M6 Toll Archaeology, Langley Mill site

							       Case Record                    M6 Toll Archaeology, Langley Mill site




Date               January 2004

Location           Midlands

Client             MEL             There were many archaeological finds at the M6 Toll. At the
Main                                Langley Mill site, near Sutton Coldfield, two circular features
Contractor         CAMMBA*        and a mysterious wooden post added to the interest of the area.


_______________________           The site under investigation             Bronze Age (2,400 BC to 700 BC)
 The Construction of the UKs      consisted of two small circular          burial mound. This is based on its
       first toll road.           features, clearly identified by the      similarity to better-dated Bronze
______________________            outline of former ditches that           Age burial mounds elsewhere in
                                  would have surrounded the original       the region
                                  structures. Between these features       The archaeological sites to the
                                  were the waterlogged remains of a        north and south of Langley Brook
       Principal Quantities       very large oak post. What purpose        were widely scattered with
                                  these circular enclosures served is      fragments of burnt stone, which
•    1,300,000 cubic metres       not yet known.                           are probably the remains of stone
     of topsoil stripped          Looking at archaeological works in       heated to boil water. These have
•    9,200,000 cubic metres       an adjacent field on the opposite        been dated elsewhere in the area
     of excavation (80,000        (northern) side of the Langley           to between 1,500 and 1,000 BC,
     full double deckers)         Brook have discovered a sub-             which is of Middle to Late Bronze
•    63,000 cubic metres of       rectangular enclosure or compound,       Age.
     structural concrete          initially identified by aerial           Whilst the dating evidence for
•    9,613 tonnes of              photography. It is likely that this      the site is as yet inconclusive, the
     structural steel – roughly   is the remains of a building, possibly   archaeological discoveries to date
     equivalent to the amount     the farmhouse.                           suggest that the site is of middle
     of steel used in the         The lack of any archaeological finds     to late Bronze Age. But what of
     Eiffel Tower                 has made it difficult to provide an      the large oak post? Nothing like
                                  assessment of the age of the             this has been discovered in the
    Lessons learnt / Benefits     enclosure site and radiocarbon           area before and dating methods,
                                  dates are not yet available. The         including dendrochronology have
•    Increased archaeological     character of the enclosure               been unhelpful. Those involved
     Awareness for the team       suggests that the enclosure may be       with the project may have to
•    Archaeological remains       of late prehistoric date.                resign themselves to fact that
     properly identified and      However, the western ring ditch of       the purpose of this unusual piece
     protected                    the two circular features to the         of archaeology may never be
                                  south of the Brook is probably           understood.
 *CAMBBA – Carillion, Alfred
 McAlpine, Balfour Beatty and
            Amec.

Information taken from:
M6 Toll Web site