The Slype, New College, Oxford.

The Oxford Archaeological Unit was commissioned by Rodney Melville and Partners, on behalf of New College, to maintain a watching brief during the excavation of a test pit in the Slype at New College, Oxford. Part of the retaining wall on the north side of the slype, which lies over the line of the outer defensive wall, is considered to be in some danger of collapse. The proposed solution of Gifford & Partners is to insert a concrete wall against the south side of the outer defensive wall, and link the two together by steel ties. A test pit sited on the south side of the outer wall was deemed necessary to establish the character of the existing wall foundations, and the archaeological potential of the deposits which would be removed by the construction of the concrete wall.