Oxoniensia 65

Provides an overview of an archaeological evaluation begun in 1992 at the site of a potential new reservoir south-west of Abingdon. Presents new information about this part of the Vale of the White Horse, including an extensive Middle Bronze Age settlement and field system and a series of Iron Age and Romano-British sites.

Considers the historical and architectural development of Fletcher's House and grounds, currently home of The Oxfordshire Museum, which was the subject of a series of watching briefs during recent renovation. The most recent of these revealed that the essential core of the structure is an early example of a `double-pile' house, built by Alderman Thomas Browne in 1614.

Mostly historical. Features discussion of the building's architecture.

fifty-five sherds were found in two pits, which represented at least five vessels

notes eighty-six pieces of worked flint, fifty of which were flakes

reports the remains of five inhumations, all probably of Roman date, and fragments of human bone from an Iron Age context

Excavation revealed a long boundary ditch which had been recut on a number of occasions in the Iron Age. Four or possibly five Middle Iron Age ring gullies were excavated. A number of pits and a possible oven or pottery kiln of the Late Iron Age were also recorded. Seasonal Mesolithic activity was indicated by the discovery of a collection of worked flint. Includes reports on:

two dates were obtained from pottery sherds: 335 BC \\textpm \\ 185 and 610 BC \\textpm \\ 390

charred cereal remains evince Iron Age cultivation of wheat (mainly spelt), and barley

which notes the discovery of twenty-four sherds

mostly sheep and cattle

A small excavation at the college revealed a small Neolithic pit, dated by flintwork, part of a Roman settlement and a section of a compartment ditch of the Civil War defences of Oxford. The Roman settlement was rural in character and based on ditched enclosures. Two phases of Roman activity are attested, between the late-first and the mid-second centuries AD, and between the late-third and fourth centuries AD. Within the settlement a small Late Roman timber structure was associated with deposits of domestic rubbish including significant charred plant remains. Includes report on:

largely cereals, but also pulses

features thirty Iron Age sherds

wherein 285 bones were recovered, with 56% identified to taxon, and finally

Excavations revealed a sequence of occupation and activity dating from the twelfth century onwards, preceded by slight evidence of Neolithic occupation. The medieval activity was initially represented by field ditches, possible trackway gullies and postholes associated with occupation, followed by a period in the second half of the thirteenth century when the site appeared to be unoccupied and under cultivation. Redevelopment of the site began in the late-thirteenth century with a cottage and associated agricultural building and yard laid out on a raised platform. By the early-fifteenth century the platform was in use as an agricultural yard, and the cottage had been abandoned, if not yet demolished. Limited early-post medieval activity may be associated with a forerunner of the extant seventeenth-century Manor Farm, situated to the east of the site. Includes reports on:

records that 2,105 sherds were identified, mostly dating from the mid-twelfth century onwards

notes 251 metal artefacts, mostly dating from the late thirteenth century onwards

which were generally characteristic of redeposited mix cereal and cereal processing debris

3,879 sherds were found, including Late Saxon, early medieval and late medieval wares with a small number of redeposited Roman sherds

notes 705 fragments of tile predominantly dating to the late medieval period

beginning the section on the economic and dietary evidence, revealed an assemblage dominated by sheep and cattle bones. Also includes

Notes the discovery of a small, slightly damaged bout coupé handaxe, knapped from black flint. The exact location of the findspot is uncertain.