Archaeological Evaluation at Wallingford Police Station Reading Road & Former Police Station, Reading Road, Wallingford, Oxfordshire Excavation Report Wallingford Oxfordshire

olice Station, Reading Road, Wallingford, Oxfordshire (NGR SU 6071 8901). The work was commissioned by RPS Planning and Development. The evaluation revealed a deep sequence of soils deposited over the natural late Devensian/early
Holocene soil which overlies the gravel.
A single residual flint of Mesolithic or early Neolithic date was the only prehistoric find. Two fragments of Roman tile were also found, but these two were probably
redeposited. Late Saxon or Saxo-Norman features were found all across the site, and consisted of pits and ditches of various sizes, plus at least one posthole. The
finds and ecofacts from these were well-preserved, and demonstrate domestic occupation. One madder-stained potsherd indicates that dyeing was being carried
out on or close to the site.
No trace of the church of St Lucian or of any associated graveyard was found, and it is probable that these do not lie within the site. A small quantity of pottery of later 12th-13th century date was also found, but
features were confined to Trench 9 close to the frontage. Later medieval and early
post-medieval material was absent. The difficulty of determining the relationship between the buried topsoil and the late Saxon and medieval features is probably the
result of cultivation of this soil in the later medieval period, and it is possible that the
site was used as a garden within St John's Hospital. The site probably remained in cultivation after the dissolution of the Hospital, as no activity of the later 16th or
early 17th century was found.
A number of pits of the late 17th or early 18th century were scattered across the site. These were probably associated with the Almshouses erected on the adjacent
site in AD1681. Finds include the best examples yet known of the stamps of an Abingdon clay pipe maker.
The current ground level of the Police Station site is considerably higher than that of the more recent flats to the north and east, and in all trenches except that at the
front, the depth of soil over the late Devensian/early Holocene soil was more than 1m, which may suggest that the ground level has been raised by the importation of
topsoil. Nearly 0.5m of topsoil was deposited over the early 18th century features, and finds indicate that this occurred in the latter half of the 19th century. The
foundations of the south-west corner of the Cottage Hospital built on the site in AD1881 were found close to the current frontage, and were in line with those of the earlier almshouses to the north. As the imported soil was cut by these foundations, it seems most likely that it was brought in immediately prior to the construction of the Cottage Hospital. Other features associated with the Cottage Hospital include a brick-built dometopped well and a group of rubbish pits. A number of dogs had been buried in the garden of the hospital.

Excavation
Archaeological evaluation, excavation and watching brief was carried out by Oxford
Archaeology in advance of housing development by Winslade Investments on the site of the
former Police Station, Reading Road, Wallingford (NGR 460710 189010). Evaluation in 2013
was followed by excavation of the house footprints (Areas 1‐5) and soakaways (Areas 6‐10)
and a watching brief on service runs from November 2018 to June 2019.
The earliest evidence was scattered Mesolithic struck flints. A few residual Roman tile
and pottery fragments were also recovered, but the main occupation dated to the late Saxon
(950‐1050) and Saxo‐Norman period, ending by the first half of the 13th century. At the west
end the site fronted onto the Reading Road, which led south from the Saxon burh, and lay
just 80m from its earthen defences. The site was probably abandoned when the adjacent St
John’s Hospital was established in 1224. There was no further activity until the 17th century,
when a few pits were dug, probably associated with the adjacent Angiers Almshouses, built
in 1681. In 1881 a Cottage Hospital was built on the western part of the site, and half a metre
of soil was imported. The Police Station followed in the early 20th century. Due to the depth
of overburden, there was very little disturbance to the late Saxon and Saxo‐Norman
archaeology from later features.
Archaeological features were densely distributed across the site. Most common were
pits, many clustered into intercutting groups, and others in smaller groups or scattered singly.
There were also several lengths of ditch on a WNW‐ESE alignment. The groups of pits are
roughly linear, mostly on the same alignment as the ditches, suggesting that the site was
organized and perhaps divided into plots. A scatter of postholes was found in the eastern part
of the site, where a probable fence line also followed the same alignment. Three buildings
were partly or wholly exposed, two on much the same north‐south alignment midway across
the site, the third close to the east edge of the site. The two larger buildings were rectangular;
they were both partly underground, and were probably cellars.
Animal and fish bones and charred plant remains were ubiquitous, and pottery was
common, indicating domestic occupation. Other domestic finds included iron knives and
whetstones, as well as fragments of querns. The pottery included cooking pots, shallow
dairying bowls or pans and glazed jugs or pitchers (including a few regional imports). Textile
manufacture was clearly important, as illustrated by scores of potsherds stained with purple
madder from dyeing, a pair of iron shears, three spindle whorls and nine bone textile‐working
tools including four pin‐beaters used for weaving. Other evidence of industry came from the
animal bones, several pits containing many horn cores, many of which were from goats rather
than cattle, and there was also a crucible and a small stone anvil from metal‐working.