HER 25518 DESCRIPTION:

Romano-British farmstead of probable 2nd to 4th century date identified in 2017 evaluation and 2020-21 excavation at Polo Fields/land east of Evenlode Road, Moreton-in-Marsh.

2017 - During late March and early April 2017 Oxford Archaeology undertook a trial trench evaluation on land west of Evenlode Road, Moreton-in-Marsh, centred on SP 21442 31979. The trenches were targeted on the results of a geophysical survey, which indicated a dense array of enclosures and related features in the northern and western parts of the site, where the ground was slightly higher. Trenches targeted on these anomalies revealed a series of ditches and pits that proved to be of middle to late Iron Age date. Although pottery was fairly sparse, fragments of fired clay may derive from ovens or hearths and could indicate that the site was used for settlement. Environmental samples contained the occasional charred remains of cereals and other grains {Source Work 14883.}

2020-2021 - Excavation of land east of Evenlode Road, Moreton-in-Marsh identified evidence for a mid to late Iron Age rural settlement, succeeded by a Roman farmstead and a medieval enclosure.

In september 2022 a post-excavation assessment and updated project design was released.

"The [second] phase of activity belonged to the Roman period and was again dated by the ceramic assemblage, although this consists mostly of sherds that are only broadly datable. There are a few more diagnostic sherds of Mid to Late Roman type. However, the possibility that some of the less diagnostic material could belong to an earlier Roman phase cannot be totally discounted. The earliest Roman remains, phased on stratigraphic grounds, were disparate and point to low intensity agricultural usage. These were replaced by a rectangular ditched enclosure containing a smaller ditched enclosure and with a second small, ditched enclosure to its immediate west. The latter produced what seems to be vitrified fuel ash and, although few Roman finds came from the site, the enclosures would seem to have been a farmstead with the smaller enclosures perhaps having surrounded buildings. Whether or not this was a direct successor of the Iron Age roundhouse settlement is not apparent from the ceramic or stratigraphic record but there was certainly no evidence of continuity. The farmstead was located close to the River Evenlode and the Fosse Way, and 1.9km south-east of the Roman small town at Dorn.

This document presents a quantification and assessment of the evidence recovered from the excavation. It considers the evidence collectively in its local, regional and national contexts, and presents an updated project design for a programme of post-excavation analysis to bring the results to appropriate publication." {Source Work 17795.}