Monument record 0108500000 - SOULBURY,S OF CHURCH

Village earthworks visible on APs (B1).
Area of Medieval village shrinkage, main features - trackway & 2 raised enclosures (B2).
Workmen's trench for rising main revealed no obvious features to confirm site as one of village shrinkage, & no pottery found (B3).
Earthworks sketch-plotted (B4).
NGR to site centre (B1).
A number of geophysical anomalies were identified with possible archaeological origins. An existing earthwork bank has been detected in the magnetic and resistance surveys. Additional linear features have been detected. These features are likely to be related to former cut features, such as ditches. Areas of enhanced magnetic response and an area of high resistance are possibly indicative of a medieval building. The close proximity of known medieval occupation suggests the features may be contemporary, though their exact origin cannot be determined with confidence. It is also possible that these features are postmedieval in origin. The remaining features are modern and include an area of made ground, an underground service (B5).
The most conspicuous element of the earthworks within The Boot Field is a sequence of four lynchets aligned northeast/southwest. These are wide terraces formed as a result of prolonged ploughing following the natural contour. These terraces terminate at a straight shallow ditch to the southwest. The upper most terrace had been split into 5 enclosures of varying size and likely belong to the later encroachment of the village. By 1767 these were 6 closes and 4 dwellings. Three mounds were identified, all of uncertain origin or use. They may represent three structures depicted on the manoral map of 1769 (B6).

Medieval shrunken settlement remains are visible on historic aerial photographs and remote sensing data as earthworks and were mapped as part of the North Buckinghamshire Aerial Investigation and Mapping project (EBC18304). Located in a field adjacent High Road opposite Manor Farm and centred at SP 88256 26707, the complex of earthworks banks and ditches extend over an area of about 215 metres NE-SW and 125 metres NW-SE. The main features are a linear hollow way about 7.5 metres wide and 154 metres long aligned SW-NE linking a grid of interconnecting linear boundary ditches or trackways that form a series of enclosures of various sizes on a general NW-SE/NE-SW alignment. Within one enclosure is a small block of medieval ridge and furrow cultivation earthworks. A further enclosure contains an earthwork platform about 25 x 35 metres, whilst the enclosure to its SW, NE and SE contain linear earthwork banks that may represent the remains of settlement (7-8).

Ditches of medieval date appear to form field boundaries towards the edge of the settlement. These features do not respect the layout of the later settlement terraces and were generally sealed by the subsoil. Post-medieaval features include internal and external stone surfaces which relate to buildings shown on a manorial plan of 1769. These include make-up layers and various cobbled surfaces. Evidence from several trenches show that makeup layers for some of the terraces overlie the subsoil (B9).

The earliest phase of activity was dated to the 12th-13th centuries. The archaeology indicates that this area was on the periphery of settlement at this time. The features identified comprised pits, ditches, gulleys, and postholes forming field boundaries and drainage ditches. This activity was located towards the northern end of the site on higher ground within the upper earthwork terrace. The large NE-SW ditch, still extant as an earthwork, is likely of medieval origin, but recut and reused into the post-medieval period; many of the upper fills contained post-medieval pottery. One enclosure was identified to the south of the ditch, its function likely agricultural. Pottery sherds recovered from the features primarily represented local wares (B10).
Post-Medieval features were visible across much of the site comprising two buildings, cobbled surfaces, field/enclosure boundary ditches and drainage ditches. The buildings and boundary ditches generally match the 1769 Soulbury manorial plan. The building platform to the north was ill-defined having suffered from robbing. The central building platform was better preserved with a drain and soakaway forming the edges of the building. A brick hearth and semicircular threshold survived and indicate this may have been a substantial building. Around the buildings was pitched stone cobbling forming yard surfaces. Close to current road, a cobbled surface with a wall at its northern edge has been interpreted as a cobbled lane leading to the road. Field boundary ditches and enclosure ditches were located to the south and south-west of the site. Pottery recovered from this phase was predominantly formed of earthenwares from South Northamptonshire, with some sherds of Rhenish stonewares
(B10).