Land West of Shottery Stratford-Upon-Avon Warwickshire

Between the 17th of February 2014 and the 14th of March 2014 Oxford Archaeology
(OA) carried out an evaluation at land West of Shottery, Stratford-upon-Avon,
Warwickshire. Rob Bourn of CgMs Consulting commissioned the work on behalf of
Bloor Homes and Hallam Land Management.
A total of 153 trenches were excavated in two blocks, following a geophysical
survey which showed little obviously significant archaeology. Traces of ridge-andfurrow
(the result of long-term medieval/ post-medieval 'open field' agriculture) were
apparent on the geophysical survey throughout the evaluation area, but do not
survive as earthworks. Traces of plough furrows were visible in many of the
trenches.
Prehistoric features include a possible human cremation burial in Trench 132
(containing 22g of burnt human bone) associated with four worked flints consistent
with a Late Mesolithic or Early Neolithic date. The cremation deposit was dominated
by charcoal with a few poorly preserved charred cereal grains present. A single
sherd of Middle Neolithic Peterborough ware pottery was recovered from a ditch in
the adjacent Trench 129. The results from Trenches 129 and 132, taken together,
suggest that south-eastern field may contain an ephemeral Neolithic funerary site.
A single N-S aligned Roman ditch in Trenches 112 and 114, and a small pit with a
charcoal-rich fill in Trench 118 were the only probable Roman features encountered,
which are tentatively dated on the basis of four sherds of pottery from four separate
contexts. No remains of Anglo-Saxon date were found. Later medieval / postmedieval
features include a single 14th-15th century rubbish pit in Trench 130, and
several former field boundary ditches. A small group of hearths in Trench 48 has no
associated dating evidence