Archaeology at Wellington Quarry, Herefordshire

Worcestershire Historic Environment and Archaeology Service have recently been commissioned to undertake a major post-excavation project to analyse the results of 10 years of work at one of the most important archaeological sites in the West Midlands.

Archaeologists at work at Wellington Quarry

Between 1986 and 1996 a small team working in advance of quarrying at Wellington in Herefordshire recorded significant archaeological deposits scattered across an area of more than 37 hectares of farmland. Although the quarry company, Redland Aggregates (now Lafarge Aggregates), voluntarily supported the costs of the fieldwork and some preliminary reporting, it is only now that a grant has become available to fund the extensive post-excavation programme that the site warrants. This grant has come from English Heritage using a source of funding called the Aggregates Levy Sustainability Fund which is drawn from a new environmental tax being levied on the aggregates industry.

Over the coming year a range of specialists working on the project will look at the extensive evidence recovered and which includes:

• A group of Early Neolithic pits (4000 - 3500 BC);
• A wealthy Beaker burial (2750 - 2500 BC);
• A late Iron Age settlement (100 BC - AD 50);
• A Roman settlement, villa and associated activity (1st to 4th centuries AD);
• Exceptionally well preserved medieval corn drying ovens (13th century AD).

Beaker Burial

These deposits occur within complex alluvial sequences (fine silt and clay deposits laid down by flooding). These deposits have interleaved with the periods of occupation described above, deeply burying the archaeological remains and contributing to the excellent conditions of preservation found at the site.

The archaeologists working on site have also found evidence for numerous former watercourses, the relict channels of which contain important palaeoenvironmental remains (waterlogged wood, plant fragments, pollen, molluscs and insects). These have been shown to date from as far back as 8000 years ago. Using this evidence and that from the periods of occupation of the site, the project specialists will be able to gain an understanding of 7000 years of environmental change and human impact on the landscape in what is generally a very little researched region of England.

In addition to the analysis being undertaken through the ALSF, work is also being carried out funded by Lafarge Aggregates on results of work undertaken since 1996, work which continues to this day. Important additional discoveries include:

• Environmental deposits dating from over 13,000 years ago near the end of the Ice Ages
• A Mid to Late Neolithic post circle and central pit (35002750 BC)
• Late Bronze Age activity (10th to 8th centuries BC)
• An early medieval watermill (early 8th century AD).

Early Medieval Mill

These both complement and enhance the data from the earlier investigations providing further evidence of how people have lived in and used this floodplain landscape over many thousands of years.

Over the coming months as details unfold about these periods of activity, these pages will be updated.

With thanks to:

who are providing access and funding the work at Wellington Quarry