Oxford North, Wolvercote, Oxford

In July 2020 Oxford Archaeology (OA) was commissioned by EDP to undertake
an earthwork survey, field evaluation and test pitting on land at Wolvercote,
North Oxford. A programme of 19 trial trenches and 6 hand-dug test pits were
excavated across the proposed development area, where previous
archaeological investigations had not been undertaken.
The earthwork survey helped to ground-truth the results of the existing LiDAR
data providing a contour survey of the upstanding ridge and furrow preserved
in the Northeast field. Two orientations of ridge and furrow were identified,
potentially of different date. Eight test pits were dug through the furrows to
identify any manuring spreads and collect any other information that might
supplement our understanding of these features. The pits identified three
agricultural layers were present; topsoil, former ploughsoil and subsoil, but
with no evidence of significant manuring spreads. Finds recovered from the
test pits were mostly of later post-medieval date apart from a few fragments
of possibly medieval CBM and pottery.
A second phase of evaluation trenching at the site also took place in the three
areas of the proposed development, supplementing an earlier evaluation in
the central area. The results were consistent with the earlier investigations
and no features of archaeological origin were revealed, apart from plough
furrows. Based on the result of this and the previous surveys, the site is
considered to have low archaeological potential.