Stockham House Denchworth Road Wantage Oxfordshire

Watching brief
Between 23rd and 25th January 2012 Oxford Archaeology conducted a watching brief during a geotechnical test pitting exercise at Stockham House, Wantage,
Oxfordshire (NGR: SU 392 888). 29 test pits were monitored during the course of the works, with one feature of archaeological interest observed and recorded, an
east-west aligned ditch dating to the late Iron Age or early Roman period.

Evaluation
In July and August 2012, Oxford Archaeology (OA) carried out a field evaluation at Stockham House, Denchworth Road, Wantage, Oxfordshire (centered on SU 39309
88882). The evaluation revealed a series of ditches and shallow pits likely to belong to middle Iron Age enclosures and fields, which the artefactual evidence would
suggest may be associated with a nearby settlement. Single features containing pottery of the Bronze Age and of the Roman period were also found. Human bones belonging to part of a single juvenile individual were recovered from one of the ditches at the south-west end of the site.
The site was covered by ridge-and-furrow cultivation on a north-south alignment, whose northern limits were evident as a low broad bank close to the northern edge of the main field that was examined. A ditch following the same alignment wasprobably associated.
Evidence for 20th century landscaping, probably associated with the adjacent airfield, was recorded in a trench which was located over the proposed new route for the Wilts and Berks Canal at the north-west edge of the evaluated area.