Roman occupation deposits, Acorn House, Evesham Street, Alcester

1 An archaeological evaluation at Acorn House, Evesham Street, Alcester within the southern suburb of the Roman town found extensive, well preserved Roman deposits just below the modern garden soil. Pottery analysis suggests that the main occupation phase was mid-1st – early 2nd-century AD.
The earliest feature on site was a relic soil pre-dating the occupation of this area. Intensive occupation began in the Flavian period, with a hint of previous activity indicated by residual pottery of pre-conquest and Transitional types. Early deposits included a succession of layers associated with an ashy occupation layer. A sequence of cardinally aligned gullies may relate to a complex of enclosures or paddocks. These were succeeded by gravel and stone surfaces, possibly even a metalled street. Several large postholes cutting these layers could relate to large wooden buildings either side of the street. Less well dated and poorly stratified were a series of inhumation burials and a substantial stone wall. The wall lay parallel to the street and on the same alignment as walls excavated in 1975 to the west of the present site [see MWA482]. A parallel gully, dating to at least the 3rd century, implies that some semblance of the former alignments remained in the later Roman period.