Search results for ""Oxford Archaeology""

Westhawk Farm is the site of a large Roman settlement established at an important road junction shortly after the Roman conquest, discovered and partly excavated in advance of housing development. The settlement contained contrasting groups of carefully laid out plots and unplanned areas. Excavated timber buildings included circular and rectilinear structures and a polygonal shrine. The main concerns of the inhabitants were apparently agriculture and market services. Iron production was important, but probably only of local significance, although the settlement may have had a role in the administration the iron industry. Activity at the site had declined greatly by the mid 3rd century; a striking pattern reflected elsewhere in the region but still of uncertain significance.

Read more less

From 1993-2000 Oxford Archaeology examined a sequence of rural landscapes at Hanson Aggregates' Sutton Courtenay Pit ahead of gravel extraction. The earliest of these, a rectilinear system of trackways and field enclosures, with associated waterholes for animals, devleoped from about 1500 BC. Probably contemporary cremation burials lay close by. No significant later prehistoric evidence was found, but about the middle of the 1st century AD a high-status double-ditched enclosure was established. This settlement was associated with further rectilinear field systems, enclosures and trackways and two cremation burials. This settlement went out of use after c AD 120 and subsequent activity was entirely agricultural in nature.

Read more less

How did Middle Saxon kings govern their estates, and how did the mechanism of early forms of regional administration work? A spectacular site on the outskirts of Higham Ferrers in Northamptonshire has demonstrated that archaeology can add significantly to the debate. Between 1993 and 2003, Oxford Archaeology undertook a major programme of survey and excavation on the outskirts of the town, uncovering extensive remains dating from the Middle Bronze Age to the late medieval period. This volume deals with the Anglo-Saxon and medieval remains, and concentrates on a large 8th-century complex of enclosures and buildings, along with other structures including a large malting oven. It is argued that this represents the infrastructure of a purpose-built tribute centre for a royal estate. The character of the material evidence indicates that wide variety of produce came into complex and was then redistributed rather than consumed on site. The centre administered judicial as well a

Read more less

A programme of improvements to the A421 south-west of Bedford carried out by Balfour Beatty Civil Engineering Ltd on behalf of the Highways Agency afforded Oxford Archaeology an opportunity to investigate early settlement along a corridor of the clay landscape of Marston Vale, within the catchment of the River Great Ouse. The investigations comprised nine areas of excavation supplemented by watching briefs and earthwork surveys of three historic boundaries, as well as geophysical survey and field evaluation at a site that was not ultimately excavated. The Vale appears to have been visited only occasionally during the early prehistoric period, the evidence being limited to a sparse distribution of worked flint and a single cremation burial dated by radiocarbon to the early Iron Age. The majority of the remains uncovered dated from between the middle Iron Age and the late Roman period, and were consistently rural in character, consisting of a series of small farming settlements. The repo

Read more less

The Archaeology of Oxford in the 21st Century presents the results of eleven excavations carried out by Oxford Archaeology within the historic walled city of Oxford and in the extramural area just to the north. The investigations shed fresh light on the character of medieval Oxford, both before and after the Norman Conquest, and on the early modern city, including its Civil War defences. Of special interest are remains which supply the first very likely medieval Jewish signature in British zooarchaeology. The findings are set within a larger context by a chapter outlining the key findings (by Anne Dodd), a new synthesis of current knowledge of Oxford's archaeology (by David Radford), and an examination of the changing aims and methods of archaeology carried out in the city over the last fifty years (by Tom Hassall). Viewed as a whole, the book represents a significant new contribution to knowledge of Oxford's archaeology and history.

Read more less

This report presents the results of over 40 years of excavation, historic building survey and documentary research that has been carried out by Oxford Archaeology and others at the site of the Cistercian house of Rewley, a chantry founded in 1280. It became an abbey and stadium providing accommodation for monks studying at the university, and can therefore claim to be one of Oxford's earliest colleges. The railway station that subsequently occupied the site in 1851 followed the design of the Crystal Palace, built for the Great Exhibition, and was the last surviving representative of that internationally important building.

Read more less

Oxford Archaeology carried out an excavation in 1997 on a site alongside the north bank of the river Thames in King Stable Street, Eton, Berkshire. The evidence indicated that the site probably served as a working area for properties fronting the approach to the north side of Windsor Bridge from the 12th century onwards. Evidence was also found of a succession of timber revetments constructed to consolidate the riverbank. Late medieval and post-medieval activity on the site was characterised by low intensity craft or industrial pursuits, prior to development of the site in the 18th century and construction of a malthouse.

Read more less

For five hundred years the small village of Eynsham in Oxfordshire has lived with the hazy memory of a great Benedictine abbey that once flourished at its heart. In recent years major archaeological excavations have revealed much of the abbey s remains and intriguing evidence of settlement going back 3000 years. Here for the first time the history and the archaeology have been combined to bring to life the story of the village and its abbey, and the characters that shaped their destiny. A companion to the Oxford Archaeology monograph, Aelfric's Abbey , this colourful booklet includes a series of reconstruction paintings showing the village and the abbey at various times through history, along with many illustrations of the archaeological finds. It also provides a list of suggested further reading.

Read more less

The New Armouries was built against the medieval inner curtain wall at the Tower of London in 1663-4 as a small arms store, and was later used for displays of the Royal Armouries collections. On the opposite side of the curtain wall a range of buildings providing soldiers' houses was constructed in the mid 17th century. This was rebuilt as the Irish Barracks by Dugal Campbell in the 1750s, but was demolished during the 19th century. Oxford Archaeology carried out a programme of archaeological and building recording at the New Armouries and Irish Barracks during redevelopment works by Historic Royal Palaces between 1997 and 2000. Excavations found traces of Roman deposits, and the remains of medieval buildings and features constructed within the royal garden. The complete plan of Dugal Campbell's Irish Barracks was revealed. This Occasional Paper contains a full account of the archaeological results and building surveys, a discussion of the historical and cartographic evidence, and reports on finds and environmental remains.

Read more less

Oxford Archaeology undertook a series of excavations in 2015–16 at Graven Hill on the former site of MoD Bicester, a large military storage and distribution centre built during the Second World War. The archaeological works revealed evidence of prehistoric, Roman, medieval and post-medieval activity, as well as finds relating to the use of the military site during the 1940s and 1950s.Ephemeral signs of early prehistoric activity were limited to stone tools, including an impressive Neolithic axe head, and a Bronze Age cremation burial. The first sign of occupation dated to the middle Iron Age in the form of a small settlement on the northern slope of the hill. A late Iron Age settlement to the north-west appeared to have been abandoned shortly after the Roman invasion, perhaps as a direct consequence of the arrival of the army at Alchester, 1.6km west of Graven Hill. This coincided with the construction of Akeman Street, the alignment of which was discovered to circumnavigate the north side of the hill.The town of Bicester later originated in the 6th century AD, around the time that a collection of dress and personal items were buried to the north of Graven Hill. A new farmstead was established in the late 11th century, developing in the 13th century with a series of masonry buildings arranged around a central courtyard, linked via a road to the deserted medieval village at Wretchwick. The site is significant for its well-preserved structural foundations and a considerable number of artefacts, including one of the largest medieval pottery assemblages known from rural Oxfordshire. The farmstead was abandoned about the same time as the village in the mid-14th century, perhaps as a result of the Black Death. The land was subsequently used for agriculture until the development of MoD Bicester in the 1940s. Together, the archaeological findings presented in this monograph have enriched our understanding of the history of the Oxfordshire landscape.

Read more less

The remains of Pilkingtons' No 9 Tank House represent a unique survival from the 19th century, an period of rapid development within the glass industry characterised by innovative but short-lived design. These remains are now recognised as the most complete known glass furnace structures of their era. Between 1991 and 1997, Lancaster University Archaeological Unit (now Oxford Archaeology North) conducted a programme of standing building survey, excavation, and oral and documentary research, targeted on the remains on the 'Hotties' site, in St Helens, Merseyside. The tank house was purpose-built by Pilkingtons in 1887 for the manufacture of window glass using the blown cylinder method; the cone house element of the complex still stands, and is an impressive Grade II Listed building. The investigations revealed the surviving base-level remains of a continuous tank furnace, with its regenerator chambers and gas supply flues still largely intact. This report on the excavation of the site includes chapters on the historical background to glass making at Pilkingtons, the phases of construction and redevelopment at the 'Hotties' site, working conditions and industrial relations, and a discussion of the role of Pilkingtons in the development of the British glass industry.

Read more less

The Priory of St Mary was moved from Runcorn to Norton in 1134 by William fitz William, third baron of Halton. Despite a major fire in 1236, Norton grew in size and stature to become an abbey in 1391, and its abbot was a senior and much respected member of the Augustinian Order. The abbey met its end in April 1536 under Henry VIII's dissolution of religious houses, and in 1545 the site was sold to the Brooke family, who adapted parts of the abbot's quarters, kitchens and west range to provide a comfortable family home. In the mid-eighteenth century, much of the house was demolished to make way for a fashionable classically inspired mansion, which was occupied until 1921 and finally demolished in 1928. In 1966, the site was presented to Runcorn Development Corporation by Sir Richard Brooke. Ground-breaking excavations began in 1970, running until 1987, and exposing much of the site for investigation. The principal excavator, J Patrick Greene, published an excellent synthesis of the site in 1989, but the full stratigraphy and finds from the project remained unpublished. This book, funded by English Heritage, and supported by the Norton Priory Museum Trust, seeks to redress this, with a full account of the results of the excavations. Its production by Oxford Archaeology North drew together a team of specialists from a wide range of disciplines.

Read more less

The Combe Down Stone Quarries, which were the principal supplier of building stone for the great period of building in Bath during the 18th and 19th centuries, form a significant element of the wider landscape of the City of Bath World Heritage Site. Archaeological recording of the mine was required to allow preservation by record of features of archaeological interest. The results of the archaeological recording programme and laser and video scanning survey contributes not only to the study of Bath and its post-medieval development, but also to national and international research in mining and industrial archaeology.

Read more less

Archaeological investigations carried out during improvements to five key junctions along a stretch of the A13 trunk road through the East London Boroughs of Tower Hamlets, Newham and Barking and Dagenham have revealed evidence for activity spanning the Mesolithic through to the post-Roman period. Regionally important evidence of Neolithic activity included artefact assemblages of pottery and worked flint. A rare cache of charred emmer wheat provides definitive evidence of early Neolithic cereal cultivation in the vicinity and a fragment of belt slider made from Whitby jet attests the long distance exchange networks. The greatest concentration of activity, however, dates to the 2nd Millenium BC and includes several waterlogged wooden structures and trackways, burnt mounds and other evidence associated with wetland edge occupation. Extensive geoarchaeological and palaeoenvironmental sampling provides an important record of landscape evolution and periods of major change can be detected, both natural and anthropogenically induced. As well as providing a context for the archaeology along the A13, this raises a number of issues regarding the interaction of local communities with the natural environment, how they responded to change and to a certain extent exploited it. Ultimately this is of relevance not only to understanding the past but also to current concerns regarding environmental management along the Thames estuary.

Read more less

Southampton was one of England's leading medieval ports, with its trade in commodities such as wine, wool and cloth making it among the most prosperous and cosmopolitan towns in the country during the 13th and 15th centuries. From the late Saxon period, the heart of the city lay between two streets, English Street and French Street, an area known as the 'French Quarter'. A major new investigation of this area revealed an impressive series of medieval buildings with vaulted cellars, containing rare and exotic finds. The most significant building, Polymond's Hall, was home to notable residents such as the Venetian Consul in the 15th century and poet and the hymn writer Isaac Watts in the 18th century. This book uses new evidence from the extensive excavations, along with in-depth analysis of the documentary records, to revisit many ongoing debates on the origins and development of Southampton. It shows how the medieval tenements evolved from late Saxon urban estates, and how the dynamics of international trade and diplomacy shaped the changing fortunes of the city.

Read more less

Excavation in advance of engineering works along the M1 from Junctions 6a to 10 (between Hemel Hempstead and Luton) revealed significant archaeological remains of wide-ranging date. Important evidence for late Mesolithic and early Neolithic activity, including pits, was found at Junction 9, while later prehistoric features were more widely distributed but less concentrated. Late Iron Age and Roman features were most common, with significant rural settlements at Junctions 8 and 9, and further evidence for trackways and enclosures elsewhere. These sites were of fairly low status and concerned with mixed agriculture, though incidental activities included manufacture of puddingstone querns. Occupation was most intensive in the 1st-2nd centuries AD and on a reduced scale in the late Roman period. At Junction 8, however, an east-west trackway apparently survived as a landscape feature and in the 12th and 13th centuries was adjoined by a ditched enclosure containing structures belonging to a substantial farmstead.

Read more less

Excavations at Mount Farm revealed a long sequence of activity running from the early Neolithic to the early Saxon period. The most significant finds include early Neolithic pit deposits, a middle Neolithic oval barrow associated with a primary burial and a secondary Beaker burial, a timber post-ring, an earlier Bronze Age round barrow associated with Deverel-Rimbury secondary burials, a later Bronze Age waterhole and burnt mound, extensive remains of an Iron Age settlement and a well-preserved Anglo-Saxon well. This is an innovative report which approaches the site from a thematic perspective which highlights social, economic and environmental change over the long period during which the site was occupied.

Read more less

The construction of the A1 (M) Darrington to Dishforth DBFO road scheme has provided an important opportunity to investigate landscape development over time in parts of West and North Yorkshire. Over sixty archaeological sites were investigated in advance of and alongside the massive engineering works in one of the largest programmes of archaeological fieldwork seen in the UK. The results of the work will greatly enhance understanding of the archaeology of the magnesian limestone areas of West and North Yorkshire. The most significant results are presented here in this book funded by the Highways Agency as part of its commitment to the historic environment and dissemination of work undertaken on its behalf.

Read more less

Prior to the building of the new Bath Spa, in the centre of the World Heritage City of Bath, excavations were carried out to record the archaeological remains threatened by its construction. Evidence was recovered of the presence and perhaps the rituals of mesolithic hunter-gatherers, hitherto unknown official Roman buildings of the first and second centuries and some indication of activity in the late Saxon and medieval periods. An important part of the dig was a programme of geoarchaeological research to study the microstructure of the soils excavated with a view to understanding the activities that led to their formation.

Read more less

Excavations at Panattoni Park, at Harpole within the Nene Valley west of Northampton, uncovered part of a Roman villa and evidence for preceding prehistoric and early Roman settlement.The earliest evidence was a Mesolithic flint-knapping site. During the early Iron Age or at the start of the middle Iron Age, a pit alignment was constructed running down the valley side. A middle Iron Age settlement of at least seven roundhouses lay 450m to the east of the pit alignment. It is likely that both the boundary and the settlement were associated with cattle grazing on the valley floor, and the settlement may have been seasonally occupied. An enclosure complex was constructed against the pit alignment during the late Iron Age and occupied until c AD 50/70, after which there was an apparent hiatus of about a century before the establishment of the villa during the mid-2nd century.The villa was first discovered in the 1840s when a mosaic was accidentally uncovered. It was believed to have been largely destroyed during widening of the adjacent A4500 road in 1966 when excavation of only a small area was possible. However, the new excavation has demonstrated the survival of part of the main villa complex, including a substantial aisled building that may have formed the southern range. An extensive part of the agricultural landscape surrounding the villa was investigated, including an area devoted to malting and an enclosure complex used as a stockyard for processing livestock. A further notable find was a small hoard of mower’s tools, perhaps the toolkit of an individual agricultural worker.A building interpreted as a temple-mausoleum of Romano-Celtic form situated beside a spring channel was also investigated. Pollen from the channel indicating the presence of a walnut grove may be the earliest definite evidence for the cultivation of walnut trees in Britain.

Read more less

During the 1990s, Oxford Archaeology North (then Lancaster University Archaeological Unit) conducted a programme of evaluation, building recording, excavation and documentary research at Old Abbey Farm, Risley. This small moated site, now in Warrington Borough, was probably constructed after the sub-division of the manor of Culcheth in 1246; timbers dated by dendrochronology have suggested that a late thirteenth or possibly early fourteenth century aisled hall formerly stood on the moated platform. In the late medieval period the aisles were removed and new timber framing was built below the arcade-plates; the renovated hall was accessed by a substantial fifteenth century timber bridge. A crossing was added to the hall in the mid sixteenth century and the bridge across the moat was rebuilt in stone. From the seventeenth century, the house was subject to piecemeal underpinning and rebuilding in brick, and was extended in the mid eighteenth century. The project provided a rare opportunity to record a building during demolition and subsequently excavate below it, thereby maximising the information retrieval. The project was a runnerup in the British Archaeological Awards for 1996. The project has been generously supported by UK Waste Management Limited (Biffa Waste Services Limited) throughout.

Read more less

Lying in the heart of the Nene Valley at Higham Ferrers in Northamptonshire, was a substantial Roman roadside settlement, excavated in part by Oxford Archaeology during 2002-3. Established along the eastern side of a road in the early 2nd century AD with an array of circular stone buildings, it underwent a significant transformation around 100 years later. A series of plots containing rectangular stone buildings was laid out on one side of the road, whilst on the other side was a monumental shrine complex containing hundreds of votive offerings. Although the shrine fell into disuse in the later 3rd century, the settlement continued to expand along the road until it too was abandoned during the latter half of the 4th century. No doubt the shrine played an active role in the economic lives of the inhabitants, but the evidence indicates an overwhelming agricultural economy - a community of native farming families with horticultural plots, small paddocks, nearby arable fields, and hay meadows on the Nene floodplain. This volume presents the results of archaeological investigations of this Roman settlement, along with other excavated prehistoric sites in the local area, including Mesolithic activity, a late Neolithic/early Bronze Age ring ditch and a middle Iron Age settlement.

Read more less

Archaeological investigations, undertaken as part of a programme to restore St George's Church, Bloomsbury, to its original Hawksmoor splendour, involved the removal of 871 triple lead-lined coffins from within the crypt and monitoring works within the churchyard. The elaborate named coffins of upper middle class parishioners provided a valuable opportunity to greatly develop the new field of post-medieval coffin analysis, and to integrate historical, archaeological and osteological data in order to build a vivid picture of this population. Over 90% of coffins were named, which allowed a rare opportunity to blind test osteological methods on 72 skeletons, whilst analysis of documentary and osteological evidence has challenged some long-held beliefs in post-medieval burial archaeology. Disease patterns in the St George's assemblage were influenced by the longevity and affluence of this population, factors that also underlay the necessity for elaborate and expensive dental treatment, including very early examples of fillings, filing and dentures.

Read more less

Archaeological excavation at the site of Poyle House, a derelict Georgian country house, revealed limited evidence of earlier buildings on the site. These comprised the beamslots of a possible farm range, and structural remains of the north wall of a medieval house. The buildings formed part of the medieval Poyle Manor, and limited artefactual evidence suggests that occupation began during the late 11th or 12th centuries. This short report focuses on the artefactual evidence (pottery, waterlogged wood, building materials, metal objects and worked flint) and environmental remains, dating back as far as the Mesolithic period.

Read more less

The cemeteries around Roman Gloucester remain as windows through which the past populations of the town and preceding fortresses may be studied. Excavations by Oxford Archaeology in London Road between 2004 and 2006 revealed substantial parts of one of these cemeteries, at Wotton, lying by one of the main Roman roads east of the town. In addition to the nine cremation and 64 inhumation burials, a rare mass grave was found of at least 91 individuals, possibly victims of the Antonine Plague which swept the Roman Empire during the later 2nd century AD. This report analyses the burials for what they can tell us of the origins, health, status and funerary practices of the people living in Gloucester from the 1st to 4th century AD. The development of the Wotton cemetery itself is also studied, using evidence from excavations undertaken from the 19th century onwards.The current investigations also unearthed vertebrate deposits in the gravel cap dating to the Pleistocene, including hippopotamus and possibly bison and elephant. The significance of this assemblage in terms of the local geology is discussed.

Read more less

Archaeological investigations were carried out by Oxford Archaeology between 2008 and 2016 within DP World London Gateway Port and Logistics Park near Stanford-le-Hope in Essex and on the site of a compensatory wildlife habitat on the Hoo Peninsula in Kent. Some 40 sites were the subject of some form of archaeological assessment, and of these, 16 contained significant archaeological remains or were otherwise important to the understanding of the area. The combined evidence paints a picture of life on the edge of the Thames Estuary from early prehistory to the 20th century.The discoveries show how the area has attracted settlers, farmers and traders since prehistory. People came to the marshes in Mesolithic and Neolithic times, perhaps on a seasonal basis, to hunt, and gather plants and seafood. In the late Bronze Age, Iron Age and Roman periods, people trapped seawater to extract salt, a valuable commodity used for food preservation. In the medieval period, the marshland offered unrivalled pasture for the sheep and cattle belonging to upland farms on the gravel terraces. Over time, the marshes were drained to increase the pasture and the value of the farming estates. The creeks that snaked through the marshes were a means of communication and trade. A timber wharf, built in the 16th century, was recorded on the edge of one such creek. In modern times, the sparsely populated area proved an ideal location for the establishment of oil refineries and other industries, positioning London Gateway at the heart of British trade. The area has also inspired artists, writers and filmmakers.This volume joins two others - London Gateway: Maritime Archaeology in the Thames Estuary and London Gateway: Iron Age and Roman Salt Making in the Thames Estuary - that explore the archaeology and heritage of the London Gateway site.

Read more less

The papers published in this volume were presented at a seminar on 'Recent Developments in Research and Management at World Heritage Sites' held at the Institute of Archaeology, University College, London. This was part of the Wiltshire-Malta World Heritage Exchange Project funded by the European Union AER Centurio Programme. While most of the papers focus on prehistoric and megalithic sites in Wiltshire and Malta, others consider education, cultural landscapes, research strategies, and a Neolithic landscape in China. The common threads linking the papers are the influence of the UNESCO World Heritage Convention, the importance of research in the understanding and management of World Heritage Sites, and the importance of building consensus through partnership and involvement in the management of World Heritage Sites.

Read more less

In 1995 a second phase of excavations was undertaken by Oxford Archaeological Unit (OAU) at Reading Business Park in advance of development. This volume reports on the occupation evidence they found dating to the Neolithic, Bronze Age and medieval periods. The Neolithic features included an unusual segmented ring ditch, and a number of pits and postholes, with associated flint assemblages dating to the late Neolithic. A field system, composed of rectangular boundary ditches, was laid out in the area prior to the establishment of the late Bronze Age settlement. The evidence for the late Bronze Age settlement included five roundhouses, and a number of post-built structures. The excavators also found numerous deposits of burnt flint that were made in one area in the later Bronze Age, and over time these grew into a substantial and unusually large elongated burnt mound. The authors discuss the origin of these deposits, together with the management of the overall landscape in the later Bronze Age.

Read more less

The construction of a new electricity substation at Northfleet, Kent provided an opportunity to investigate the archaeological remains at the site. Excavations in 1999 revealed field boundaries, paddocks and structural remains dating to the 11th and 12th centuries, possibly relating to the settlement known as Wenifalle in the late 12th century. The proximity of the Roman settlement at nearby Springhead has tended to distract from the later settlement in the area, so the results of this excavation represent a useful addition to the modest body of evidence relating to medieval settlement in North Kent. This short report includes a concise discussion of the project followed by reports on the artefactual evidence (Roman and medieval pottery, building materials, flint and worked stone and metalwork) and environmental remains.

Read more less

Carlisle City Council redeveloped the Lanes from the mid-1970s, a densely built-up area in the north-east corner of the city’s historic core, crossed by 19 narrow ‘vennels’. These, together with most of the adjacent buildings, were swept away by the construction of the Lanes shopping centre. Previous archaeological work had confirmed complex Roman and medieval deposits on the site, most of which would be destroyed by the development, and many of the buildings were of historical and architectural interest. A programme of archaeological and historical investigation, including building recording, was therefore undertaken, principally funded by Carlisle City Council, the Department of the Environment (now Historic England), and the Manpower Services Commission, completed between 1978 and 1982. Historic England also funded the post-excavation analysis and this publication. The Lanes remains one of the largest and most significant archaeological projects ever undertaken in northern England.The project was split into the northern and southern Lanes, the results of the latter being published in 2000, though it only included a summary of the standing-building survey. This volume, the companion to the 2019 publication of the Roman remains at the northern site, presents the evidence for post-Roman activity. The site appears to have been abandoned by the fifth century, layers of ‘dark earth’ accumulating over the latest Roman levels. Several decades after Carlisle was re-established by William II, narrow burgage plots were created, extending from Scotch Street to the recently constructed city wall. These were intensively occupied from then on and yielded a wealth of evidence for the everyday lives of the inhabitants. Around the mid-thirteenth century, the lanes themselves were created between these plots, probably to improve access, and this distinctive pattern of land-use persisted until the modern redevelopment.

Read more less

Historically, Bradford was a rural township that lay beyond the eastern fringe of Manchester. Settlement probably comprised little more than a few cottages scattered around Bradford Old Hall, a moated monor house that was built in the mid-fourteenth century. It was largely an agricultural area, although some coal was being mined from shallow workings by the late sixteenth century. This rich natural resource was the principal reason for the nineteenth century transformation of Bradford into a key industrial area, know locally as the 'engine room' for Manchester. This booklet rediscovers the history of Bradford, and summarises the findings from archaeological excavations of two important industrial sites: Bradford Colliery; and the famous ironworks of Richard Johnson & Nephew.

Read more less

Extensive excavations near the village of Broughton, which lies on the outskirts of Milton Keynes, revealed the fluctuating fortunes of neighbouring settlements from the Iron Age to the medieval period. A middle Iron Age ‘hamlet’ was succeeded in the 1st century BC by various farmsteads which were at their height in the early Roman period. Associated with these were richly furnished cremation cemeteries of Aylesford(-Swarling) type, with burial continuing into the Romano-British period. The cemeteries provide the largest group of such burials yet found in Buckinghamshire and reflect the position of Broughton within the territory of the Catuvellauni. Cremation burial ceased in the mid 2nd century and two of the farmsteads were abandoned soon afterwards. The main settlement continued to develop during the late Roman period, while a new farmstead nearby survived into the early 5th century. Elsewhere, a cluster of sunken-featured buildings yielded early Saxon pottery in Roman form and possible feasting waste. These settlements were in turn abandoned, to be replaced after the Norman Conquest by a farmstead and surrounding ridge and furrow field system which formed an outlying part of the village that had, by the time of Domesday, taken the name of Broughton – ‘the farm or settlement by the brook’.

Read more less

Extensive archaeological investigations were undertaken over two decades in Hinxton, south Cambridgeshire by OA East on behalf of the Wellcome Trust. The excavated areas lay in the Cam valley, a ‘borderland zone’ crossed by Icknield Way; the ridgeway route and the River Cam providing natural corridors of movement and communication.Hinxton’s post-glacial valley landscape of indigenous woodland, streams and seasonally flooded pools attracted Palaeolithic and Mesolithic communities to the area. Fills of one pool yielded a Terminal Palaeolithic ‘Long/Bruised Blade’ assemblage of national significance.Tree clearance to permit exploitation of the fertile valley sides began in the Early Neolithic. The increasingly ‘ritual’ or ceremonial significance of the landscape is indicated by a Late Neolithic/Early Bronze Age shaft containing a substantial assemblage of worked flint and Beaker pottery. During the later prehistoric and Early Roman periods, two square enclosures – the largest related to mortuary practices – were followed by a small timber shrine. Burial of selected individuals, both in graves and as disarticulated remains, occurred sporadically throughout prehistory.Agricultural exploitation of the valley seems to have been almost continuous from the Early Neolithic until the Middle Roman period, after which the land lay largely fallow. Conquest period large corrals linked to major trackways potentially demonstrate stock management on a scale commensurate with supplying the nearby fort and Roman town at Great Chesterford.The immediate landscape was not resettled until the Anglo-Saxon period. Post-Roman activity at Hinxton is the subject of a companion volume (Part II).

Read more less

The origins of Bewsey Old Hall, in the Royal Forest of Burtonwood, probably lie in the late twelth or early thirteenth century, when it was held by the influential Butler family, barons of Warrington. Although much altered and diminished, Bewsey Old Hall still stands, beginning its existence as an aisled hall, surrounded by out-buildings. It is not clear when the site was moated, but a local watercourse was probably diverted at an early stage. Badly damaged by fire in the fourteenth century, the hall was substantially rebuilt, wholly or partially in stone. Parts of this complex of medieval buildings survived into the sixteenth or seventeenth century. Having been owned by the Butlers until 1586, ownership passed briefly to the Earl of Leicester, but it was soon sold on to the Ireland family, later passing to their successors, the Athertons. In the late sixteenth or early seventeenth century, a fashionable new brick house was built on the site, incorporating or reusing elements of the medieval hall. It was much enhanced in the seventeenth century by the creation of a formal terraced garden furniture, although the terracing had been levelled by 1724. Bewsey's remaining medieval structures were demolished during the eighteenth century, when the hall was extended, and landscaping works filled in parts of the moat and enlarged others as water features. In 1863, a 'New Hall' was built, and Bewsey Old Hall was left in the hands of tenants, until, in considerable disrepair, it was acquired by Warrington Development Corporation in 1974. During the late 1970s and until the mid-1980s, the site's development was traced through examination of the building, extensive excavation, and documentary research. This volume paints a vivid picture of Bewsey's development, the trials and tribulations of its inhabitants, and their relationship with the world around them.

Read more less

Excavations carried out by Oxford Archaeology in advance of the building of the Oracle shopping centre revealed a long sequence of development of the Kennet floodplain at Reading. This volume reports on the substantial evidence recovered for medieval and post-medieval water management, milling at the Minster Mill and St Giles Mill, the tanning, leather working and dyeing industries, and an unusual building interpreted as the 12th- to 13th-century cookhouse of Reading Abbey. The stories of two well-known Reading sites, the Oracle Workhouse and the Yield Hall, are followed from the medieval period up to the 19th century. Substantial specialist reports include pottery, glass, leatherworking, dendrochronology and clay pipes.

Read more less

Edition, with full explanatory material, of the documents concerning the building of All Souls, Oxford: a vital source for our knowledge of the period. The accounts covering the construction of All Souls, Oxford, in the five years from its foundation in 1438 are among the most important documentary sources for English medieval building history, and provide an almost unique recordof the physical creation of an Oxford college. They are here published in full for the first time, with commentary and analysis by the late Simon Walker. Supplementary material includes plans and documentation of the site, a description of the buildings, and an inventory of the college rooms in the sixteenth century. Simon Walker was Professor of History, University of Sheffield; Julian Munby is head of Buildings Archaeology at Oxford Archaeology.

Read more less

Excavation by Oxford Archaeology in 2008 at Kingshill North on the north-eastern edge of Cirencester uncovered evidence for occupation that opens a remarkable window into Cirencester's prehistoric past. The earliest inhabitants lived during the late Neolithic. They dug storage pits, which over time were filled with decorated Grooved Ware, bone pins and awls, flint tools, stone axe fragments, animal bones and antler and the burnt remains of cereal, nuts and fruit. The evidence points to the seasonal gathering of people to exchange exotic objects and indulge in communal feasting. Two Beaker burials were also found. Both individuals were females who were born outside the region in the chalkland areas of England. Another burial dated to the middle Bronze Age. More storage pits were dug in the middle Iron Age. In the late Iron Age, a small settlement was set within a pastoral landscape. Three human burials were recorded; all were interred in the settlement's enclosure ditch. The site was abandoned before the town of Corinium Dobunnorum was established. A cremation burial was placed in the former enclosure ditch between the late 1st or early 3rd century AD. The rite was Roman, but the location harked back to earlier burial practices.

Read more less