South Midlands Archaeology (39)

This article describes the results from evaluation excavations carried out during 2008 by the Leighton Buzzard and District Archaeological and Historical Society in the garden of no. 5 Woodland Avenue, Leighton Buzzard, where an assemblage of flint artefacts had previously been found. A piece of worked flint from a second garden on Woodland Avenue and a quantity of flints from another property nearby were also brought to the attention of the Society; the latter have yet to be analysed. The evidence that has now been discovered on the sandy terraces above the Ouzel Valley gives a good indication that this area was visited by groups of Mesolithic peoples, who are likely to have made seasonal visits to the area and camped for a few weeks at a time. Although no direct evidence of structures has yet been found, including hearths, the area excavated so far is so small that any such evidence may simply have been missed. LD

The Brightwell Baldwin Community History and Archaeology Project is a community-based project run in association with the South Oxfordshire Archaeological Group. Early work is concentrating on two areas: Cadwell, in the north of the parish, where there is evidence for Roman occupation and a deserted medieval village, and the central and southern areas of Brightwell Park where extensive earthworks also suggest a decayed, or moved, earlier settlement. A resistivity survey of the central enclosure of the park was carried out in 2008, locating what is believed to be the old Manor of Parks. It revealed an extensive complex of buildings linked to an extant dovecote and tentatively dated to the late 16th century. There are signs of Italianate gardens laid out to the east of the buildings. At Cadwell Farm several trenches were excavated, revealing a paved medieval track, a section of the western arm of the moat, and a Roman road. LD

The Wallingford Burh to Borough Research Project is a multi-faceted project integrating geophysics, survey, documentary research and other methods alongside select excavations. This paper summarises the results of excavations that took place over a three-week period in July and August 2008. Trench 1 in Castle Meadows targeted a geophysical anomaly and revealed a large artificial platform surrounded by a substantial ditch, thought to have been a defensive feature dating from the Civil War (mid-17th century). Trench 2 at the Bullcroft revealed a small number of features of natural origin and traces of ridge and furrow, confirming the view that this area served as a largely 'rural' space within the town. Trench 3 at the Kinecroft revealed the footings of a large rectangular medieval building, a series of intercutting pits and a probable hollow way. The excavated evidence added significantly to understanding of Wallingford's internal expansion in the medieval period, as well as indicating a later phase of town contraction. The Kinecroft and the Bullcroft may have started out as open spaces within the original design of the Anglo-Saxon burh, but they had multiple functions which changed over time as the town developed. LD

Numerous brief, separately authored notes on archaeological investigations carried out, in the main, during 2008 in Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Northamptonshire and Oxfordshire. Entries are organised within county sections by archaeological unit, consultancy or society, and within these sections alphabetically by location. The more substantial contributions include: