11 and 11A Cassington Road, Eynsham Oxfordshire

11 AND 11A CASSINGTON ROAD, EYNSHAM OXFORDSHIRE

ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVALUATION

C.A.T JOB: 1107 C.A.T REPORT: 001262

DATE: NOVEMBER 2000

This report has been researched and compiled with all reasonable skill, care, and attention to detail within the terms of the project as specified by the Client and within the general terms and conditions of Cotswold Archaeological Trust Ltd. The Trust shall not be liable for any inaccuracy, error or omission in the report or other documents produced as part of the Consultancy and no liability is accepted for any claim, loss or damage howsoever arising from any opinion stated or conclusion or other material contained in this report or other documents supplied as part of the Consultancy.

This report is confidential to the Client. Cotswold Archaeological Trust Ltd accept no responsibility whatsoever to third parties to whom this report, or any part of it is made known. Any such party relies upon this report entirely at their own risk.

11 and 11a Cassington Road, Eynsham, Oxfordshire; Archaeological Evaluation.

CONTENTS

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS ...... 3

SUMMARY ...... 4

INTRODUCTION ...... 5

1.1 Introduction ...... 5 1.2 The Study Area ...... Error! Bookmark not defined. 1.3 Archaeological and Historical Background Error! Bookmark not defined. 1.4 Archaeological Methodology ...... 5 2.1 Trench 1 ...... 6 2.2 Trench 2 ...... 7

3. DISCUSSION ...... 7

4. PROJECT TEAM ...... 8

5. BIBLIOGRAPHY ...... 8

2 11 and 11a Cassington Road, Eynsham, Oxfordshire; Archaeological Evaluation.

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Figure 1 Location Plan ...... 9 Figure 2 Trench Location Plan ...... 10

3 11 and 11a Cassington Road, Eynsham, Oxfordshire; Archaeological Evaluation.

SUMMARY

In October 2000 Cotswold Archaeological Trust (CAT) undertook an archaeological evaluation on land at 11 and 11a Cassington Road, Eynsham, Oxfordshire. Two trenches were excavated to the top of the natural substrate. No features or deposits of archaeological interestwere identified during the course of the evaluation.

4 11 and 11a Cassington Road, Eynsham, Oxfordshire; Archaeological Evaluation.

THE WATCHING BRIEF

1.1 Introduction

1.1.1 Between the third of July and the eighth of September 2000 CAT undertook a watching brief along the pipeline route between Charlbury and Swinford (Fig. **). The watching brief was undertaken on behalf of Thames Water and was regularly monitored by Mike Laing Hall.

1.2 Watching Brief Methodology

1.2.1 A 15m wide easement strip was machine-excavated by the contractors along the route of the pipeline. Within this strip a trench was excavated to accommodate the water pipe. This trench was up to 3m wide and 2.2m deep. For most of the pipeline route, the easement strip and trench were subject to a standard archaeological watching brief in line with the Standard and Guidance for Archaeological Watching Briefs issued by the Institute of Field Archaeologists (IFA 1994).

1.2.2 Sites 4 and 8 each lay in areas of greater archaeological potential and were therefore stripped to the top of the natural substrate under the constant direction of a member of CAT.

5 11 and 11a Cassington Road, Eynsham, Oxfordshire; Archaeological Evaluation.

1.3 Watching Brief Results

The easement strip and trenching.

1.3.1 For most of the reduction of the easement strip the natural substrate was not exposed due to the shallow nature of the strip. However, the natural substrate was exposed throughout the route during the trenching.

1.3.2 The natural substrate consisted of a stiff blue-grey clay overlain by occasional bands of flint gravels. On the higher ground around Finstock and Charlbury, limestone brash was exposed. A number of palaeochannels were identified cutting the natural clay, all filled with a light yellow-brown to grey silty clay with flint gravels. No other features were observed cutting the natural and this is likely to reflect the limited exposure of the natural substrate.

1.3.3 Both the clays and the limestone brash were overlain by a light yellow-brown subsoil up to 0.3m thick. Occasional features were identified cutting this horizon but all were demonstrably modern in date.

1.3.4 The subsoil was overlain throughout the route by a mid grey-brown clay silt topsoil. This horizon contained a number of stray finds recorded as small finds.

2.1.1 Natural red-brown silty clay was encountered at a depth of 0.8m below the modern ground surface. It was was overlain by a light to mid grey-brown silty clay subsoil (102). This was up to 0.5m thick.

6 11 and 11a Cassington Road, Eynsham, Oxfordshire; Archaeological Evaluation.

2.1.2 In turn this was overlain by a dark grey-brown silty clay topsoil (101) up to 0.3m thick. No finds were recovered from any of these deposits.

2.2 Trench 2

2.2.1 The earliest encountered deposit was the natural substrate (203) which consisted of red-brown silty clay which was exposed throughout the trench at at a depth of 0.7m below the modern ground surface.

2.1.2 This was overlain by a light/mid grey-brown silty clay subsoil (202). This was up to 0.38m thick.

2.1.3 This was itself overlain by adark grey-brown silty clay topsoil (201) up to 0.32m thick. No finds were recovered from any of these deposits.

3. DISCUSSION

3.1.1 As outlined above, no features or deposits of archaeological interest were identified during the course of the evaluation.

7 11 and 11a Cassington Road, Eynsham, Oxfordshire; Archaeological Evaluation.

4. PROJECT TEAM

Fieldwork was carried out by Jon Hart and Gail Stoten. This report was compiled by Jon Hart under the management of Cliff Bateman. The illustrations are by Pete Moore.

CAT would like to thank Hugh Coddington, Deputy County Archaeological Officer, Oxfordshire County Council and Mr and Mrs R May for their assistance during the course of this project.

5. BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bateman, C, 2000 Land at 11 and 11a Cassington Road, Eynsham, Oxfordshire, Project Design for an Archaeological Evaluation. CAT typescript report.

Blair, J, 1994 Anglo-Saxon Oxfordshire. 18-20, 24, 27, 114-116, 131, 179.

CAT, 1996 Excavation Recording Manual, CAT Technical Manual I.

IFA, 1994 Standard and Guidance for Archaeological Evaluations. Institute of Field Archaeologists.

Institute of Geological Sciences, 1977 Quaternary Map of the UK South.

8 11 and 11a Cassington Road, Eynsham, Oxfordshire; Archaeological Evaluation.

Figure 1 Location Plan

9 11 and 11a Cassington Road, Eynsham, Oxfordshire; Archaeological Evaluation.

Figure 2 Trench Location Plan