| Description | In 2012 Wessex Archaeology undertook a programme of archaeological mitigation of the former 18th century cascade in the garden of Bramham Park, prior to the proposed reconstruction of the feature. The work followed on from previous geomagnetic and earth resistance survey and evaluation of the cascade (PRNs 9785, 10649, 11799).
The mitigation work exposed the entire length of the former cascade and later culvert, between the Queen’s Hollow and Parterre wall. The remains were then laser scanned before two slots were made through the cascade and culvert, and another at the junction of the Queen’s Hollow and the culvert.
Parts of the original c.1700 1713 cascade structure were identified at the north east end, at the junction with the Parterre wall. Three to four original step levels appeared to have been retained. The remainder of the original cascade had been removed or altered and a later culvert inserted along its length, connected to the Queen’s Hollow to the south west. There appears to have been three phases of alterations and rebuilding of the cascade before it was abandoned in the 1740s 50s. A number of dressed stones, potentially derived from the early phase structure and re used in the later culvert construction, and a sluice stone connecting the Queen’s Hollow to the culvert, were also recorded.
For further details please see the full report (Wessex Archaeology, 2012), a copy of which is on file in the HER. |