The watching brief comprised the archaeological monitoring of the excavation of five small foundation pits (Figure 3) for the installation of foundations for the extension to an existing external terrace. This was undertaken to establish the presence/absence, nature, extent and preservation of any archaeological remains and to ensure that any archaeological deposits encountered could be recorded. The trenches were excavated by mini-excavator, down to the proposed construction formation level. Within one of the foundation pits the existing concrete foundation of the spa complex was encountered so was not excavated to the full proposed depth. A sixth foundation was not carried out during the period of archaeological attendance, but, in view of the results of the other five (see below) these were deemed to provide sufficient information to characterise the deposit sequence. The only deposit encountered was a construction / landscaping deposit related with the construction of the spa complex in the early 21st century, together with associated services. The area of the proposed extended terrace has clearly experienced significant landscaping in association with the spa construction, which is likely to have removed any earlier archaeology at this location. No archaeological features or finds were encountered during the watching brief.
Graham Bruce (Mon,) studied this question.