Proposed Cheltenham Secondary School, Farm Lane, Leckhampton, Gloucestershire

In June 2019 Oxford Archaeology undertook an archaeological evaluation for Kier Construction, on behalf of Gloucestershire County Council, at the proposed location for a secondary school development at Farm Lane, Leckhampton, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire. The site is centered on SO 93746 19806. A total of 19 trenches were excavated, targeted on specific features identified by a geophysical survey of the site, Lidar analysis and historic maps. Two distinct and spatially separate archaeological sites have been identified by the evaluation. An Iron Age and Roman rural settlement is located in the north-western part of the site. Associated features were present in Trenches 3–8. The main focus of activity lies in the south-west corner of the northern field, adjacent to Farm Lane, and appears to date from the late Iron Age and/or early Roman period. This site appears to continue into the north-western corner of the central field, although at least one of the features in that field appears to be somewhat later in date, as it produced a middle Roman pottery group. The settlement is probably a continuation of the late Iron Age and Roman settlement previously excavated on the west side of Farm Lane. A series of hollow-ways and possible stone structural remains were identified in the southern field by a combination of aerial photographic mapping, Lidar analysis, geophysical survey, trenching and historic map studies, including traces of a possible cottage or outbuilding that may correspond with a building shown on Crowe’s map of Leckhampton (1746).