Digital Archive for an Archaeological Investigation at Whaddon Flood Alleviation Scheme, Priors Farm, Cheltenham 2017
Cotswold Archaeology, 2021. https://doi.org/10.5284/1086821. How to cite using this DOI
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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
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Resource identifiers
- ADS Collection: 4037
- DOI:https://doi.org/10.5284/1086821
- How to cite using this DOI
Introduction
This collection comprises the Digital Archive (reports, site images, a project database and an animal bone database) from a programme of archaeological investigation at the site of Whaddon Flood Alleviation Scheme, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, prior to its construction. Work was undertaken by Cotswold Archaeology in 2017 at the request of CH2M (now Jacobs), acting on behalf of Gloucestershire County Council. An area of 1.11ha was excavated across the development area, in compliance with an approved Written Scheme of Investigation (CA 2017a).
The work produced residual finds suggestive of temporary Mesolithic or Early Neolithic activity, although no features of this date were identified, with the principal archaeological remains dated to the Roman period. The site was occupied from the 1st to 4th centuries AD, with several distinct phases of activity focussed in an area occupied by a group of palaeochannels, of which some were active during the Roman period. Late Iron Age or Early Roman ditches of uncertain function were replaced in the 2nd to 3rd century AD by a small curvilinear enclosure and a possible large rectilinear domestic enclosure, containing at least two potential rectangular structures represented by possible drainage gullies.
The site was remodelled during the mid 3rd to early 4th century AD, when one of the palaeochannels was canalised and a large enclosure was built; a possible trackway lead to it. Several unusual finds recovered from the canalised paleochannel and other features hint that the site was a focus for religious activity of some sort. The site saw further transformation in the latter half of the 4th century, with the construction of further enclosures and associated drainage ditches. Several possible structured deposits may suggest a continued ritual element to the activity.
An unusually rich-finds assemblage was recovered and animal bone and charred botanical remains provided limited insights into the economy and local environment at the site. Following the abandonment of the site at, or shortly after, the end of the 4th century, the site was used for agriculture.
