A355 Beaconsfield Eastern Relief Road Archaeological Evaluation Report

A total of fifty four trenches 25m long and 1.9m wide were excavated, according
to the layout in the Written Scheme of Investigations approved by P Markham
of BCC.
Seventeen of the trenches (1, 2, 9, 11, 15, 27, 29, 30, 38, 39, 41, 43, 44, and 51-
54) proved to be devoid of archaeology. Features uncovered and excavated in
Trenches 18, 21, and 23 proved to be natural formations.
In the northern field (Trenches 1-32), few of the soilmarks that were investigated
contained dating evidence. Nevertheless, there was a scatter of undated ditches
and probable pits across this area, which represent human activity of one or
more periods. The absence of finds suggests that this activity was peripheral to
settlement.
The ring ditch suggested by the geophysical survey was investigated by Trench
10, but proved to be a large pit some 12m across and 1.1m deep of late postmedieval
date with redeposited natural filling the centre over a dark, greyishbrown
sandy silt. Finds of various types were recovered, indicating an 18th or
early 19th century date. The purpose of this feature is still unclear.
One flint knife was recovered from a gully in Trench 3 and another from a pit in
Trench 25. The latter feature also contained a whetstone. Otherwise finds from
the north-west end of the site, like those from the deep pit in Trench 10, were
post-medieval, and mainly from field boundaries, except for the pit in Trench 25
and a pit in Trench 24, where a couple of small pieces of Roman pottery were
present.
A total of fifty four trenches 25m long and 1.9m wide were excavated, according
to the layout in the Written Scheme of Investigations approved by P Markham
of BCC.
Seventeen of the trenches (1, 2, 9, 11, 15, 27, 29, 30, 38, 39, 41, 43, 44, and 51-
54) proved to be devoid of archaeology. Features uncovered and excavated in
Trenches 18, 21, and 23 proved to be natural formations.
In the northern field (Trenches 1-32), few of the soilmarks that were investigated
contained dating evidence. Nevertheless, there was a scatter of undated ditches
and probable pits across this area, which represent human activity of one or
more periods. The absence of finds suggests that this activity was peripheral to
settlement.
The ring ditch suggested by the geophysical survey was investigated by Trench
10, but proved to be a large pit some 12m across and 1.1m deep of late postmedieval
date with redeposited natural filling the centre over a dark, greyishbrown
sandy silt. Finds of various types were recovered, indicating an 18th or
early 19th century date. The purpose of this feature is still unclear.
One flint knife was recovered from a gully in Trench 3 and another from a pit in
Trench 25. The latter feature also contained a whetstone. Otherwise finds from
the north-west end of the site, like those from the deep pit in Trench 10, were
post-medieval, and mainly from field boundaries, except for the pit in Trench 25
and a pit in Trench 24, where a couple of small pieces of Roman pottery were
present.
Struck flint was recovered as residual finds from Trenches 25, 35, 45, and from
a small pit in Trench 34 and a deeper pit in Trench 37. The deep pit was 5m
across and was not bottomed, so could represent a shaft rather than a pit.
Post-medieval field boundaries were found in Trenches 45 and 47, and an
undated small pit in Trench 50, but south of this the trenches were devoid of
archaeological activity.