Land East of the A419, Kingsdown, Swindon, Wiltshire

During September and October 2018 Oxford Archaeology undertook a trial
trench evaluation comprising 105 trenches targeted on geophysical anomalies
at land at Kingsdown to the north‐east of Swindon, Wiltshire (centred on NGR
SU 15763 89598). The site is bisected by the Bythemill Brook, and to the north
of this the only dated features were a Roman posthole, a medieval ditch and
a post‐medieval ditch. A number of struck flints were recovered from topsoil
and subsoil layers in the trenches immediately to the north of the brook, but
none were present in features, and no associated in situ archaeology was
identified.
To the south of the Brook, features of Iron Age date, including a ditch, pit and
posthole, were present in Trenches 68 and 69 within the centre of the site.
These trenches also contained substantial ditches related to a sub‐rectangular
enclosure with an eastern entrance, which was identified by the geophysics.
The enclosure proved to be of Roman date and contained a single instance of
cremated human bone, and donkey bone.
To the south of the Roman enclosure, a ditch identified from the geophysical
survey was investigated by Trenches 74 and 75. A single sherd of pottery
recovered from its fill suggests that the ditch may be of early Anglo‐Saxon
date.
Within the southern part of the site, Trench 99 contained a ditch of probable
Iron Age date, and Trenches 94 to 99 contained a fairly dense array of features
of middle Roman date, perhaps indicating the origin of a late Roman ladder
enclosure that extends to the east, and which was recorded during an earlier
phase of evaluation in 2010.
As such, the trial trench evaluation has identified three localised, distinct and
well defined concentrations of archaeological activity. The majority of the site
produced either no archaeological remains, or a low level scatter of isolated
features related to the agricultural use of the site in the Roman, medieval and
later periods.