Macclesfield House, New Road, Oxford

In June 2010, Oxford Archaeology South undertook geoarchaeological monitoring of 5 geotechnical boreholes at a proposed new building at the site of Macclesfield
House, Oxford. The Site lies just off the Oxford Castle Motte and forms part of the infilled castle motte ditch that has been known to extend to depths of 5 m. The
purpose of the work was to confirm whether the ditch does extend across the site and assess how much of this sequence survives underneath the footprint of
Macclesfield House.
The boreholes identified a 5 m deep motte ditch sequence preserved underneath the site. The sequence comprised waterlogged organic silts and alluvium previously
dated from the 11th century, overlying Oxford Clay and sealed by up to 1 m of 16th to 18th century infilling and burial deposits and 2 m of 18th century building rubble
and infill. The truncation from the foundations of the former 19th-century school and police station / military armoury on the site were found to be confined to the upper 1
– 1.5 m of the sequence.