Wayside Farm Fleet Marston & Land at Fleet Marston, Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire: Archaeological Evaluation Phase 2; Metal detecting and testpit survey

In early September 2011 Oxford Archaeology carried out a metal detecting survey
and test pit evaluation on land at Fleet Marston, Buckinghamshire. The work
consisted of two phases of controlled metal detecting survey, a series of excavated
shovel test pits and a further series of excavated one metre square test pits. The
results showed a concentration of material around the still extant Church of St Mary,
with the volume of finds decreasing significantly away from the church.
The majority of dated finds from both phases of metal detecting survey came from
the later Romano-British period. The test-pits contained a range of pottery dating
from the Romano-British into the Post-Medieval period.In early October 2011 Oxford Archaeology was contracted to undertake the second
phase of a programme of field evaluation which examined the field surrounding
Fleet Marston church, (NGR SP 7797 1596).
A first stage of evaluation and reporting, comprising systematic metal detecting and
test-pitting, confirmed the results of earlier geophysical survey, locating the focus of
activity around the Church of St Mary. Recovered artefacts indicated two main
periods of site use, Roman and medieval.
A second stage of evaluation, comprising twenty five trenches, was then
undertaken. Trenches were targeted either on features identified by the geophysical
survey to better understand their date and character, or on apparently 'blank' areas,
to test this assumption.
No significant prehistoric remains were recorded. The main enclosure systems
identified by geophysics in the southern and eastern parts of the site were sample
excavated and found to be of Roman date, although datable cultural material was
scarce. It is possible that some of the excavated features in the central and northern
parts of the site were also of Roman date or origin, but this was obscured by later
medieval activity. These Roman enclosures occupy an area of locally higher ground,
and marked by their surrounding ditches they appear to be small fields/paddocks,
possibly located some distance from the main settlement which may have lain 250m
to the south west closer to Akeman Street.
A very small amount of early and possibly late Saxon pottery indicates activity close
by but larger amounts of pottery date the main period of occupation on the site to
the 11th to 15th centuries. This activity is focussed around the church, and in
particular on its southern and western sides. The evidence indicates possibly two
phases of larger church enclosure with the village settlement running west and north
west from the church. This part of Fleet Marston village appears to have been
abandoned from the 15th/16th century, leaving the church as it is today.
An assessment of the results of the various stages of field evaluation, including
geophysics, metal detecting, test-pitting and trenching, confirms that archaeological
remains are preserved on the site, indicates they have some potential to contribute
to local and regional research aims, and indicates that in general they are of low to
moderate significance.