Monument record 1515400000 - Stoke Mandeville Bypass

Evaluation trial trenching carried out by L-P Archaeology from July to September 2018 in advance of construction of HS2 railway and bypass, confirmed the presence of ditched enclosures identified by an earlier geophysical survey. In Trench 4 a NW-SE aligned ditch had been truncated by a larger NE-SW ditch. The earlier ditch fill contained Roman pottery dating to the 2nd-4th century and animal bone. The later ditch fill contained late 2nd to early 3rd century pottery, animal bone and a copper alloy hair pin. The terminus of an undated shallow NW-SE ditch was found, and may also be Roman. In Trench 5 a NE-SE aligned ditch approx 2m wide and 1m deep contained late 2nd to early 3rd century pottery and animal bone in the fill. In Trench 7, 2 undated parallel shallow gullies alligned NW-SE were also thought to be Roman. The ditched enclosures were suggested to be Roman field boundaries, with the finds originating from a nearby settlement or farmstead, perhaps to the east. See report for detail (B1).
Excavation confirmed presence of an Iron Age settlement. Three roundhouses and pits indicate that the settlement extends further north beyond the excavation area. The majority of the activity identified was Roman (B2).