Roman Settlement, Excavations at Stratford Road (AL29)

1 Trial trenches showed that archaeology, some medieval but mostly Roman exists very near the present land surface. A medieval gravel surface overlies Roman material indicative of a villa or other substantial building. Excavators concluded that damage would be done to sensitive archaeological deposits if more than 0.25m of soil was removed from present ground surface.
2 Further trenches excavated by the Oxford Archaeological Unit in 1994 on site revealed activity dating from the 1st to 4th centuries AD. Traces of buildings of varying construction were found over several parts of the site. By the 4th century, the northern part of the site had become marginal to settlement and was used for burials.