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PREHISTORICWiltshire Archaeological PITS & AND Natural ROMAN History ENCLOSURESMagazine, vol. 104 ON(2011), THE pp. 95-114A419 BLUNSDON BYPASS 95 Prehistoric pits and Roman enclosures on the A419 Blunsdon Bypass, Blunsdon St Andrew: excavations 2006-7 by Mark Brett and E. R. McSloy with contributions by Mary Alexander, Dana Challinor and Sylvia Warman Three areas were excavated in advance of the construction of the A419 Blunsdon Bypass: Sites A and B, and Area B. Site A contained a number of pits and possible postholes of Middle Bronze Age to earlier Iron Age date, and Area B revealed further evidence of prehistoric activity. Site B contained a concentration of features indicative of short-lived, rural occupation probably associated with a nearby farmstead dating from the mid 1st to 2nd centuries AD. Introduction Archaeological background Between September 2006 and February 2007 Following an initial desk study, areas of the proposed Cotswold Archaeology (CA) carried out a bypass were examined by geophysical survey programme of archaeological investigation along (Stratascan 2002; 2003), evaluation trenching (CA the route of the A419 Blunsdon Bypass, Blunsdon St 2003), and fieldwalking (CA 2004). Andrew, Wiltshire (between NGR SU 136 912 and The geophysical survey identified potential SU 152 894; Figure 1). The work was undertaken archaeological features, which were subsequently on behalf of Alfred McAlpine plc working for the examined by evaluation trenches. The evaluation Highways Agency. identified three features containing worked flint The bypass route comprises a corridor of land, of Late Neolithic or Bronze Age date towards the approximately 3.3km in length, to the north of northern end of the scheme near Upper Widhill Swindon, on the south-western side of the former Farm at Site A (Figure 2). Subsequent fieldwalking A419. The south-eastern end of the scheme lies in the vicinity of these features recovered further at approximately 140m AOD, whilst the northern worked flint, which dated from the Mesolithic to part extends down the slope of Blunsdon Hill. The Late Neolithic or Early Bronze Age. Additional underlying geology of the higher, southern part of evidence for prehistoric activity in the area comes the bypass route is mapped as Corallian Rag and from residual worked flint found at Abbeymeads clay, whilst the northern part of the corridor below (McSloy et al. 2009) to the west of the bypass the ridge of Blunsdon Hill lies on Oxford Clay (BGS corridor and residual Bronze Age pottery from 1974). At the time of the fieldwork, land use along excavations at Groundwell Farm (Gingell 1982), the bypass route varied from arable and pasture just to the south of the A419 at the south-east end fields to areas of woodland, as well as several small of the bypass route. plots occupied by extant buildings. Cotswold Archaeology, Building 11, Kemble Enterprise Park, Cirencester, Glos. GL7 6BQ PREHISTORIC PITS AND ROMAN ENCLOSURES ON THE A419 BLUNSDON BYPASS 97 Reproduced from the Ordnance Survey digital mapping with the permission of Ordnance Survey on behalf of The Controller of Her Majesty's Stationery Office 15 c Crown copyright Cotswold Archaeological Trust 100002109 N 14 91 BROAD BLUNSDON Upper Widhill Farm Site A A419 Processing Area 90 Lady Lane BLUNSDON ST ANDREW Area B Abbeymeads Area B Site B Groundwell Ridge Groundwell West 89 Groundwell Farm SUsu footprint of bypass areas of previous archaeological groundworks investigation sites route of Ermin Street 0 2.5km Fig. 2 Location of bypass route and Sites A and B. Scale 1:20,000 98 THE WILTSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY MAGAZINE The archaeological evaluation also identified a 0.4ha. The remainder of the bypass route was single feature of possible Iron Age date in Area B to mechanically stripped of topsoil and monitored the east of Abbeymeads. This feature was initially by an archaeological watching brief as part of the thought to be an outlying field boundary associated construction programme. with an Iron Age enclosure recorded at Groundwell All archaeological deposits were hand excavated. West (Walker et al. 2001) (Figure 2). Pits, probably An average of 50% of all discrete features such as associated with the Groundwell West settlement, postholes and pits was excavated and an average were also found in the Abbeymeads excavations of 10% of all linear features (ditches, gullies) was (McSloy et al. 2009), and another Iron Age sampled in a series of sondages. All features were enclosure was investigated at Groundwell Farm then fully recorded. (Gingell 1982). An assessment of the results of the archaeological The line of the Roman road known as Ermin investigations (CA 2008) was followed by further Street is followed partly by the former route of the analysis reported in this paper. The results of the A419 and, to the south-east of the road scheme, by analysis of an environmental sample taken from a minor road. A medieval hollow-way excavated Site A are discussed within the text. The samples during improvement works to the A419 at the taken from Site B were poor, and apart from a Commonhead Junction, 5km to the south-east of small quantity of charcoal did not supply any Blunsdon, appears to have preserved the alignment environmental information. of the Roman road (Hart and Alexander 2009). Within the environs of the Blunsdon Bypass route, Roman finds have come from an area adjacent to the line of the Roman road at the south-eastern Excavation results end of the scheme (Jeffrey 1987; WANHM 1982). Archaeological features were revealed within Site Abraded Roman pottery was also recovered from A, Area B and Site B during the archaeologically- the upper levels of ditches of the Iron Age site at controlled strip, and a post-medieval ditch was Groundwell West, and a gully of Roman date was identified during the watching brief within a excavated at Groundwell Farm (Gingell 1982). At ‘processing area’ to the south of Upper Widhill Groundwell Ridge, approximately 1km to the west Farm. of the Blunsdon Bypass, the remains of a substantial The archaeological features are discussed within Romano-British villa have been excavated three broad chronological periods: prehistoric (sub- (Brickstock et al. 2006). Two isolated Anglo-Saxon divided into Period 1a: Mesolithic to Middle Bronze burials were examined at Abbeymeads, but no Age; and Period 1b: Earlier/Middle to Late Iron Age), evidence for contemporary activity was found Roman (Period 2: mid 1st to 2nd century AD) and (McSloy et al. 2009). medieval (Period 3: 12th/13th century AD). These periods include a number of features that contained no dating evidence but could be associated spatially Fieldwork methodology or by their form with dated features. A number of undated features are also discussed. Post-medieval On the basis of the evaluation results, two areas features, including furrows, were investigated but of the proposed bypass corridor were selected for are not reported here. investigation in advance of construction. Site A was located where prehistoric features had been Period 1a: Mesolithic to Middle Bronze Age identified to the south-east of Upper Widhill Site A contained a number of small pits and possible Farm, and Area B encompassed the area of the postholes; some clusters of features were perceived, road corridor closest to the excavated sites at but with no obvious structural arrangements (Figure Abbeymeads and Groundwell West. These areas 3). Many of these features were undated, but five pits were stripped of topsoil and subsoil by a mechanical and a posthole just to the north of the centre of Site A excavator equipped with a toothless grading bucket, contained Middle Bronze Age dating evidence. The at all times under archaeological supervision. Site A most notable of these features was an oval pit 1029, covered an area of approximately 1.8ha. The area 0.75m in diameter and 0.35m deep (Figure 6), which of dense Roman features found in Area B, referred contained a concentration of charcoal and evidence to as Site B, covered an area of approximately of in situ scorching, as well as some carbonised PREHISTORIC PITS AND ROMAN ENCLOSURES ON THE A419 BLUNSDON BYPASS 99 Reproduced from the Ordnance Survey digital mapping with the permission of Ordnance Survey on behalf of The Controller of Her Majesty's Stationery Office 140 c Crown copyright Cotswold Archaeological Trust 100002109 N 1012 1016 905 1006 1510 1014 1024 1004 1508 T14 1505 A 1020 1029 SITE A A 1031 T15 1026 1033 1055 1053 1051 modern intrusion 1048 1046 PROCESSING 1039 posthole1044 AREA 1044 1041 904 footprint of bypass route medieval site modern evaluation trench undated tree throw pits prehistoric (Periods 1a and 1b) 0 50m Fig. 3 Site A. Scale 1:1,000 100 THE WILTSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY MAGAZINE Reproduced from the Ordnance Survey digital mapping with the permission of Ordnance Survey on behalf of The Controller of Her Majesty's Stationery Office 148 c Crown copyright Cotswold Archaeological Trust 100002109 N 147 2026 900 AREA B T3 2006 2008 2012 2010 203 modern services 899 T2 SU footprint of bypass route prehistoric (Period 1) or Roman (Period 2) areas post-medieval/modern evaluation trench 0 100m Fig. 4 Area B. Scale 1:1,250 PREHISTORIC PITS AND ROMAN ENCLOSURES ON THE A419 BLUNSDON BYPASS 101 hazelnut fragments, pottery of probable Middle 14 fragments of red deer within its fill. Red deer Bronze Age date and 15 pieces of worked flint.T he was commonly hunted throughout the prehistoric majority of the flint is contemporary with the date period, and its presence here may be indicative of a of the pottery but the assemblage included a flake of prehistoric date for this feature. probable Mesolithic date, which would be residual A low level of prehistoric activity is implied within the group.

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