Land South of Cirencester Road Fairford Gloucestershire

In September 2013, Oxford Archaeology (OA) carried out a field evaluation at Land
South of Cirencester Road, Fairford, Gloucestershire (centred on SP 14560 00600).
The investigation followed a magnetometer survey which had identified various pitlike
and linear magnetic anomalies.
Several possible postholes were recorded, predominantly in the south-east corner of
the site but also in the north-east corner. Most of these features were fairly slight,
and no obvious structural forms were discernible within the confines of the trenches.
With the exception of a single abraded sherd of late prehistoric pottery, none of
them produced any artefactual material.
Four probable sunken-featured buildings were identified - also in the south-east
corner of the site - all of which had previously been identified as anomalies by the
geophysical survey, and two of which had been interpreted as possible SFBs. Early
Anglo-Saxon pottery was recovered from three of these, providing further evidence
for the extensive settlement previously identified at Horcott Quarry to the south, and
Pip's Field to the north. Animal bone was also recovered from two of these features.
Several linear features were recorded, two of which were undated. A linear anomaly
identified on the geophysical survey corresponded with a ditch, found in two of the
trenches in the south-east corner of the site. On the basis of a single sherd of
pottery, the ditch is most likely to be of post-medieval date, although there was
some suggestion that it may be earlier in origin. Various other post-medieval ditches
were also recorded which correspond to field boundaries shown on 19th and 20th
century OS maps.
The evaluation revealed a number of geological variations, including outcrops of
natural clay to the north and west of the site, overlain by terrace gravels. The
interface between these two types of geological deposit was characterised by
spreads of orange brown sandy clay, which appear to be geological in origin. Some
of these features coincided with geophysical anomalies identified by the
magnetometer survey.