South Leigh Gill Mill (Tar Form and Rushy Common) Oxfordshire lnterim Summary of Archoeologicol Works 2OOl -2005

Monitoring qnd archaeological recording of topsoil and subsoil stripping of almost 25 hectares of land at Tar Farm and Rushy Common from 2001-2005 in advance of gravel quarrying revealed important evidence for the environs of the major Roman roadside settlement located west and south-west of Gill Míll House. No evidence for prehistoric activity was recovered. The earliest Roman occupation was a small enclosed settlement identified in the south-east corner of Area 2, which may have developed from about the middle of the lst century AD. It was associated with a
major north-south boundary and with field systems. Elsewhere occupation may not have commenced before the early 2nd century, the likely time of the establishment of
the roadside settlement. Ditches flankíng this road, on a north-east to south-west alignment, were located in the northern part of the examined area. A roughly eastwest
aligned tracla,vay was located in Area 3, south of the early settlement in Area 2, and another road, with surviving metalling, was found in Area 5, some 600 m east of,
and roughly parallel to, the axial Roman road running through the major settlement.
The Area 5 road was associated with field boundaries and limited evídence for adjacent settlement. Further west, closer to the major settlement, more intensive
settlement in the form of enclosures was located adjacent to the south side of the eastwest trackway in Area 3 and in the western part of Area 4. These enclosures were
roughly rectilinear, in contrast to the earlier oval enclosure recorded in Area 2. In both cases they were associated with other boundary systems, probably of fields or paddocks, and these and other features may suggest an economic emphasis on stock rearing. In Area 4 certainly, and perhaps also in Area 3, the enclosures were principally of 2nd century date. In Area 4 their location was later used þr
widespread pit digging, mainly of 3rd-4th century date. The east-west trackway in Area 3 may also have continued in use into the late Roman period. Scattered inhumation burials, one in Area 5 and two in Area 4, were probably of 4th century date (while three poorly-preserved cremation burials from the working area southwest
of Cogges Lane were probably early Roman). In the access areas west of Area 3 further groups of línear boundaries and pits were probably mostly of 2nd century
date, but because of the limited scale of examination formed a less coherent plan. A few post-Roman features were revealed. These, mostly dítches, related almost entírely
to the development of the recent landscape.