Wiltshire Archaeol Natur Hist Mag 99

The Altar Stone at Stonehenge has a disputed origin and sandstones from both the Devonian (Old Red Sandstone) Cosheston Group and the Senni Beds in South Wales have been proposed as possible parent lithologies. A thin section of the Altar Stone together with those of four fragments of non-sarsen sandstone excavated at Stonehenge and attributed to the Cosheston Group sandstones have been re-examined. These detailed petrographical descriptions are compared and contrasted with earlier published accounts and with new descriptions of typical lithologies from the Senni Beds of South Wales. The Altar Stone is petrographically very similar to fine- to medium-grained, calcareous sandstones found in the Senni Beds and this is consistent with the suggestion that they are the best candidates for being the parent rock. The Altar Stone is, however, very different lithologically from the four fragments; comparing their petrography with that published confirms that they are probably not Cosheston Group sediments and that their degree of deformation may indicate that they are older than the Devonian. As their origin remains unknown it is still not possible to provenance them. None of the five samples originated from the Old Red Sandstone rocks around Milford Haven.

Excavation and earthwork recording were undertaken of a Scheduled Monument at Breach Hill, Tilshead, where a substantial area of c. 1.57ha had been inadvertently stripped of topsoil during construction of a military track. Stripping had destroyed the previously upstanding bank of the earthwork and, in places, truncated the upper fills of the ditch. A smaller ditch parallel to the large ditch lay to the north of the bank. Excavations produced very little artefactual dating evidence for the construction/primary silting of either ditch. A Mid- to Late Bronze Age or later date is indicated for the monument, however, by comparison with similar monuments on Salisbury Plain. Optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating was also used. Other deposits included a pit or three-throw hole containing Late Mesolithic flintwork, a subsoil area which contained large quantities of worked flint, burnt flint and Beaker pottery, two Late Bronze Age or Early Iron Age features, a separate subsoil which produced evidence of Romano-British activity, and several undated features. Specialist reports include

Report on the excavation of ten trenches, between 1998 and 2000, at intervals along the line of the eastern circuit of the historic town wall of Malmesbury, revealing evidence of human activity from the prehistoric period to the twentieth century. Extended occupation during the Iron Age was represented by several constructional phases of ramparts and ditches of a multivallate hillfort, upon which the modern town is situated. The original Early Iron Age inner rampart was probably a clay bank, revetted in front with timber. The foundations of a 3.72m wide limestone wall, dated from the Middle Iron Age, surmounted the latest phase of the inner earthen rampart. The outer defences consisted of a further series of successive earth banks surmounted at various times by timber and stone ramparts. A second, outer, ditch was excavated in front of the outer bank and contained a large quantity of collapsed burnt masonry derived from an early phase of rampart. Ceramic evidence and radiocarbon dates suggest that the ditch originated in the Early to Middle Iron Age. Most of the layers of rampart material were separated by buried soils and contained considerable quantities of burnt debris. Most of the stonework belonging to the inner revetment wall had been robbed. The town of Malmesbury is mentioned in the tenth-century Burghal Hidage which lists fortresses defending the coasts and frontiers of Wessex, and there was evidence of a substantial earth and stone bank dating from the tenth or eleventh century on the line of the inner Iron Age defences. In the late-eleventh or early-twelfth century, two successive stone buildings were erected at right angles to the inner line of the town defences. The first was constructed some distance back from the wall permitting the presence of a walkway between it and the defences. The second was later demolished for the construction of another major embankment; a stone wall was later added to the rear of the embankment. In the early-twelfth century the town defences were improved by the construction of a substantial stone wall following the inner line of the Iron Age and Anglo-Saxon ramparts. A deep occupation layer with considerable quantities of butchered animal bones and thirteenth- to fourteenth-century pottery sealed the medieval inner rampart and was later truncated by landscaping work associated with the construction of the nearby railway line in the 1870s. Disturbance associated with this may account for the absence of post-medieval archaeology. Includes specialist reports on

Report on fieldwork at the Romano-British roadside settlement of Whitewalls near Malmesbury, which runs along the Fosse Way for a distance of almost 1km on both sides of the bridging point of the Sherston branch of the River Avon. Settlement extends uniformly some 50m back from the road frontage on both sides. There is evidence for pre-Roman agricultural use, though development really began with the imposition of the Fosse Way on the landscape, and the establishment of the river crossing. There is some evidence that the settlement began in the first century, though most finds material derives from the second to fourth centuries. Though the settlement did not develop a sophisticated plan-form, it was not notably poor, and benefited from the products of trade. It boasted at least one large stone building (possibly a mansio). It prospered up to the end of the fourth century, and there is small-scale evidence hinting at early post-Roman continuity. Includes specialist reports on

In October 1955 human bones were unearthed beside watercress beds at Luccombe, Bratton. Subsequent excavation revealed the remains of a single adult prone inhumation with the arms flexed behind the torso. Only the upper half remained, but the burial position has led to speculation of disrespectful disposal, perhaps the result of a crime or execution. Possible associations with local Anglo-Saxon battles had been postulated; however radiocarbon dating has established that death occurred during the Romano-British period. Other burials are rumoured in the vicinity, but as yet no other skeletons have been discovered. Includes

In 1877 a paper was presented by the Rev A C Smith to the Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Society which looked at tavern signs in the county, including some fifty-six displaying the arms of major land-owning families of that time. This paper examines changes in the pattern of this type of land-ownership, with the departure of the majority of these families, and the reasons why ownership of these ancestral properties was relinquished.

Discussion of the name Chicklade, or Cytlid, as a Celtic survival rather than as a hybrid name.

Discussion of carved Romanesque architectural features at the medieval church of St John the Baptist in Devizes, and in particular the significance of a series of corbel-tables on the exterior of the chancel and of the north and south transepts which include the figure of a sheela-na-gig accompanied by a male figure with exposed genitalia.

Description and discussion of the former fire station of Were House, George Street, Warminster, including its history, documentary evidence relating to it, structural features, and pre-1838 construction date.

Notes on recent activities and projects of the Archaeology Field Group of the Wiltshire Archaeology and Natural History Society, including the investigation of a rectangular bank and ditch enclosure at Tilshead.