14-18 Manor Farm Road, Dorchester-on-Thames, Oxfordshire Archaeological Evaluation Report

Oxford Archaeology was commissioned by RPA Architects to conduct an
archaeological test pit evaluation prior to the construction of an extension and
remodelling of 14-18 Manor Farm Road, Dorchester-on-Thames, in Oxfordshire.
The site is centred on SU 57940 94357. The work was carried out to inform the
Planning Authority in advance of submission of a Planning Application. The site
is situated on the south side of Manor Farm Road, c 150m to the east of the
centre of Dorchester-on-Thames, close to the confluence of the rivers Thames
and Thame. The property lies partly within Dorchester Roman Town scheduled
monument although the proposed new building work itself is outside the
scheduled boundary. The site is believed to lie outside the core of the Roman
town, in the area between the medieval abbey buildings and their associated
fishponds. The site is also within the grounds of the post-medieval Manor Farm.
Two test pits, which measured 2 x 1m and 2 x 2m, were excavated using a 1
Tonne excavator. The test pits were designed to fit within various site
constraints, including buried utilities. Test Pit 1, on the north side of the present
building, was excavated to 1.55m below ground level and revealed a sequence
of post-medieval to modern garden and driveway deposits and no significant
archaeology. Test Pit 2, on the west side of the present building, revealed a
similar upper sequence of post-medieval to modern made-ground deposits. The
lower part of the sequence, in contrast, revealed a series of archaeological
features including a ditch, a pit, a possible robbed-out wall and a clay surface,
which were first visible at a depth of 1.0m. The associated artefacts suggest that
these deposits were infilled in the post-medieval period, but they could have
originated in the medieval period. The features appeared to overlie or were cut
into a possible alluvial deposit which continued to the bottom of the trench
where river terrace deposits (Northmoor Sand and Gravel Member) were
exposed at a depth of 1.85m below ground level.
The investigation met its aims of establishing the presence, depth, extent,
condition, character, and date of archaeological deposits within the application
area.