OXFORD ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESOURCE ASSESSMENT 2011 ANGLO-SAXON AND VIKING Compiled by Ruth Beckley and David Radford Version: 28/1/2012i Introduction ............................................................................................................. 4 Chronology .......................................................................................................... 4 Notable sites ........................................................................................................ 6 The nature of the evidence base .......................................................................... 7 Documentary evidence ........................................................................................ 8 The landscape ....................................................................................................... 10 Inheritance ......................................................................................................... 10 Land use ............................................................................................................ 10 Early rural settlement ............................................................................................ 14 Littlemore ........................................................................................................... 14 Headington-Barton ............................................................................................. 14 Radcliffe Infirmary .............................................................................................. 14 Urban settlement ................................................................................................... 16 Archaeological evidence for pre-burh settlement ............................................... 16 Evidence for the foundation of the burh ............................................................. 16 Archaeological evidence for settlement from the 10th century ............................ 16 Crafts, trade and Industry .................................................................................. 23 The suburbs........................................................................................................... 27 St Aldates’ ......................................................................................................... 27 The eastern suburb or extension ....................................................................... 29 St Giles’ ............................................................................................................. 29 The emergence of Late Saxon villages ................................................................ 30 Binsey ................................................................................................................ 30 Seacourt, formerly Berkshire.............................................................................. 30 Osney and St Thomas’s ..................................................................................... 30 Church Cowley and Temple Cowley .................................................................. 30 Headington (and Barton) .................................................................................... 31 Iffley ................................................................................................................... 31 St Clements Parish ............................................................................................ 31 Transport and communications ........................................................................... 33 The river network ............................................................................................... 33 The road network ............................................................................................... 34 Ceremony, ritual and religion ............................................................................... 36 Early Saxon inhumations ................................................................................... 36 Saxon cremations .............................................................................................. 37 Christian era burials ........................................................................................... 37 Religious foundations ........................................................................................... 40 Binsey ................................................................................................................ 40 St Frideswide’s .................................................................................................. 40 Abingdon Abbey ................................................................................................ 41 Church foundations ............................................................................................ 41 Warfare and defences ........................................................................................... 44 Pre-burh defences ............................................................................................. 44 Burh defences ................................................................................................... 44 Scandinavian evidence ......................................................................................... 50 Documentary and place name evidence ............................................................ 50 Archaeological evidence .................................................................................... 50 Material culture .................................................................................................. 51 Material culture and faunal remains .................................................................... 52 Pottery ............................................................................................................... 52 Metalwork .......................................................................................................... 55 Coins ................................................................................................................. 56 Bone .................................................................................................................. 57 Leather .............................................................................................................. 58 OXFORD ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESOURCE ASSESSMENT- ANGLO-SAXON AND SCANDINAVIAN 2 Glass ................................................................................................................. 58 Amber ................................................................................................................ 58 Wood ................................................................................................................. 58 Stone ................................................................................................................. 59 Legacy.................................................................................................................... 62 Bibliography .......................................................................................................... 63 Appendix 1: Saxon Site Gazetteer ....................................................................... 77 Appendix 2: Saxon Street Network ...................................................................... 86 Appendix 3: Figures .............................................................................................. 91 Figure 1: Saxon-Medieval street network ................................................................ 90 Figure 2: OHER records for Anglo-Saxon period ..................................................... 91 Figure 3: Middle Saxon Activity ............................................................................... 92 Figure 4: Evidence for the burh defences ................................................................ 93 Figure 5: Saxon settlement in Oxford ...................................................................... 94 Table 1: Summary of excavations at the Castle site ................................................ 20 Table 2: Archaeological investigations at St Aldates ............................................... 27 Table 3: Summary of radiocarbon dating results for human remains at St Frideswide's ............................................................................................................ 38 Table 4: Summary of radiocarbon dating results from St Aldates Church ................ 39 Table 5: Archaeological investigations for the western part of the burh ................... 46 Table 6: Archaeological evidence for the northern part of the burh .......................... 48 Table 7: Archaeological evidence for the eastern part of the burh ........................... 48 Table 8: Archaeological evidence for the southern part of the burh ......................... 49 Table 9: Summary of identifiable Saxon pottery ...................................................... 61 Abbreviations LAA Oxford Local Authority Area OHER Oxfordshire Historic Environment Record RCHM 1939 An Inventory of the Historical Monuments in the City of Oxford, Royal Commission on Historical Monuments, England, HMSO, London. UAD Urban Archaeological Database (Event Number unless otherwise stated) VCH ii The Victoria History of the County of Oxford Volume 2 (ed. W. Page), 1907, The Victoria History of the Counties of England. VCH iii The Victoria History of the County of Oxford Volume 3: The University of Oxford (eds H. E. Salter and M. D. Lobel), 1954,