GLOUCESTERSHIRE

(1) Ashchurch, land south of A46 (SO 9365 3339): evaluation confirmed the presence of a settlement suggested by geophysical survey. The settlement was in use during the first to second centuries a.d. and included a rectilinear field-system. A crop-drying oven found to the east of the settlement contained pottery dating to the fourth century.Footnote ²¹⁹

(2) Bishop's Cleeve, land at Cleevelands (SO 9500 2836): previous evaluation identified a zone of settlement including a possible drying oven and a stone-founded building. The core of this settlement was preserved in situ during the ensuing development work and its margins were excavated. Drainage ditches were established during the late Iron Age/first century a.d. These had been frequently recut and continued in use into the later first or second century. At this time small enclosures (measuring at least 12 m by 10 m) were laid out along with a complex series of intercutting ditches and a larger enclosure (measuring at least 51 m by 30 m). The enclosures were abandoned in the third and fourth centuries, but a metal-working midden dated to this period. No in-situ metal-processing features were found but large quantities of slag, much of it with furnace lining attached, suggest that processing occurred very close by. This period also saw the creation of new enclosures, and a stone spread was perhaps a floor surface of a building. Undated features included a cluster of seven unurned cremation burials and five inhumations.Footnote ²²⁰

(3) Gloucester, University of Gloucestershire, Plock Court and Oxstalls Campus (SO 8420 2009): an evaluation of 18 trenches and 9 deep test-pits in three separate areas produced surprisingly little evidence for Roman activity given the proximity of the site to the Roman city of Glevum. Two ditches were probably of Roman date.Footnote ²²¹

(4) Leckhampton, Farm Lane (SP 8710 1923): targeted excavation took place within an area of 15.4 ha assessed by geophysical survey and evaluation trenching. A large enclosure of probable late Iron Age date was uncovered in Area 5, together with a number of ditches and smaller enclosures relating to settlement of mid-first to mid-second-century date. The Roman features here had been significantly disturbed by medieval ploughing. In the north-west of Area 5, the remains of a post-built timber building were found along with a small oven.

In Areas 2a and 2b early Roman ditches were found, with a group of three burials of first- or second-century date situated along the edge of one of them. The best-preserved area of settlement, again of early Roman date, was located on higher ground in Area 1, where the remains of two roundhouses were discovered. The most complete roundhouse contained the remains of a central hearth surrounded by structural post-holes and a characteristic ring-gully about 15 m in diameter. Near to this was a granary structure, consisting of four substantial post-holes. The settlement was initially enclosed by a slightly curving ditch, which was later replaced by a larger rectangular ditch. Several smaller enclosures were possibly for livestock pens.

Areas 6 and 8 in the south-east of the site contained further agricultural enclosures set off a major north–south boundary. No buildings were found here, but a number of relatively high-status copper-alloy finds were recovered, all of first- and second-century date, indicating nearby settlement activity. Four crouched burials dated no earlier than the mid-first century a.d. were also found in this area, situated on a ridge of higher ground. There was very little evidence of Roman activity after the mid-second century, other than a few stray coins of third-century date.Footnote ²²²

(5) Longford, Longford Lane (SO 842 208): further excavation at the north end of the area examined in 2014Footnote ²²³ revealed more ditches and curvilinear gullies relating to probable agricultural settlement of second- and third-century date.Footnote ²²⁴

(6) Mickleton, land north of Canada Lane (SP 1625 4418): excavation identified intercutting sub-rectangular late Iron Age to early Roman stock enclosures across the western and central areas of the site. Non-residential structures were identified within several enclosures whilst a possible domestic dwelling was identified in the south-eastern part of site. Associated drainage/boundary ditches, pits and post-holes were also present. During the Roman period, the focus of activity shifted within the site, with further rectilinear enclosures and a trackway being set out. An associated kiln, a possible clay-mixing pit, storage pits and boundary ditches accompanied this activity. The site also contained ten inhumation graves, although the dating for these is currently Roman or post-Roman. The site produced a large quantity of finds, including late Iron Age and Roman pottery, animal bone, iron slag, worked stone (including complete and fragmented quernstones) and metalwork.Footnote ²²⁵

SOUTH GLOUCESTERSHIRE

(1) Yate, Brinsham Bridge (ST 7260 8490): excavation revealed a rectilinear ditched enclosure, 130 m long by 87 m wide with two entrances, originating in the first century a.d. Few internal features were present. The enclosure was remodelled during the mid/late first to later second or early third centuries. There was an internal bank and wooden gateway at one of the entrances. Occupation continued into the later third to later fourth centuries, although the ditch itself may have fallen into disuse by this time. Internally, a dark grey silty clay layer covering an area of c. 5 m by 5 m and abutting a small fragment of dry-stone wall has been ascribed to this period. This area produced a large assemblage of pottery and metalwork (mainly nails) and may have been the location of a building. Few other internal features were found, save the extended supine (but poorly preserved) skeleton of a juvenile. The small pottery assemblage from the site is notable as it includes a terra rubra cup and South Gaulish samian ware, unusual on sites of this type in Gloucestershire.Footnote ²²⁶

BATH AND NORTH-EAST SOMERSET

(1) Keynsham, New Fry Club and F1 Pitch (ST 9247 8849): excavation and a watching-brief revealed part of an enclosure and a droveway in use from the first to mid-second century. These features probably lay on the periphery of the nucleated settlement revealed by previous geophysical survey.Footnote ²²⁷

SOMERSET

(1) Pylle, Lower Easton Farm (ST 62700 38650): an excavation followed the identification in a geophysical survey of probable settlement activity across a 25 ha parcel of land. As well as late prehistoric features, a number of Romano-British ditches and pits indicated activity on the site from the second to fourth centuries a.d. Finds include pottery and a small number of coins and brooches.Footnote ²²⁸

(2) Taunton, Staplegrove West (ST 2100 2680): evaluation revealed a large rectilinear ditched enclosure which originated during the mid- to late Iron Age and continued in use into the early Roman period, with the addition of a possible droveway. A feature which may have been part of a roundhouse or stock pen was associated with the enclosure and evidence for crop processing was recovered.Footnote ²²⁹

(3) Taunton Dean, Ash Priors, Pixford Fruit Farm (ST 15107 30165): an evaluation was conducted in advance of the proposed construction of a solar farm. A buried soil horizon in the south and west of the site contained Roman pottery finds and may be a relict plough soil of the first to second century. It sealed an otherwise undated ditch and may represent a change in field layout during the early Roman period.Footnote ²³⁰

(4) Yeovil, Southfield (ST 5746 2369): excavation investigated two intercutting enclosures, both of late Iron Age/early Roman date. These yielded a substantial finds assemblage and were probably the remains of a small farmstead. A ditch outside the enclosures may have been part of a surrounding field-system.Footnote ²³¹

DEVON

(1) Dawlish, land at Gatehouse Farm (SX 95995 77921): an evaluation revealed evidence for a Romano-British farmstead, surrounded by a rectangular enclosure and agricultural landscape. The settlement appears to have been occupied in the late third to fourth centuries, though it may have been established earlier.Footnote ²³²

(2) East Stoke, Wareham, Stokeford Solar Farm (SY 87346 87646): evaluation in advance of the installation of a solar array revealed an extensive strip-field-system, probably some distance from contemporaneous settlement.Footnote ²³³

(3) Ipplepen, Dainton Elms Cross (SX 84 66): the site was discovered and reported to the Portable Antiquities Scheme by metal-detectorists.Footnote ²³⁴ Following a geophysical survey and two phases of evaluation (comprising six trenches) in 2010, since 2011 the University of Exeter and the PAS/British Museum have embarked upon a larger-scale programme of survey and excavation. The work in 2011–2014 revealed a middle Iron Age enclosure, late Iron Age occupation, and a Romano-British road, settlement and associated field-system, and an inhumation cemetery that in part post-dated the road. In 2015 work continued on Trench 7 where the Roman road was sectioned, revealing five phases of construction, and a total of 30 skeletons have now been excavated, with all three of the radiocarbon-dated graves being early medieval.Footnote ²³⁵ A notable feature of the cemetery organisation is the way that graves were laid out in rows, but also sometimes cut earlier burials (e.g. fig. 28). Trench 8, 30 m to the south, also produced a series of burials, suggesting that the cemetery may cover at least c. 1,800 m²: one of these burials has also been dated to the early medieval period (1390+/-30 BP, cal a.d. 610–70, Beta 424799). Trench 9 was located across a series of curvilinear anomalies identified on the geophysical survey. These are late prehistoric and Romano-British in origin. The southern end of Trench 9 revealed a particularly dense incidence of features close to the Roman road, including a probable well, while a stratigraphically late ditch full of domestic refuse is dated to the late Roman period (1730+/-30 BP, cal a.d. 240–390, Beta 424802).Footnote ²³⁶

FIG. 28.

Ipplepen, Grave 30 (foreground) cutting Grave 22 (dated cal. a.d. 540–640)

(4) Pinhoe, land at Mosshayne Farm (SX 9789 9397): an evaluation recorded a substantially ditched, sub-square Roman farmstead enclosure which included at least one roundhouse. A system of small, regular fields may have been contemporary.Footnote ²³⁷

(5) Newton Abbot, Milber Down (SX 8862 6964): an evaluation and a watching-brief were undertaken on a site which is crossed by a length of the outermost (fourth) ditch circuit of Milber Down hillfort and includes part of the western and southern sides of the Roman ‘Small Camp’ enclosure. The evaluation recorded part of the ‘Small Camp’ ditch and a single urned cremation grave just within the interior of the enclosure, both of which contained mid- to late first-century a.d. pottery. The outer ditch of the hillfort may have been re-used in the Roman period during the use of the ‘Small Camp’ enclosure.Footnote ²³⁸

(6) Southwell, Portland, Stonehills Mine, Avalanche Road (SY 68290 70890): investigation during groundworks associated with the creation of a new mine entrance (portal) revealed a Romano-British trackway, as well as a few undated pits and a small assemblage of struck chert in the vicinity of the known Romano-British settlement sites at Stonehills North and South.Footnote ²³⁹

(7) Wimborne Minster, Leigh Road (SZ 030 999): evaluation on a 1.2 ha block of land adjacent to a Roman road recovered a few Roman pottery sherds from two ditches and a pit.Footnote ²⁴⁰