This volume presents the results of investigations undertaken by Oxford Archaeology between 2003 and 2011 in advance of construction of the Banbury Flood Alleviation Scheme, Oxfordshire. The main element of these investigations was an excavation at the site of a borrow pit for clay to be used in constructing the flood defences. Geophysical surveys of two other areas that revealed dense concentrations of buried archaeological remains not subsequently affected by the scheme are also reported. The excavation uncovered a multi-period landscape containing a regionally significant Neolithic occupation site, as well as later features. The Neolithic remains comprised 35 pits that produced large assemblages of flint and pottery, mainly Peterborough Ware of middle Neolithic date (associated with radiocarbon dates of c 3350-2650 BC). A single substantial but enigmatic middle Bronze Age ditch contained few finds, but these included a radius from an aurochs, one of the latest examples of this species in Britain.Late pre-Roman Iron Age occupation was represented by an oval double-ditched enclosure which, following a brief hiatus, was succeeded toward the end of the 1st century AD by a more extensive low-status farmstead. The settlement was redeveloped during the 2nd century before finally being abandoned in the early-mid 3rd century. Artefactual and palaeoenvironmental assemblages, as well as the spatial arrangement of the settlement, provided evidence regarding the economy, status and social organisation of the community. The volume includes a consideration of the results of the project in the context of Iron Age and Roman settlement of the Cherwell Valley.

Situated in what now seems a remote corner of south-west Scotland, Wigtown was once an important county town. With its harbour and location at the lowest fording point of the River Cree, Wigtown was at one time part of a major network of land and sea routes, including a pilgrim route to Whithorn. The layout of the town is notable for its large market square, a reflection of its importance in the cattle trade in the medieval period. The town achieved burgh status in the thirteenth century, by which time it was an important trading centre, and the present arrangement of streets and burgage plots dates to this time. Today the principal access route is from the north, rather than through the East and West Ports which controlled access to the great market place. The burgh arms depict a three-masted sailing ship, demonstrating the importance placed on its maritime trade. This book examines both the town’s political history, as it passed between the earldoms of Wigtown and Douglas, and its economic history, as it competed with Whithorn, before its eventual decline in the later nineteenth century. The authors use the surviving buildings to examine the development of the town from the medieval to the modern period. This book is part of the Scottish Burgh Survey – a series funded by Historic Scotland designed to identify the archaeological potential of Scotland’s historic towns.

Lindsay Allason-Jones has been at the forefront of small finds and Roman frontier research for 40 years in a career focussed on, but not exclusive to, the north of Britain, encompassing an enormous range of object types and subject areas. Divided into thematic sections the contributions presented here to celebrate her many achievements all represent at least one aspect of Lindsay’s research interests. These encompass social and industrial aspects of northern frontier forts; new insights into inscribed and sculptural stones specific to military communities; religious, cultural and economic connotations of Roman armour finds; the economic and ideological penetration of romanitas in the frontiers as reflected by individual objects and classes of finds; evidence of trans-frontier interactions and invisible people; the role of John Clayton in the exploration and preservation of Hadrian’s Wall and its material culture; the detailed consideration of individual objects of significant interest; and a discussion of the widespread occurrence of mice in Roman art.

Archaeological excavation by MOLA at Watermark Place in the City of London revealed evidence for the development of the city waterfront from the 13th century onwards. The remains of substantial and well-preserved timber river walls and timber/stone dock walls were recorded, and the use of tree-ring dating enabled the construction of one large timber river wall and dock to be dated to the year 1339. Many of the recorded structures related to the medieval wharf known as the Haywharf, probably originally so-named because it was where hay was imported into the city before c 1300. In common with other excavations of medieval waterfronts in the City, the waterlogged deposits associated with the structural remains produced a remarkable array of finds, including over 700 accessioned finds. Large medieval foundations on the site probably relate to the mansion known as Coldharbour, which was constructed on the site by the early 14th century. Later remains included a sequence of 15th- to 16th-century industrial stone hearths or furnaces, and documentary evidence suggests that it is likely these were associated with either brewing or dyeing on the site. Also recorded were structures associated with the Calvert’s/City of London brewery, which stood on the site from the 18th century until it was bombed during World War II.

The Weymouth Relief Road crosses an area of intricately varied geology and one of the richest and most important cultural landscapes in England, which preserves a wealth of archaeological and historical remains. Extensive fieldwork in advance of construction of the Weymouth Relief Road yielded evidence of Neolithic, Bronze Age and Iron Age settlement and funerary activity, along with vestiges of Roman occupation.The main sites were located at Ridgeway Hill, located on the edge of South Dorset Ridgeway, at the northern end of the scheme and at Southdown Ridge close to the southern end. At Ridgeway Hill a sequence of Neoltihic pits was investigated, along with several groups of early Bronze Age inhumation and cremation burials in pits and cists. The burials were probably originally associated with barrows that belonged to the Ridgeway Hill group, one of the densest concentrations of Bronze Age round barrows in Britain. At Southdown Ridge a settlement that spanned the late Bronze Age/early Iron Age to the late Iron Age was discovered lying adjacent to a cross-ridge dyke and prehistoric field enclosures. The inhabitants engaged in shale-working activity as well as agriculture until the settlement was abandoned and converted to a cemetery in which the dead were buried in the distinctive south Dorset tradition, accompanied by grave goods, and later in the Roman tradition of coffined burial.

This volume examines the evolution of a rural landscape in north Kent from the Late Mesolithic (c 7500 BC) to the 19th century, as revealed by analysis of the results of excavation on a site overlooking the marshes and tributaries of the River Medway, near Sittingbourne. Particular emphasis is placed on the prehistoric pottery assemblage and on understanding the site in terms of local and regional developments. Slight evidence for Late Mesolithic and Neolithic activity (residual finds only) was followed by the creation of a field system. This was well established by the Late Bronze Age, when pitting and refuse disposal suggests the presence of a nearby settlement. There are inconclusive indications from associated pottery that some field boundaries may have had Middle Bronze Age origins and that some structured deposition was taking place. A period of abandonment, possibly related to rising sea levels, preceded the construction of a Middle Iron Age unenclosed farmstead represented by four roundhouses constructed at some time after c 300 BC and the re-establishment of a field system. The local field boundaries were reorganised in the Late Iron Age, and remained in use during the 1st century AD, but were abandoned thereafter, with no archaeological evidence for subsequent land use until a new farm was established in the 11th to mid 13th centuries.

Alfred’s Castle is a small enclosed site south of the Ridgeway on the Berkshire Downs, excavated between 1998 and 2000 by a team from Oxford University. This was the third site excavated by the Hillforts of the Ridgeway project (after White Horse Hill and Segsbury). Although small, Alfred’s Castle displayed a long and complex history, starting with early Bronze Age round barrows on which later Bronze Age linear ditches were aligned, these in turn were used to form enclosures in the Iron Age. In the early Roman period a small villa house was built inside the smaller enclosure, which then shows some use in the early medieval period. The long use of the site raises questions of memory, history and continuity, leading us to wonder how earlier phases of use affected later ones. This volume contains the results of excavations at Alfred’s Castle and an account of an art project by Simon Callery. This is the third volume dedicated to our hillfort excavations on the Berkshire Downs and it ends with an account of the area more broadly, which sees complicated developments from the Bronze Age into the medieval period through the constructions of barrows, field systems, linear ditches and sites of various forms and sizes. How these combined into communities of the living and of the dead are considered using all the evidence currently available.

In July 1834 excavation of a barrow at Gristhorpe, near Scarborough, Yorkshire, recovered an intact, waterlogged, hollowed-out oak coffin containing a perfectly preserved Bronze Age skeleton that had been wrapped in an animal skin and buried with worked flints, a bronze dagger with a whalebone pommel, and a bark vessel apparently containing food residue. Gristhorpe Man became the centrepiece of the Scarborough Philosophical Society’s museum display.In 2004, planned refurbishment of the renamed Rotunda Museum provided the opportunity for a scientific re-examination of the burial and grave goods in order to eluciate the life and death of this extraordinary survival of the British Early Bronze Age. Tree-trunk coffin burials are relatively rare and Gristhorpe Man, with his range of grave goods was likely to have held a special role in society. Analysis of the skeleton included an examination of its skeletal morphology and palaeopathological conditions combined with isotopic analyses of the bones and teeth in order to investigate mobility, diet, and status of the individual whose unusual large stature, dentition, and novel methods of conservation were of particular interest. These analyses, combined with examination of the surviving coffin lid, including the unique ‘face’ carved onto one end of it, the grave goods, and radiocarbon and dendrochronological dating, reveal fascinating insights into the social position, inter-regional contacts and the burial rite associated with this enigmatic mature man who probably saw active combat and who suffered from a benign brain tumour that may have seriously altered his personality in his later years.

Charting a decade of intensive fieldwork along a 2km stretch of the Colne Fen, Earith fen-edge, the scope of these books is formidable and together they include the work of 65 contributing specialists (with a foreword by Ian Hodder). The fieldwork involved innovative methodologies, and groundbreaking scientific and micro-sampling studies are presented within the volumes. Portions of text are, moreover, avowedly experimental (e. g. intertextuality and antiquarian-informed perspectives) and it explores the long-term interplay of landscape process and (proto-) historicism. Appropriate to the practice of a comparative archaeology and the ‘challenge of numbers’, throughout emphasis is given to multiple-scale settlement and spatial/distributional analyses.The scale of Volume II — the ‘Roman book’ — is even more daunting. Aside from including reports of earlier local excavations, it is primarily concerned with two major ‘set-piece’ sites. The one, Langdale Hale, was a mass-production supply farm; the other, The Camp Ground, a great inland barge-port settlement linked to the Car Dyke canal. Both reflect upon the potential role of the state and address crucial issues of ‘Romanization’, with facets of their sequences markedly contrasting with the Stonea-engendered Fenland Imperial Estate model. Besides uniquely detailing the character of the settlements’ Late Roman usage (involving terpen-like mounds and raised ‘platformed’ structures) and trade connections, the port-site’s aftermath is also discussed as an important assemblage of Anglo-Scandinavian bonework was recovered. To provide further immediate-landscape context, the results from neighbouring sites alsofeature, including an important Late Roman cemetery at Knobbs Farm, Somersham.

Querns are special artefacts as they are concerned with subsistence and supporting life in a manner which few other artefacts can emulate: they transform raw material into a usable consumable commodity. Their association with women, the production of food and the movement of the upper stone, suggests symbolical links between querns and life cycles - agricultural, human and building. They can also be read in terms of gender relations and the turning of the heavens. It is not surprising therefore that they have a special symbolic role in early societies.In 1995 JD Hill published his seminal thesis that many of the rubbish pits commonly found on Wessex Iron Age sites, were carefully ‘structured’ deposits, with meaning reaching far beyond the mere disposal of refuse. He mentioned the special role of querns, but as his thesis focussed on animal bones this idea was not followed up – until now. This book analyses the deposition of querns in prehistoric south-western England, cataloguing how and where they are buried, the associated artefacts and their possible significance. The discussion is broader, however, exploring the object biography and symbolism of querns, taking the reader to unfamiliar territories around the world. This is a new ground-breaking work, which with its full bibliography will stimulate fresh studies and at the same time set the agenda for a new field of investigation. A long standing interest in querns led to the author taking a degree in archaeology as a mature student at the University of Exeter. This was followed by the in-depth research presented in this book, which formed the basis of a thesis for which she was awarded her doctorate at Exeter in 2012. She has studied and reported on querns from a wide range of sites, from Wharram Percy in Yorkshire to Dichin in Bulgaria, and has presented papers at both national and international conferences on the object biography and the function and symbolism of querns and millstones. She compiled the Data Sheet on querns for the Finds Research Group and has written and co-authored several articles. She lives in Devon with her husband, Martin, a leading molinologist, and two black cats.

Excavations at the Eton Rowing Course and along the Maidenhead, Windsor and Eton Flood Alleviation Channel revealed extensive evidence for occupation in an evolving landscape of floodplains and gravel terraces set amidst the shifting channels of the Thames.The most significant evidence was a series of early Neolithic midden deposits, preserved in hollows left by infilled palaeochannels. These deposits contained dense concentrations of pottery, worked flint, animal bone and other finds, and are put into context by other artefact scatters from the floodplain, pits on the gravel terrace and waterlogged environmental deposits from palaeochannels. Early Mesolithic lakeside occupation, later Mesolithic flint scatters along a former channel of the Thames, pits from the middle and late Neolithic and activity areas of the Beaker and Early Bronze Age, demonstrate longer term changes in patterns of occupation.The excavations also revealed early, middle and late Neolithic human remains in palaeochannels, middle Neolithic crouched inhumation burials and early Neolithic cremated remains. An oval barrow may have first been cut in the early Neolithic. Other ring ditches date from the late Neolithic/early Bronze Age; one contained a central cremation burial in a Collared Urn together with pyre material and the remains of a bier.

The site of La Grava (or Grove Priory) in Bedfordshire, excavated in advance of quarrying between 1973 and 1985, was one of the most extensive monastic/manorial projects of the 20th century in the UK. Excavated originally as a medieval religious house, identified as an alien priory of the Order of Fontevrault in Anjou, the site was to reveal settlement from the Romano-British period to the 16th century.Granted to the Order of Fontevrault in 1164, the priory became the home of the Procurator of the Order in England. From the later 14th century the site reverted to a lay establishment and was held by high-ranking royal women. The excavations were notable for several reasons, including their extent, the stratification in the remains, and the continuity of settlement from the late Saxon period onwards. Post-excavation analysis and reconstruction of building plans has led the author to suggest detailed sequences of spatial planning across the site.The royal and ecclesiastic connections to the site provided excellent documentary sources, enabling recorded events to be linked to building works. When combined with the large finds assemblage, and detailed reconstruction drawings, a vivid picture of life at La Grava over several centuries can be painted.

Archaeological fieldwork in the inter-tidal zone of the Severn Estuary over the past twenty years has revealed a rich landscape of prehistoric settlement. This latest volume by Professor Martin Bell presents the evidence for the Bronze Age, focusing on sites at Redwick and Peterstone in the Gwent Levels.At Redwick, a settlement of four rectangular buildings, defined by well-preserved timber posts dating to the middle Bronze Age (1600–940 cal BC), is surrounded by footprint-tracks of animals and humans. Peterstone and other locations in the estuary have revealed a variety of wood artefacts and structures, and features such as fish traps, trackways and sites of seasonal encampments.The relationship between the wetland and dry ground settlements around the estuary is explored in detail, through artefacts, pollen and stable isotope analysis. The author concludes that there is clear evidence for transhumance throughout the Bronze Age. In the final chapters the author compares the Severn Estuary with other coastal sites of the Bronze Age in Britain and continental Europe.

Newcastle upon Tyne is one of England’s great cities. Many think of it mainly as a product of the Industrial Revolution when abundant resources of coal, iron ore and water came together to create a Victorian industrial powerhouse. In fact, Newcastle’s long and proud history began in Roman times when Hadrian’s Wall marked the northernmost point of the Roman Empire. Newcastle became a thriving medieval port, with trading connections around the North Sea, the Atlantic, the Baltic countries and the Mediterranean. By the mid-17th century, Newcastle was not only a major European port, but was also becoming the pre-eminent exporter of coal fuelling the incipient industrial revolution. This volume brings together the archaeological evidence for occupation in the historic core of Newcastle between the prehistoric period and 1650. It places the evidence in the context of the evolving historical communities who made and occupied the site, and in the wider context of medieval and early modern European urban life.The volume synthesizes archaeological and historical evidence, highlighting material only known through excavation – like the early medieval use of the decaying Roman fort for a cemetery and probable church – as well as throwing new light on documented activities – like the way in which the waterfront was physically extended and consolidated to support trade from the 12th century onwards. Taking its name from a castle of national significance, planted after the Norman Conquest as a bulwark against Northern rebels and Scottish aggression, Newcastle was established as the king’s ‘Eye of the North’.

Local and family historians are often afraid to use numerical data (Statistics) in their research and writing. Yet numbers are an essential part of much historical work, obviously in population history but also in local studies of agriculture, industry and social history. Counting People shows how amateur historians can use computers with appropriate programs to provide numerical illustrations of various historical topics as well as easing their researches. A final chapter covers research and publishing in local history. The Bibliography provides advice on local historical studies in England and Wales and a full list of sources for population history in England and Wales as well as guidance on the use of computers in local studies.

The three large henges found adjacent to the village of Thornborough, near Ripon in North Yorkshire, lie at the heart of one of the most important Neolithic landscapes in the British Isles While the henges were first recorded in the eighteenth century, recent fieldwork has shown them to be part of a much larger ‘sacred landscape’ of the later Neolithic and Bronze Age which includes barrows, pit alignments and a cursus. Surrounding fields have yielded a rich collection of prehistoric flint artefacts. While the henges have all been damaged, either by agriculture or quarrying, they remain major upstanding features in the modern landscape. This volume considers first the history of investigations and changing attitudes towards the monuments before describing the detailed geophysical surveys, excavations and fieldwalking programmes that have been carried out across this landscape in the past twenty years. The author concludes that this was an intensely religious landscape, situated on an important routeway across the Pennines. He considers how people, both those who lived locally and those who travelled long distances to visit the site as a place of pilgrimage, would have experienced and interacted with the monuments