Untitled - Council for British Archaeology

46
date (see Fig.11 ). No evidence was found for
continuation of the R.B. features discovered
elsewhere in the area.
Two circular features were found, a probable
house site of c.8m dias. bounded by concentric
gullies 5 and 6, with S.W. entrance,
and a much smaller (? work) area of c.2m. dia.
within the continuous gulley 20. The inner
gulley (5), very shallow, may have been a
foundation trench for the house walls, while
the outer, deeper gulley (6) may have provided
drainage. Alternatively, these concentric
gullies (5 and 6) may suggest a renewed structure.
Features 1 and 2 may have held poSts of
a small palisade around the house site. Features
3, 4 and 7 postdate the house.
Although continuous, gulley 20 varied considerably
in depth-, being very shallow at the
E., where there was a concentration of small
stone, and deeper along the N. and N.W. where
the fill was very dark and rich in pottery and
bone. Small concentrations of larger stones
may have been packing around posts.
Features 10, 13 and 17 may have been palisade
trenches. 10 and 17 were quite shallow
and may have contained smaller posts, while 13
was deeper with concentrations of large stones,
probably.packing around larger posts. The N.
and S.E. ends of 10 and the W. end of 17 were
obscured by medieval plough furrows.
POST ROMAN SECTION
The largescale excavations at Gt. Linford
were continued from April to October. A
survey of the village earthworks was completed
and documentary research-into the history of .
the village has progressed to the .stage where
we can identify the owners of certain of the
postmedieval houses excavated.-,
/ Fieldwork undertaken jointly with the Pre
historic and R. section, has resulted in the
discovery of several new sites.
The programme of surveying all earthwork
sites and, where possible, carrying out limited
rescue excavations in order to date them, has
continued.
The important manor site at Bradwell, called
Bradwell Bury, was the subject of rescue excavation
during the winter months January to
March and produced evidence of C11th C1T-th
occupation. Several other sites reported
below were the subject of small rescue digs.
At Bradwell Abbey an area 5 x. 5m was excavated
in order to complète the plan of the
W. end of the Priory church. This was a nonrescue
venture involving members of Bradwell'
Abbey Field Centrc and the Bletchley Historical
and Archaeolog4.cal Society.
'Talks on the work have been given by D.C.
Mynard to 24, local organisations. Members
of the team, as members of the Field Centre
Trust, were instrumental in arranging the
opening,of ihe Field Centre and Priory site to
the public on Sunday afternoons. In August an
exhibition of the. results of the Gt. Linford
excavation was arranged there in association
with the centenary of the village school.
Later, in September, we also cOoperated with
the school in arranging an illustrated evening
lecture on the archaeologY and history of the
parish.
Groups of children, notably from the
Ousedale School, Newport pagnell, Radcliffe
School, Wolverton and the Stantonbury Campus
have worked on the excavation at Gt. Linford,
while exhibitions have been held at the
Stantonbury Callipus and the Lord Grey School,
Bletchley.
GREAT LINFORD
Excavation continued on the two areas
opened last year; the first a house platform
250m S. of the village green, covering an area
of about 300 sq.m in Great Picknuts field;
the second in Hern's Close, a field S. of the
green covering a total of about 4600 sq.m. In
addition, a survey was carried out of the medieval
and postmedieval earthworks around the
village.
GREAT PICKNUTS
An area was opened immediately to the S. of
the 1974 excavations to determine the extent
-of the medieval and postmedieval buildings
already uncovered.
The remainder of the Cl7th stone building
located in 1974 was excavated, but was so badly
disturbed by stone robbing that the final
plan of the building remains uncertain. Additional
medieval evidence was represented by a
number of isolated walls and surfaces, badly
disturbed by robbing and later Cl7th building.