Site Event/Activity record ENT5255 - Watching Brief at Regent Street, Beeston

Location

Location Lower Regent Street, Beeston, Nottinghamshire
Grid reference Centred SK 53094 37077 (56m by 40m)
Map sheet SK53NW
District Broxtowe
Civil Parish Beeston, Broxtowe

Technique(s)

Organisation

Trent and Peak Archaeological Trust

Date

Not recorded.

Map

Description

The site was located on a plot of land between Lower Regent Street and King Street, Beeston. Two test pits were monitored at the northern and south-eastern ends of the site. In total, the foundation trenches of six plots were monitored archaeologically. The final four plots were not monitored, due to extensive truncation by Victorian cellars. The works revealed a number of Victorian cellars, which had truncated large parts of the underlying strata. Where this had not occurred, it was possible to observe a potential roman soil horizon with plough scarring of the underlying natural gravels. The entirety of the site was either covered in concrete, rubble or modern topsoil. Furthermore, it was observed that across large parts of the site, the pre-19th century deposits had been truncated by 19th century cellars associated with the terrace housing that occupied this site. This was especially noticeable across the eastern, northern and south-western extents of the site. A post-roman/possibly post-medieval gravel horizon was observed in a number of the intervention, namely in one geotechnical pit and some foundation trenches. No dateable material was recovered from this deposit, but its composition and texture, lead to the interpretation of it being possibly post-medieval in date. It was only observed in interventions at the south-eastern extent of the site and could represent a post-medieval levelling deposit/terracing of the hillside. Across the whole site, Roman pottery was only recovered from this deposit in one intervention (this was a Nene valley colour coat poppy head beaker, dating to the late 3rd to 4th century AD). This find could represent evidence of Roman settlement activity in this area, but possible also an isolated feature such as a cremation or inhumation burial. The possible plough scars observed in some of the foundation trenches of plots, could represent evidence for this area being used as agricultural land during the roman and later period. Only one feature was observed to be cutting this material, and no finds were recovered from it, making it impossible to date it accurately. Although limited securly dated finds were recovered from the horizons observed across the site, the limited findings of the project, reveiled evidence of Roman period activity inthis part of Beeston. This area was probably being used as farmland at times during the 3rd-4th century AD, although the findspot of a large proportion of a Roman ceramic vessel hints at more concentrated activity. The topography of the area does not seem to been altered greatly over the last 2000 years, despite later construction and surface leveling. Further observations could not be made, due to large scale truncation by 19th century housing and cellars.

Sources/Archives (1)

  • --- Unpublished document: T. Linington. 2014. Regent Street, Beeston: Archaeological Monitoring and Recording.

Related Monuments/Buildings (0)

Record last edited

Feb 4 2025 4:11PM

Comments and Feedback

Do you have any questions or more information about this record? Please feel free to comment below with your name and email address. All comments are submitted to the website maintainers for moderation, and we aim to respond/publish as soon as possible. Comments, questions and answers that may be helpful to other users will be retained and displayed along with the name you supply. The email address you supply will never be displayed or shared.