Land to the Rear of The Old Forge, Westonon- the-Green, Oxfordshire

Between December 2015 and January 2016, Oxford Archaeology (OA) undertook a
watching brief at The Old Forge, Weston-on-the-Green, Oxfordshire (SP 5323
1870). The watching brief monitored the excavation of strip foundation trenches for
an extension to the rear of the property, and revealed natural geology comprising
loose brownish yellow gravelly sand with small-large sub-rounded pebbles of sandy
limestone. Although the British Geological Survey maps the geology of the area of
the site as Peterborough Member Mudstone, it seems likely that the gravel deposit
derives from an outcrop of the band of Kellaway Sands shown to the north of the
site on the same survey, and may account for the influx of ground water
encountered during the excavation of the foundation trenches.
The natural geology had been truncated by a series of pits which produced
predominantly late 19th - early 20th century artefactual material, possibly associated
with the use of the forge by the Kirtland family throughout the 19th century.
A possible east-west aligned ditch, with limestone rubble along its southern edge,
probably represented an earlier version of the existing property boundary. The
limestone rubble may have represented a demolished wall or a rudimentary
revetment along the edge of the feature.
The remaining deposits encountered comprised garden soils reflecting the current
use of the site