19 Between Towns Rd Oxford Oxfordshire

Oxford Archaeology undertook evaluation trenching at the site of Cowley
Conservative Club (19 Between Towns Road) in January 2015 in advance of
determination of a planning application for redevelopment of the site. The site lies
immediately adjacent to one of the foci of the nationally important Oxford Roman
pottery industry, and the presence of possible kilns and other features within the site
was suggested by an earlier geophysical survey. Three trenches were excavated, of
which only Trench 2, targeted specifically on key geophysical anomalies, contained
features of Roman date, principally represented by a late Roman pit which had been
heavily truncated by modern features. The small pottery assemblage from this
feature included a rare white ware flagon face mask. Trench 1 contained no
features, while a small pit in Trench 3 was of post-medieval date. Irregular patches
of stone in this area were probably a natural formation. The contents of the pit in
Trench 2 are consistent with immediately local production but there was no evidence
for kiln structures or related material and the evaluated area may lie towards the
margins of the Cowley production site