Watching Brief at Replacement Water Pipeline, Land North of Clewer, Wedmore, Somerset

Archaeological monitoring and recording was undertaken by South West Archaeology Ltd. (SWARCH) during the excavations required for the installation of a replacement water pipe on land north of Clewer, Wedmore, Somerset. The work took place at the request of The Environment Agency (the client) and was carried out by P. Scrivener on the 14th and 15th of October 2025 in accordance with a Written Scheme of Investigation (Boyd 2025) drawn up in consultation with the Environment Agency Archaeologist (EAA) and South West Heritage Trust (SWHT). Excavations were carried out by a tracked 360 mechanical excavator initially fitted with a 1m wide toothless grading bucket. A total of ten rectangular pits were excavated measuring 1.25m long x 1m wide, positioned at c.50m intervals along the eastern and southern perimeters of the field. Each pit was dug to a depth of the natural which was consistent across the site (c. 0.25m deep). A narrow bucket was then attached and the ground dug to a total depth of 1m in each pit. The stratigraphy was fairly consistent across site with the topsoil being a mid brown grey silty loamy measuring up to 0.15m deep and the subsoil below a mid grey brown silty clay soil with occasional small sized stones throughout measuring up to 0.25m deep. Along the bank of the extant drainage channel refuse such as plastics, glass and building material were present within the topsoil. No archaeological remains of finds were noted or recovered during the excavations for the installation of a replacement water pipe.