Convent of the Incarnation, Fairacres, Oxford

Oxford Archaeology (OA) was commissioned by MEB Design Ltd to undertake a test pit and trial trench evaluation of the site of a proposed extension to the Covent of the Incarnation, Fairacres, Oxford. This evaluation comprised 10
1x1m test pits and 5 trenches that were between 5m‐17m long.
The evaluation found one undated pit and one post‐medieval posthole in Test Pit 3, a post‐medieval pit in Test Pit 6 and a possible Roman ditch in Trench 4.
The undated pit in Test Pit 3 was overlain by a layer of colluvium. The colluvium appears to cover most of the site, although the thickness of this layer appears
to vary from 0.09‐0.40m. The colluvial layer contained late Roman pottery and prehistoric worked flints, which suggest that it formed during the late Roman period or later. In Trench 4, a ditch that contained Roman pottery had been dug into a possible colluvial layer and therefore dated to the Roman or post‐Roman periods.
The two layers of subsoil on the site both contained post‐medieval pottery with some residual earlier material. This material was mixed and abraded and did not represent in situ material. It is possible that some of this had become mixed as part of a former ploughsoil. In addition, some activity may relate to the allotment to the west of the site.