Birmingham Warwickshire Archaeol Soc Trans 104

Excavations revealed activity dating from the first to fourth centuries AD in this peripheral area of the Roman town of Alcester. The evidence was fragmentary, but traces of buildings of varying construction were found in several parts of the site. A northeast--southwest alignment appears to have been maintained. By the fourth century, the northern part of the site had become marginal to settlement and was used for burials. It is suggested that first-century timber buildings were superseded by developments from the mid-second century which included a major boundary ditch and substantial stone-founded buildings. By the late-third or fourth century, activity had generally declined. Includes separately authored reports on:

which notes 302 finds, including 276 composed of iron; fifteen copper alloy; five lead; two worked bone; three stone; and one shale

which notes thirteen fragments of Roman glass and seven of a post-medieval date

which documents and catalogues 1,718 sherds of Roman pottery. Fabrics are defined and vessel type, sequence and chronology are discussed. The assemblage contains an unusual proportion of Early Roman pottery

which reports three adults (two female, one male), five infants, a deposit of cremated bone and three disarticulated bones. Considers age, sex, stature, pathology, discontinuous traits, burial practice and chronology

the Alcester assemblage represents an episode of the disposal of the waste product of malting

A rescue excavation recorded three buildings dating from the twelfth or thirteenth century AD, to the south of the main abbey buildings. The buildings appear to have been largely abandoned during the fourteenth century. Neither earthwork survey, geophysical survey, nor excavation, shed light on the nature of the buildings, however the Ordnance Survey marks the site as a former water-mill. The situation of the structures on an internal natural boundary for the abbey adjacent to an old trackway and bridge could indicate a gatehouse complex. It is also possible that the buildings served an agricultural function. Includes separately authored reports on:

which records a total of 221 sherds, mostly dating from the thirteenth-century

which notes fifteen finds, including: a cast? bronze thimble; a bronze buckle; a horseshoe; a millstone grit lower quernstone; and several (functionally different) iron tools

which documents 2,490 sherds (2,429 medieval and 61 post-medieval), primarily domestic kitchen wares