The Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Magazine 102

Reports on a pit discovered during cable ducting replacement. The feature produced Mortlake-style Peterborough Ware pottery, animal bone, charred plant remains and snails and a good radiocarbon determination was obtained.

An isolated oval enclosure (PRN 621) dating to the Late Neolithic/ Early Bronze Age may have had a ritual function. An extensive Early Iron Age settlement complex included a number of roundhouses associated with pits, waterholes, four-post structures and animal burials. Middle Iron Age activity included a series of penannular gullies superseded by a major boundary ditch, field system and enclosures. During the Late Iron Age or Early Roman period the boundary was modified and a group of enclosures constructed. Later in the period, inhumation and cremation burials, including an unusual partially burnt burial, were interred in the fill of the major Later Iron Age enclosure ditches. The excavation also exposed the northern part of a scheduled Romano-British settlement site (SAM 899), which lay to the south of Ermin [sic] Street. Roman trackways, quarries, enclosures, pits and an inhumation and cremation burials were recorded. Medieval ridge and furrow and post-medieval ditches transected the prehistoric and Roman sites.

The excavations revealed field systems and activity on the periphery of a rural settlement where occupation started in the late Iron Age and continued throughout the Roman period. Middle Iron Age pottery found in later ditches suggests earlier activity in the vicinity. The majority of the features relate to two phases spanning the Roman period and include the buried remains of three infants.

The recently uncovered and exceptionally well-preserved remains were the subject of a community excavation in 2007, followed by a conservation programme to consolidate the exposed walls. The excavations recorded the complete suite of rooms, of two phases, with initial construction probably having taken place during the second half of the second century AD. The use of this bathhouse is likely to have continued until the fourth century, when it was perhaps superseded by the bath suite in the nearby Truckle Hill (North Wraxall) villa, partly investigated in the nineteenth century. It was then robbed and a corn-drier built within the abandoned shell, associated deposits indicating the mass de-husking of spelt wheat.

Considers three hoards: the Alton Barnes hoard; the Aldbourne hoard; and the Easterton II hoard. Discusses the broader significance of these hoards for the history of Roman Wiltshire.

Analysis of the charter evidence is used to disclose common characteristics relating to the early use and formation of these names, as well as the social and physical landscape in which they were created. Historical interpretation of the meaning of lēah are reviewed and the etymology examined. It is conjectured that the term refers to a form of wood pasture. The distribution of Wiltshire lēah names are also considered with concentrations in some of the medieval forests. It is suggested that a correlation exists between the distribution of soil type and lēah features, with lēahs being particularly common heavy clay soils and rare on the chalk.

Two areas excavated at the Commonhead junction on the A419, to the east of Swindon, investigated the anticipated line of the Roman road there. One trench to the north of the roundabout revealed a wide hollow or ditch, aligned to the modern road, and dated by pottery and a radiocarbon determination to the Middle Bronze Age. Excavation on the roundabout island revealed an undated linear hollow on the same alignment with a rutted surface at its base. The hollow was re-surfaced in the medieval period. Although no firm evidence of a Roman road surface survived, the results are taken to suggest that the Roman road and its medieval and modern successors follow a more ancient alignment.

Describes a pigeon loft in the tower of the church, which retains significant medieval features. Paper completed by John McCann following the death of Frank Pexton in 2006.

LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) is an aerial surveying technique that enables the creation of a digital surface model of the land. Computer processing of the data can be applied to digitally remove any trees present to reveal the underlying terrain; useful in disclosing landscape and earthwork features in woodland, which are difficult to detect using more traditional field or aerial survey techniques. A survey of Savernake has revealed a large number of previously unrecorded features of archaeological potential including a number of earthworks, field systems, other boundary banks, lynchets, and route-ways. Comparison with known features suggest that a number are of ancient origin, but other earthworks within Savernake were created over a long period of time, up to and including World War II. It should be noted that some features may be of modern origin, or given an appearance of solidity when in fact they are due to changes in vegetation.

Discusses the etymology of the name, suggesting a derivation from Crixaritum 'Ford of the Rippling River' or 'Ford at Broken Water'. PP-B

Suggests that the extremely wide historical scope of the text is a mistake, noting that the historic sections are considerably stronger than the prehistoric and Roman chapters. PP-B

Brief reports on notable finds, organised by period. PP-B