Monument record 0779500000 - Field south of Ellesborough Road

A complex of linear and rectilinear ditches is visible as cropmarks. Possible robbed-out building foundations, trackways, etc. Suggested as site of documented medieval hospital. Alternatively may be field boundary ditches or other enclosure ditches (B1).
[See CAS 02461 for medieval St John's hospital and chapel, on Tring Road; not at this location].
Geophysical survey carried out in March 2018 by Magnitude Surveys in advance of groundworks for HS2 failed to identify any archaeological anomalies (B2).
Evaluation trial trenching by INFRA in March 2019 confirmed the presence of Medieval boundary and enclosure ditches and holloways in the area of the cropmarks in trenches 2, 4 and 9. In trench 2 a v-shaped ditch 4m wide and 1.28m deep, oriented NE-SW, formed a major property or field boundary. The ditch contained four fills, with finds of 12th century pottery, animal bone, iron slag and a residual fragment of Roman roof tile from the upper fills. Trench 4 contained a NW-SE alingned Iron Age hollow way which appears to have been recut along it's eastern side in the Medieval period, forming a holloway with gently sloping sides and flat base, 4.6m wide and 0.5m deep. Remnants of possible wheel ruts were visible in the centre and along the eastern side of the Medieval hollow way, which was dated by finds of burnt daub and roof tile from the upper fill. The hollow way appears to continue into trenches 3 and 5. In trench 9 a shallow ditch 1.69m wide and 0.18m deep with gently sloping sides and concave base, oriented NW-SE forms one of the sides of the rectangular cropmark enclosure. Fragments of residual Roman roof tile and and Medieval tiles were recovered from the ditch fill. It seems likely that other undated ditches in the immediate vicinity which form part of the cropmark complex, may also be Medieval in date. A concentration of iron slag and hammerscale from soil samples suggests that iron smithing was taking place in the vicinity of trenches 1-8. See report for detail (B3).