NHER 64674 (Monument record) - Post-medieval and undated ditches

March 2012. Trial Trenching.
Evaluation of site of proposed quarry extension (Trenches 7-24).
The 18 trenches excavated at this location revealed four linear features, most, if not all, of which were of probable post-medieval date. These included a particularly substantial north-to-south aligned ditch that produced a single fragment of post-medieval roof tile. No corresponding field boundary appears on any of the available 19th-century maps, suggesting this feature was associated with an earlier system of land division. Later work at a site to the east exposed a number of ditches of probable 18th-century date that had also been removed by the mid 19th century (NHER 64672).
The other linear features included a narrow ditch or gully running parallel to the large north-to-south aligned ditch and two east-to-west aligned ditches. One of the latter corresponds with a former field boundary depicted on the Watlington tithe map of 1839 (S1).
No subsoil was present beneath the topsoil, which lay directly on natural sand and gravel deposits.
A Neolithic flint scraper was the only unstratified find recovered.
See report (S2) for further details.
P. Watkins (HES), 14 March 2021.