| Abstract: |
The evaluation was originally intended to comprise the excavation of six 15m long by
1.6m wide trenches. However, with the agreement of WSP and the archaeological
advisor then due to localised site constraints seven trenches were excavated in total and comprising:
• 5no 15m x 1.6m trenches (trenches 1 - 4 & 6);
• 2no 7.5m x 1.6m trenches (trenches 5 & 7).
The trenches were located to test anomalies identified by the geophysical survey and to provide a representative sample of the remainder of the site. In November 2021, Cotswold Archaeology carried out an archaeological evaluation (of land)
at Northfield Hostel, Littlemore, Oxford, a total of 7 trenches were excavated across the 0.61ha
site, which is located approximately 100m to the east of a Roman pottery production site
identified during the construction of the Oxford Eastern Bypass.
Archaeological remains were identified in trenches 3, 4 and 5. No evidence for any activity
pre-dating the Roman period was identified, with the earliest dated feature being ditch 403, in
trench 4, which produced pottery of mid-Roman date. The fill of this ditch was cut by a small
pit or posthole, 405, that produced pottery of late Roman date, as did ditch / gully 503, to the
southwest, indicating a C3 – C4 phase of activity and collectively suggesting use of the site
from as early as the mid-2nd to the 4th century. No evidence for industrial activity on the site
was seen in the form of either pottery wasters or kiln furniture, or industrial residue dumps,
although the quantity of pottery recovered from the features investigated suggests a proximity
to settlement or a working area. Consequently, it is possible that the activity identified on the
site is related, albeit perhaps being on the periphery, to the kilns/ pottery production site noted
during construction of the Eastern Bypass.
No evidence for Early Medieval (Saxon) or Medieval activity was identified during the
evaluation, while a single sherd of post–medieval pottery recovered from the subsoil in trench
3 was most likely introduced onto the site via agricultural manuring practices.
Modern disturbance/ truncation to the natural substrate/ archaeological horizon was only seen
in trench 7, where part of a large modern pit was seen, while in trench 6 the original subsoil
and topsoil appear to have been left in-situ, buried beneath a thin layer of imported/
4
Northfield Hostel, Littlemore, Oxford: Archaeological Evaluation © Cotswold Archaeology
redeposited silt-clay and topsoil seemingly laid as part of the landscaping works associated
with the construction of the Hostel complex. |
