Archaeological Watching Brief at No 2 Willow Cottage, Upton-upon-Severn, Worcestershire

Excavation of the foundation trenches was undertaken using a tracked mechanical excavator under archaeological supervision. Excavations comprised two foundation trenches. It is understood that the north-western side of the foundations will be constructed using existing wall foundations. Context recording was undertaken using context sheets and other pro-forma recording sheets and photographs were taken with a Nikon D3200 SLR camera. Plans and sections of trenches and features were drawn on permatrace at 1:10 and 1:50 scales The buried remains of three walls and a concrete surface were recorded. These are thought to represent the remains of a rectangular building depicted on the 1884 edition Ordnance Survey map forming part of a brickworks. Quarrying for the alluvial clay required to make the bricks resulted in the excavation of a large pond to the east of the site which was later adapted to become Upton Marina. The building was demolished in the 20th century and replaced with a brick-built garage at its south-eastern end. A large cut filled by material including modern ceramic fragments was also recorded and is interpreted as the bowl of a large ash tree which formerly stood in the location.