84 St Aldates Oxford

In April 2014, Oxford Archaeology was commissioned by Jonathan Ungar to
undertake an archaeological watching brief during the excavation of six geotechnical
pits and two boreholes at 84 St Aldates, Oxford (SP 5139 0584). The work was in
advance of the re-construction of the recently dismantled rear wing of the property,
which is likely to be of 17th century date. The watching brief revealed natural gravel
of the floodplain terrace, overlain by a series of alluvial deposits potentially
indicative of a channel of the Thames which later became the Blackfriars Mill
stream. A number of the test pits also revealed a fairly homogeneous silty clay
deposit, very similar to deposits identified elsewhere at the interface between the
second terrace and the floodplain and interpreted as 12th-13th century land
reclamation. This was overlain by a series of mixed, post-medieval deposits, which
may represent construction debris from the recently dismantled structure. Evidence
for the nature of the footings of the remaining standing walls of the structure and the
associated southern boundary wall of the site was also revealed, together with a
possible internal division within the structure