Spirit Motors Southam Road Banbury Oxfordshire

In January 2007 Oxford Archaeology (OA) carried out a field evaluation
at Spirit Motors, Southam Road, Banbury, Oxfordshire (NGR SP 454 408)
on behalf of CgMs Consulting. The work was in advance of a new
development by McCarthy and Stone (Developments) Ltd. The evaluation
revealed limited evidence of 17th- or 18th-century activity in the west of
the site, possibly associated with a property shown on the Davis map of
1794. A similarly dated garden or cultivation soil was seen throughout the
site, forming part of an open space behind the property.
Evidence for a 19th-century structures behind a property on Southam
Road, and an out building within a yard of a property fronting School
Lane, were revealed in the west and centre of the site. Two 19th-century
boundary ditches with an entrance way were revealed in the east. The
ditches most likely formed the eastern limit of the properties fronting
School Lane, or the western extent of Castle Gardens.
No evidence for any earlier activity was revealed and it appears unlikely
that the site was occupied prior to the 17th century.