1112429. Cite this using datacite

Title:

Swan School and Meadowbrook College, New Marston, Oxford: Archaeological Excavation

Series:

Cotswold Archaeology unpublished report series

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Biblio Note

This report was uploaded to the OASIS system by the named Publisher. The report has not been reviewed by the relevant HER. The report has been transferred into the ADS Library for public access and to facilitate future research.

Licence Type:

ADS Terms of Use and Access

DOI

https://doi.org/10.5284/1112429

Publication Type:

Report (in Series)

Abstract:

The fieldwork followed the methodology set out within the WSI (RPS 2018) and WSI addendum (CA 2019). The location of excavation Areas A, B and C and watching brief Area F was informed by the results of the preceding Heritage Statement (RPS 2017) and two trial-trench evaluations (CA 2018a-b) based on the anticipated major impact areas associated with the development. The locations were agreed by David Radford, Oxford City Council’s Archaeologist (OCCA) and RPS Planning and Environment. A total of 1.92ha of the development site was subjected to open area excavation or watching brief. Between April and July 2019, Cotswold Archaeology carried out an archaeological excavation at Swan School and Meadowbrook College, New Marston, Oxford. An area of 1.92ha was excavated across the 5.6ha development area. The site was the focus of settlement activity from as early as the Middle Iron Age up to the end of the Roman period in the 4th century AD. Middle Iron Age settlement was characterised by enclosed and unenclosed elements with the main focus being two enclosures that contained pits, a sub-enclosure and the remains of three roundhouses. After a short hiatus in activity from around the mid 2nd century BC, renewed activity in the Late Iron Age/Early Roman transitional period saw the establishment of a trapezoidal enclosure, two trackways and associated pits, postholes and smaller sub-enclosures on land to the south-west of the main Middle Iron Age settlement focus. Activity continued into the Roman period with the establishment of a complex-type farmstead, as defined by the Rural Roman Settlement Project, comprising a rectilinear enclosure system focused on the junction of three trackways. It was remodelled and maintained throughout the Roman period with the most significant focus of the site being the construction and use of a pottery kiln during the 3rd to 4th centuries AD and part of the Oxford Roman pottery industry. Two Late Roman inhumation burials were also excavated. The site was abandoned during the Late Roman period, with no evidence of use until the establishment of a ridge-and-furrow agricultural system in the medieval period. Post-medieval remains were limited to former field boundaries and a gully. A large assemblage of pottery dating to the Iron Age and Roman periods and small amounts of medieval and post-medieval material was recovered. Finds typical of a rural settlement were also recovered and provide evidence for small-scale textile production, crop processing and domestic activity. Significant artefacts include an Iron Age loomweight and spindlewhorl, Roman bone needle shank/hairpin, two Roman copper-alloy brooches, a lower rotary quern and a coin dating to AD 307–318.

Author:

Jo Barker

Publisher:

Cotswold Archaeology

Year of Publication:

2021

Locations:

Parish:	Old Marston
Country:	England
County:	Oxfordshire
District:	Oxford

Grid Reference: 452393, 208389 (Easting, Northing)

Subjects / Periods:

ENCLOSURE (Monument Type England)

MIDDLE IRON AGE ENCLOSURE (Tag)

TRACKWAY (Monument Type England)

EXCAVATION (Event)

ROMAN COIN (Tag)

POST HOLE (Monument Type England)

POTTERY KILN (Monument Type England)

COIN (Object England)

ROUND HOUSE (DOMESTIC) (Monument Type England)

ROTARY QUERN (Object England)

IRON AGE LOOMWEIGHT (Tag)

SETTLEMENT (Monument Type England)

LATE IRON AGE TRACKWAY (Tag)

ROMAN BURIAL (Tag)

SPINDLE WHORL (Object England)

PIT (Monument Type England)

MIDDLE IRON AGE PIT (Tag)

BROOCH (Object England)

LATE IRON AGE SETTLEMENT (Tag)

ROMAN ROTARY QUERN (Tag)

MIDDLE IRON AGE SETTLEMENT (Tag)

TRAPEZOIDAL ENCLOSURE (Monument Type England)

ROMAN FARMSTEAD (Tag)

LATE IRON AGE POST HOLE (Tag)

MIDDLE IRON AGE ROUND HOUSE (DOMESTIC) (Tag)

BURIAL (Monument Type England)

ROMAN POTTERY KILN (Tag)

LATE IRON AGE PIT (Tag)

ROMAN BROOCH (Tag)

FARMSTEAD (Monument Type England)

ROMAN SETTLEMENT (Tag)

IRON AGE SPINDLE WHORL (Tag)

LATE IRON AGE TRAPEZOIDAL ENCLOSURE (Tag)

LOOMWEIGHT (Object England)

IRON AGE (Historic England Periods)

LATE IRON AGE (Historic England Periods)

ROMAN (Historic England Periods)

MIDDLE IRON AGE (Historic England Periods)

Identifiers:

OASIS Id:	cotswold2-502866
Report id:	MK0354_1

Source:

OASIS (OASIS)

Relations:

Created Date:

15 Aug 2023