d-day memorial, newport

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D-Day Landings Memorial, Newport: archaeological watching brief

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Contents

Summary 2

Acknowledgments 2

Copyright notice 2

1 Introduction

1.1 Development proposal and commission 3

1.2 Location and topography 3

1.3 Historical and archaeological background 3

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2 Methodology

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3 Results 7

4 Conclusions 8

Reference 8

Illustration

Fig 1 Location plan 5


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Summary

An archaeological watching brief was carried out outside the Old Post Office, High

Street, Newport, on the groundwork for repositioning the D-Day Landings memorial

presently located in John Frost Square. The excavation required was not of sufficient

depth to reach archaeological levels, and only modern materials were encountered.

Acknowledgments

The project was managed by Richard Lewis BA MIFA and the fieldwork was

undertaken by Steve Sell BA of the Glamorgan-Gwent Archaeological Trust

(Projects). The report was prepared by Steve Sell with assistance from Paul Jones of

GGAT Illustration Department. Thanks are due to Terry Jones of Newport City

Council, Engineering and Construction Division, and to Jason Shannon of Allan

Griffiths, the contractors, for their assistance during the project.

Copyright Notice

The copyright to this report is held by the Glamorgan-Gwent Archaeological Trust

Ltd, which has granted an exclusive licence to Newport City Council to use and

reproduce the material it contains.


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1 Introduction

1.1 Development proposal and commission

Newport City Council have received permission to relocate the D-Day Landings

memorial stone, presently erected in John Frost Square, to a site opposite 9 High

Street Newport. (Pl App No 07/0421).

A condition attached to the planning consent states that a suitably qualified

archaeologist is present during the undertaking of any ground disturbing works in the

development area, so that an archaeologist (sic) watching brief can be conducted.

The Glamorgan-Gwent Archaeological Trust Ltd (Projects), was commissioned to

carry out the work, which was undertaken on 5th July 2007.

1.2 Location and topography

The relocation site, at c10m OD, is situated outside the Old Post Office at the northern

end of High Street, in the centre of Newport, at NGR ST 3103 8835, some 200m tothe west of the River Usk and 150m to the s outhwest of Newport Castle.

The solid geology of Newport is mixed, with Old Red Sandstone in the north and

Keuper Marl in the south. The River Usk is tidal, its immediate environs consisting

of estuarine mud flats, and former salt-marsh.

1.3 Historical and archaeological background

There is little evidence for human activity in Newport during the Neolithic and

Bronze Age periods, but during the Iron Age a major hillfort was established at the

Gaer, 2.5km to the southwest of the present development.

Despite the establishment of the military base at Caerleon 4km to the northeast nodirect structural evidence for Roman occupation has been found at Newport (Jones

2005, 9).

The first castle in Newport was constructed in timber at St Woolos c1090, with the

present position being occupied during the first half of the 12th century. This castle

was replaced in stone at the beginning of the 13th century. The town began to

develop as a port centred on the Town Pill just to the south of the Castle. The town

grew rapidly, and soon began to spread beyond the original limits, within the

protection of the castle, towards Stow Hill and the original settlement.

The town, based on the castle as the administrative centre of the Lordship, continued

to grow in the later medieval period, despite the depredations of Glyndwr at the

beginning of the 15th century. During the early post-medieval period it was,

apparently, of less importance as a port than Chepstow, Cardiff and Swansea, but by

the end of the 18th century the town had begun to grow rapidly to complement the

industrialisation of the region, firstly with the opening of the Monmouthshire Canal in

1796 and the expansion of the docks in the first half of the 19th century, initially

closer to the town centre, but moving ever further south, until by the time the

Transporter Bridge was constructed in 1906, the docks at Newport were almost

entirely located to the south of the town, between the confluence of the Rivers Usk

and Ebbw (ibid12).

The relocation site for the memorial stone is located within the market quarter of themedieval town of Newport, close to the site of the market house, which is thought to


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2 Methodology

The watching brief was undertaken in accordance with the requirements of the

Institute of Field Archaeologists Standard and Guidance for Archaeological

Watching Briefs (1994) and the GGATManual of Excavation Recording Techniques.

The excavated area was cleaned and examined for evidence of human activity and forartefactual evidence, and was noted and recorded photographically as appropriate

using a Kodak DC215 Zoom digital camera.

A full written, drawn and photographic record was made of all archaeological

contexts, in accordance with the GGATManual of Excavation Recording Techniques.

Contexts were recorded, where applicable, using a single continuous numbering

system, and are summarised in Appendix 1. Finds were selected according to the

GGAT Manual of Excavation Recording Techniques discard policy; but no material

from this project was retained.


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3 Results

The excavated area consisted of one of the circular design panels in the pavement

outside the Old Post Office. Its diameter was 2m. The overall depth of excavation to

accommodate the memorial varied between 0.55m and 0.70m. Services occupied

much of the northwestern side of the excavation, where the depth reached was less.The sequence here was as follows:

Table 1: northwestern sector

Context No Description Depth

001 Paved brick surface 0.09

002 Mixed concrete bedding 0.09

003 Concrete slab 0.20


005 Sub-base 0.07

006 Concrete Limit of excavation

On the southeastern side of the excavation the sequence was different (see below).

Beneath slab 003 was a mixed make-up layer of probable recent origin (007), which

was removed to a maximum depth of 0.70m

Table 2: southeastern sectorContext No Description Depth

001 Paved brick surface 0.09


003 Concrete slab 0.20

007 Composite layer of redeposited material of recent

origin (concrete, marl, slate, gravel, mortar,

charcoal, small stone etc)

0.30m to limit of

excavation (c0.70m)

The only finds occurred within layer 007, and consisted of sherds of stoneware of

probable 19th century date. The concrete layer 006 appeared to dip below make-up

layer 007, which is likely to have been brought in to level up the site prior to

excavation for services on the northwestern side of the site. Contexts 004-005

represent the upper backfill of this trench, or are associated with modern ducting

running along the northwestern edge of the excavation. An earlier pavement level is

represented by slab 003, with the present ornamental brick surface and its foundation

layer (001, 002) being part of recent refurbishment of High Street in connection with

the pedestrianisation of this part of Newport.

Excavations prior to the removal of the memorial stone itself in John Frost Square didnot reach below the concrete foundation upon which it was seated.


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4 Conclusions

The results of the watching brief confirmed that the groundwork required for the

memorial did not reach archaeological levels, and thus had no effect upon the

archaeological resource.

Reference

Jones C, 2005,Newport City Centre Redevelopment: archaeological assessment,

GGAT Report no 2005/076, Swansea


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Appendix 1: Context Index

Context No Type Description Period

001 Structure Paved brick surface Modern

002 Layer Concrete bedding for 001 Modern

003 Structure Concrete slab Modern

004 Layer Concrete bedding for 003 Modern

005 Layer Modern foundation layer, sub-base Modern

006 Layer Concrete Modern

007 Layer Composite make-up layer, redeposited Modern

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