Lower Graylingwell, Chichester

Oxford Archaeology South (OAS) working for WSP/Parsons Brinckerhoff were
commissioned by the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) to undertake an
archaeological evaluation of land at Lower Graylingwell, Chichester, following
the granting of outline planning permission (CDC/15/00743/OUT).
The evaluation did not include the former recreation area, nor the area of two
single storey 20th century buildings within the western part of the site. Twenty
three trenches were excavated, including six within the abandoned Martin's
Farm, and Historic Building Recording was also carried out on the standing
remains of the farm, first documented in the 1772 map of the Manor of Broyle.
Except in Martin's Farm, the trenches were originally intended to be 50m long,
but numerous live services criss-crossing the site broke these into shorter ones.
Trenches 1 and 2 at the south-west corner of the site were targeted upon a large
entrenchment ditch found in a previous excavation below the Chichester Centre
to the east. Trench 15 was targeted upon the possible line of a medieval culvert.
Trenches 21-25 in Martin's Farm were located to answer specific questions
raised by the historic maps about the location, phasing and function of the
buildings. Within the constraints of services and standing trees, the other
trenches were laid out to provide an even distribution across the area.
Trench 1 located the entrenchment ditch, which contained preserved organic
remains close to the base from which a radiocarbon date of 80-220 cal. AD was
obtained. The environmental evidence suggested that the bank had a hedge
that was overgrown, and lay in an area of pasture. The entrenchment was not
found in Trench 2, but shallower Roman ditches slightly offset from it suggested
that there had been a gap here, later blocked off. The Roman features were
truncated by a pond of 20th century date marked on historic maps.
No trace of the medieval culvert was found, and the other trenches outside
Martin's Farm revealed only a few undated ditches, and very few finds, though
these included two residual flint piercers of Neolithic or Bronze Age date.
Trenches in Martin's Farm did not locate any evidence of buildings or activity
earlier than the L-shaped block shown on the 1772 map, and the few finds did
not refine the date at which these buildings were constructed. Trench 21 did
however find evidence for a central timber floor within the barn, supporting its
interpretation as a threshing barn, and Trenches 22 and 23 clarified that the
northern arm of the L was not at the north-west corner, as shown on the early
maps, but further east. This northern building was probably a stable.
Trenches 24 and 25 were dug to investigate respectively a circular and a square
structure shown on the historic maps of which no evidence survived above
ground. The position of the circular structure was confirmed, but its purpose
was not clarified; three brick piers below the edges of the square structure
indicate that this had been a raised granary.