All Saints Chapel, Bath. Archaeological Watching Brief Report Phase 1

First phase: In January 2006 Oxford Archaeology (OA) carried out an archaeological watching brief at All Saints Chapel, Bath, Bath and North East (NGR: ST74576588). The work was commissioned by Gibson Associates in respect of engineering ground investigations and archaeological conditions imposed by planning permission for the building of a new residence on the site of a mostly demolished late 18th century chapel. The monitoring was carried out by working closely with the geologist on site whose remit was to take a number of samples from the test pits and who would direct the machine to this end. The pits themselves were meant to be aligned in a number of linear strips across the site, NNE-SSW, in a scheme designed to create three 'sections' through the south-wards slope. Their purpose was to find and characterise, if possible, the underlying geology to enable foundations to be built. The potential for a great depth of made ground and the possibility of an unstable 'shear plane' in the natural strata, due to ancient land slips, had made the work necessary. In total, 13 trenches were opened. The 14th was abandoned and the detailed positioning of the others had to vary to account for the practical issues of access and safety on site (Fig. 2). Four trenches, 1-4, were located south of the chapel foundation imprint, seven trenches, 5 - 11, were located within the chapel's perimeter wall and two trenches, 12 and 13, were located west of the main chapel building. Second phase: The second phase of monitoring was carried out on the excavation of a foundation trench for a single pillar (Trench 14) and a foundation trench for a retaining wall at the north-eastern boundary of the property (Trenches 15 and 16). This was accompanied by the survey and photographic recording of a single-storey standing wall surviving from the 18th century chapel, forming part of the eastern property boundary with Chapel House. The fieldwork was carried out from 6 to 10 October 2006. There were no finds from this phase of work. Phase 1: All the anthropogenic deposits, features and structures observed during the course of the watching brief relate to the construction and demolition of the Chapel and creation of a garden on its site in the 1950s. No deposits, structures or artefacts relating to earlier activity on this site were encountered. The site had been very much altered by the creation of the garden and site clearance prior to this had been extensive. Survival of the chapel within this property was limited to foundations, and some pennant cellar floors (excluding those elements known to survive as part of a low revetment wall and as part of the boundary with Chapel House, discussed in Davenport 2003, which will be retained in the development). Phase 2: The watching brief and standing wall recording enabled the preservation by record of section of original wall and wall foundations relating to All Saints' Chapel as well as two entrances blocked during the 19th century phase of remodelling.