Rushey Weir, Oxfordshire & The Excavation of Mesolithic Flint and an Early Medieval Enclosure at Rushey Weir Burcot

On the 24th November and 11th December 2008, Oxford Archaeology
(OA) carried out an archaeological watching brief at Rushey Weir,
Oxfordshire (NGR SP 322 000). The work was commissioned by Atkins
Limited on behalf of the Environment Agency, as part of the Paddle and
Rymer weirs refurbishment project. The watching brief monitored the
excavation of two small test pits excavated in advance of geo-technical
boreholes. A single sherd of early medieval pottery was recovered.

Small-scale excavations in advance of the construction of a fish pass were focused on
an important area of cropmarks just south of Rushey Weir and Lock, thought to
represent a Neolithic causewayed enclosure and mortuary enclosure. In the event, the
excavations found nothing of this date, but recovered a rare assemblage of probably
late Mesolithic flint, and evidence for an enclosure of the late 10th or early 11th
century that surrounded a post-built building. It is likely that the enclosure and
building were associated with control of the Thames crossing.