the constraints of the development timetable without causing disruption to the construction programme.
The town of Normanton lies approximately 5 kilometres to the northeast of Wakefield, West Yorkshire (NGR SE 3952 2210) (Figure 1). The site comprises an irregular parcel of land some 530m (SW-NE) by 520m (SW-NE) located at the base of a hill on the southeastern edge of the town. The largest part of the site was formerly used as a nine hole golf course. This covered an area of approximately 13.8ha in the northern half of the development area. Adjacent to this on its western side was a rectangular arable field 3.3ha in area. The southern side of the development area comprised another parcel of arable land, 6.55ha in area, separated from the golf course by a small stream, Whin Beck. In total, the entire site covered an 23.77ha and was bound to the north and west by existing residential development, to the south by a new relief road and to the east by Sewerbridge Beck.
The site is situated in an area of poorly drained soil, located in the base of a shallow valley and lies at a height of around 28.5m AOD. To the south of Whin Beck the ground slopes up to a height of 34.0m and, beyond the southern limits of the development area, continues to rise to form low hills. To the north of the site the rise in ground level is more gradual and the limestone escarpment at Methley is clearly visible on the horizon some 3.5km away. The town of Normanton is situated on high ground to the west and northwest of the site. The site therefore lies in an a shallow bowl of marginal land which is prone to flooding and surrounded by well draining higher ground on all sides.
The geology of the area consists of heavy clay with out-crops of sandstone bedrock, mudstone and occasional exposed seams of coal. Coal mining earlier this century is deemed to have been responsible for a substantial east-west aligned fault running across the northern end of the site (Plate 1). This subsidence has caused the ground level to the north of the fault to drop by up to 1.2m with dramatic effect.
Plate 1. Normanton Fault
The golf course comprised a well managed area of turf, small shrubs and trees. Within this, a system of ridge and furrow earthworks were clearly visible running from north to south in a slight curve across the development site (Plate 2). These medieval remains, which had been ploughed away in the two arable fields, were subject to a topographic survey undertaken by Headland Archaeology Ltd prior to the start of groundworks and are discussed below. Running parallel to the system of ridge and furrow were two dykes. These features drained excess water on the golf course into Whin beck at the southern end of the site as well as feeding a large temporary pond in the northeastern corner of the golf course.
Plate 2. Ridge & Furrow earthworks
An archaeological planning condition was placed on the proposed development at Normanton Golf Course due to the presence of cropmarks on an aerial photograph taken over the site in July 1992 (PRN 4577, NGR SE 395 219). The photograph (Plate 3) showed a number of fragmentary, linear cropmarks. These were thought to represent the remains of a recent field boundary as well as a number of earlier rectilinear features running across the southwestern corner of the proposed development area.
Plate 3. Aerial Photograph
Prior to the proposed development no archaeological investigation had taken place on the site. With the exception of recent evaluation work at Newlands Park and a limited gradiometer survey undertaken on the Normanton Bypass, little in the way of archaeological investigation of any sort has taken place in the town of Normanton or its surrounding area despite recent extensive development. A study of the aerial photographic evidence for this part of West Yorkshire shows a patchy but informative pattern of ditches and enclosures of which very few have been subject to further investigation. These vary considerably from single rectilinear enclosures, such as at Syndale (PRN 887, NGR SE 400 221) some 700m to the southeast of the golf course, to the extensive ladder settlement on the limestone escarpment at Methley (PRN 4413, NGR SE 403 256 and PRN 4422, NGR SE 403 257) which overlooks the River Calder only 3.5km to the north.
The date, function and organisation of much of these cropmarks is not well understood. Traditionally an interpretation has been offered on the basis of morphology, scale and analogy with other well known sites. Recent fieldwork in South Elmsall, Hemsworth and at Wakefield Europort (WYAS 1995;1997) suggested that many of the cropmarks may be of a Romano-British date. This fieldwork also highlighted some of the problems with interpreting these landscape features. Virtually all of the sampled sites had been subject to truncation by medieval and modern ploughing. This had generally removed any occupation levels and vertical stratigraphy. There was also a distinct lack of pottery and datable finds in the archaeological record, even in apparent Romano-British contexts. This paucity of evidence is further complicated by observations which suggest that many of the ditches may have been long lived features within the landscape, having been reused and recut at different times.
The complex picture of settlement and land use in prehistoric and Roman times in this area of West Yorkshire is further exacerbated by the bias in the distribution of cropmarks which has been caused by the character of underlying geology and the pattern of urban centres.
Against this background the archaeological fieldwork at Normanton Golf Course was undertaken.
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