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Search the Public Notice PortalA motoring business set to operate in Taunton could hold the key to unlocking missing pieces of the town’s early history, writes Phil Hill.
The development on the rundown site on Priory Bridge Road that previously housed the Volvo franchise has been given the go-ahead by Somerset Council.
A new building will offer retail sales, along with servicing, repairs and vehicle sales, with associated accessories, servicing and MOT testing centre.
The “no longer fit for purpose” building will be demolished and 11 parking spaces and four cycles bays will be created.
Documents submitted on behalf of Rowcliffe Holdings Ltd and Vertu Motors Ltd show the business will open seven days a week.
A three-metre high acoustic fence will be installed to protect the amenity of Winchester Street residents, but it has been concluded the risk of any “adverse impact” will be low.
New landscaping along the road to the side of the building and between parking spaces will improve the street scene.
A statement adds: “The proposals will significantly improve the appearance of the site by the replacement of a building which is no longer fit for purpose with a new modern building.”
A report issued on behalf of Summerfield Developments Ltd outlines plans for an archaeological monitoring and recording project ahead of construction work on the site.
It outlines a “proposed watching brief” within the precinct of the Augustinian Priory of St Peter and St Paul.
“The development involves the construction of a new vehicle service workshop and the greatest potential impact is likely to lie in the excavation of the foundations, the construction of below ground services and any associated landscaping,” says the report.
Roman settlement around Taunton is well attested, but little is known of post-Roman and early Saxon development.
The report adds: “The wide and fertile river valley is likely to have seen mixed agricultural use and scattered settlement, while the site was situated close to a roadway of possible Saxon date.
“The first documented evidence of a settlement is in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle in 722 AD when Queen Æthelburga of Wessex destroyed an earthen castle built by her husband King Ine to prevent its seizure by rebels.”
The lands of Taunton were granted to the See of Winchester in the eighth century and became an important administrative, judicial and commercial centre from the early tenth century.
The priory was founded around 1115 and was later redeveloped into a large house with 26 canons before being dissolved in 1539.
The report adds: “The primary objective is to preserve the archaeological evidence contained within the site by record and to attempt a reconstruction of the history and use of the site.”
