Proposed Waste Management Site, BMW Plant, Oxford.

OA undertook an archaeological field evaluation on the site of the proposed New Waste Management Centre at the BMW Plant, Cowley Works, East Oxford. The two-trench field evaluation was undertaken in April 2001. The evaluation site lies immediately east of the line of the Roman Road from Dorchester on Thames, Alchester.

Natural clay deposits were recorded at the base of one of the trenches, sealed beneath a layer of 'made ground' probably imported when the original car factory was built. A substantial concrete raft was also encountered and this relates to an earlier phase of the car plant. The second trench exposed a further concrete raft and the remains of a tarmac surface of 20th century date, overlying contaminated natural clay. A large service trench also cut across the line of the trench. The absence of former soil horizons and finds of any antiquity from the evaluation suggest that this area of the current factory was cleared prior to its construction.