Wallingford Rowing Club, Mongewell, Oxfordshire

In March 1998 the Oxford Archaeological Unit carried out a field evaluation at the proposed site of a rowing club development at Mongewell near Wallingford, Oxfordshire on behalf of Oxford Architects Partnership. The six trench evaluation revealed a small number of features including a late Roman or early Saxon sunken-featured building and a ditch of uncertain date. The sunken-featured building contained two bone pins, a decorated double-sided comb and a near-complete pottery vessel. The artefact assemblage may date from the 5th century AD. The remaining four trenches contained no significant archaeological deposits.
Phase2
In July 1998, the Oxford Archaeological Unit carried out a second field evaluation at the proposed site of a rowing club development at Mongewell near Wallingford, Oxfordshire on behalf of Oxford Architects Partnership. The previous six-trench evaluation conducted in March 1998 revealed a small number of features including a late Roman or early Saxon sunken-featured building and a ditch of uncertain date. The second phase of evaluation increased the area sampled to approximately 3% of the total area.
During the second evaluation, deposits containing early Neolithic pottery, bone, an antler comb and worked flint were excavated in one of the trenches. A pit containing struck flint of similar date was also excavated. A substantial ditch, containing animal bone and a single struck flint flake, was excavated but could not be securely dated. It is possible, however, that it may date to the same period.
A small gully containing Saxon pottery and a second, poorly defined, feature from which Saxon pottery was retrieved were also excavated. The pottery was of a similar date to that recovered during the first phase of evaluation.
Quarry pits and a ditch, of probable medieval date, were also recorded on the site.