| Abstract: |
The fieldwork consisted of two strip, map and record excavation areas. Excavation Area 1 measured approximately 115m x 30m, and Area 2 measured 100m x 50m.
Fieldwork commenced with the removal, under constant archaeological supervision, of topsoil and subsoil by mechanical excavator, with a toothless grading bucket.However, the site suffered from poor weather conditions and a high water-table at this time, and these factors had a detrimental effect on the quality and speed of site stripping and on the subsequent cleaning of exposed surfaces. Archaeological features, once exposed, were hand-excavated and planned and recorded.
Deposits were assessed for their environmental potential, and eight features were sampled. Two separate areas were excavated on this site.
Area 1 was dominated by a ditched farmstead enclosure of early Roman date, which extended beyond the southern limits of this excavation area. A small assemblage of Late Iron Age pottery was recovered from ditches and pits in both Areas 1 and 2, and represents a phase of pre-Roman occupation. The inner ditched enclosure (Enclosure 1) basically comprised ditch 1021, of apparently rectilinear form, which was surrounded by a sub-polygonal configuration of different ditch sections (Enclosure 2), representing a later Roman phase. The enclosure was fronted on its east side by two broad ditches, 1025 and 1112, which may have flanked an entranceway. No evidence of structural features was identified within enclosure ditch 1021, although two hollow features containing Roman pottery, charcoal and CBM were recorded within the interior of the enclosure. A number of other discrete features, comprising small pits or post holes were also recorded, some of which were undated, while others contained Roman material.
The bulk of the pottery recorded across the site, and particularly from Area 1, was Roman in date, with a significant group dating to the middle decades of the first century AD, and representing a transitional Late Iron Age/Early Roman pottery tradition. The early Roman pottery groups are of some interest in view of the location of the site within the wider hinterland of Silchester. Later Roman pottery from the ditches comprising Enclosure 2 is unlikely to be earlier in date than the later third century AD, and may suggest reoccupation of the site after a second-century hiatus.
Area 2 contained a single pit and a ditch of prehistoric date, but was otherwise characterised by a close configuration of five ditches of medieval and post-medieval date, together with a small, circular plan structure of flint constriction, all of which were associated with a layer of dark, post-medieval occupation deposit. These features contained medieval pottery of twelfth to fifteenth-century date, much of it residual, together with sixteenth and seventeenth-century material, including ceramic building material and animal bone. Area 2 also contained the unmortared flint foundations of a small circular-plan structure of post-medieval date, whose function remains unclear.
A length of mortared red-brick wall, 2035, was recorded on the southern margins of the spread of occupation soil within Area 2. Quantities of post-medieval pottery, metalwork and glass were recorded within the fill of the construction trench of this wall, which indicated the presence of a substantial dwelling of this date beyond the southern extent of Area 2. |
