Series: Oxford Archaeological Unit Occasional Papers

Excavations carried out in 1998 and 1999 at the site of Oxford University's Sackler Library development revealed evidence of Bronze Age and medieval remains. Two probable Bronze Age barrow ditches were identified, one of which lay largely within the project area and enclosed an area approximately 28 m across. The development site is thought to lie at the eastern limit of the precinct of Beaumont Palace, a royal residence immediately outside the north wall of the medieval city of Oxford and in use c. 1132--1318. Numerous medieval pits were found aligned in rows and possibly dug as tree planters. The dating suggests that they may have formed part of a formal garden associated with the palace. In the early fourteenth century, the palace site was granted to the Carmelite Friars. The excavations found evidence for a substantial east-west aligned buttressed stone building, which may originally have been build as part of the palace, but which ultimately formed part of the Friary complex. Slighter evidence for a second medieval building was revealed a short distance to the north-east. Excavation also revealed a number of stone-lined garden features relating to an early-nineteenth-century development of terraced housing on Beaumont Street and St John Street. Includes specialist reports on the historical and archaeological background; worked flint; pottery; window glass; window came; vessel glass; metal objects and worked bone; a jet bead; clay tobacco pipes; ceramic building material; worked architectural stone; animal bone; human skeletal remains; charred plant remains; mollusca; and marine shell.

An excavation in 1999 on land just north of the line of Watling Street, at the southern edge of the parish of Northfleet, found evidence of medieval occupation and settlement. This took the form of field boundaries, paddocks and vestigial structural remains, dating to the eleventh and twelfth centuries. It is suggested that this was part of the settlement known as Wenifalle in the late twelfth century, which survived as a nearby farm -- Wingfield Bank -- until the twentieth century. Includes specialist reports on the historical background; the pottery; ceramic building material and fired clay; flint and worked stone; metalwork; animal bone; small mammal, bird and fish remains; marine shells; and charred plant remains.