Monument record 0637701000 - Aylesbury High School, Walton Road

Watching brief carried out by Babtie in September and October 2000, during groundworks for construction of a new music centre at Aylesbury High School, recorded features and finds of early-middle Iron Age to Romano-British date. 2 pits, or a pit and a ditch (features 045 and 048), were dated by pottery finds to the early-middle Iron Age, although the finds might have been residual as the sherds were abraded. A large ditch (feature 023, 028) surviving to a depth of 0.8m and 2.1m wide was interpreted as a late Iron Age boundary ditch and contained finds of pottery and 'Belgic brick', possibly indicating the presence of an oven or kiln in the vicinity. Features thought to date to the Romano-British period comprise 2 pits (features 003 and 031), one of which may have been a clay pit and had Romano-British material only from the latest of its fills; a possible building foundation or robber trench (feature 015); and a rammed limestone floor or yard surface laid on top of a sand levelling layer (features 021 and 022). Undated features included pits and ditches. Pottery finds were indicative of domestic activity, with Iron Age material comprising 30% and Romano-British material 49% of the total assemblage, the Romano-British pottery dating largely from the 2nd century AD. It is suggested that the miscast Romano-British brooch may indicate that metal working was possibly taking place in the vicinity, whilst the hobnails may indicate a military presence nearby. Parts of the site had been heavily disturbed by modern service trenches, long jump pits and tennis courts and by a 19th century brick well (feature 051) (B1).
NGR to approx centre of site.