Monument record 0509000002 - Rear of 1 & 2 Market Hill, Buckingham

Excavation by Benchmark Archaeology in March and April 2021 in advance of construction of an appartment block found a severely truncated Medieval pit and possible property boundary ditch in the back yards to the rear of the street frontage. The foundations of 19th and 20th century outbuildings and walls were also identified. The Medieval pit was 0.9m wide, at least 1.5m long and 0.35m deep, with vertical sides and a flat base and was dated by sherds of 12th century pottery in the fill. The ditch was probably at least 12m long, 0.4-0.6m wide, 0.1-0.2m deep, alingned NW-SE, cut the top of the pit and was dated by mid-13th pottery sherds in the fill. [The ditch was parallel to but 2m from the post-medieval and modern property boundaries.] A substantial 19th century stone and brick wall aligned NE-SW, about 7.5m long and 1.7m wide, with blue engineering brick fragments in the packing, may be shown on the 1879 1:500 OS map as the shared wall between two buildings in the long rear range behind 1 Market Hill. The foundations of a small two-cell outbuilding 2.5m X 3.8m built after the late 18th century and disused in the 20th century is almost certainly a pair of privies in the yard to the rear of 2 Market Hill, shown on the 1879 OS map. The foundations of a modern narrow brick wall about 7.6m long, 0.35m wide and aligned ENE-WSW, is possibly visible in aerial photos between 1988 and 2003. See report for detail (B1,B2).