Untitled - Council for British Archaeology

108in the two earlier farmsteads there was a division betweenoccupation/storage and working/paddock areas. The villanucleus lay within a ditched enclosure c. 130m. sq.(1.7 hectare) including a chequer-board of subsidiaryenclosures. As in the earlier Romano-British farmstead atrackway ran along the E side. The trackway provided accessto the farmyards at the SE and NE corners and at the latterbranched eastward running across the field towards Barrow Hills.The excavated yards and paddocks contained a subsidiarybuilding with two rooms and a nearby well, an area reservedfor infant burials, a corn-drying oven and a well-house.Latest Romano-British/Saxon: In the early C5th moreirregular enclosures were added on the S side of the villacomplex. The largest, to the SE, contained a water-hole withtrampled sides, sheep burials and two sets of wool shears.In the C5th the farmhouse was systematically demolished,the stone removed and the cellar infilled. The upper fill ofseveral of the villa ditches contained Saxon material; asherd of a faceted, carinated vessel occurred well down in one ofthem. The latest Romano-British paddock ditch at the SE of thecomplex contained a wicker (hazel) lined Saxon well. There isevidence for 3 and possibly 4 rectangular Saxon structures,areas defined by fences and 7 sunken huts. Most of the lastproduced evidence for textile manufacture, including a set oflead loom weights on the floor of one of them.Two Saxon burials were inserted into the rubble of thevilla (one adult male, one female with neonatal infant) and twointo the subsidiary Romano-British building (2 adult females,one with neonatal infant). The metalwork with these burialspoints to a C6th date.Middle Saxon/Medieval: There is no evidence of occupationfrom the C7th onwards. This land around Barton Court Farm mayhave been part of the demesne of Abingdon Abbey from theearliest period of the Abbey's existence, it certainly wasby 1086.Post-Medieval: The first enclosure ditches on the site,incorporating parcels of ridge and furrow date to about thetime of the Dissolution of Abingdon Abbey.BERINSFIELD, Mount Farm - George LambrickExcavations have begun on a moderately extensive cropmark site (SU 583968)near Dorchester in advance of gravel extraction. It is intended to conduct athorough overall excavation to add to the work conducted by Dr. J.N.L. Myres inthe 1930s (Oxoniensia 1937). The excavation has been financed by the AmeyRoadstone Corporation, The Manpower Services Commission and DoE.One possible neolithic pit has been discovered, but the main periodsrepresented are a Bronze Age or Beaker ring-ditch, and an Iron Age to Romano-British rural settlement, which from initial work (confirming the 1930s results)shows a marked degree of continuity in the layout of paddocks etc. This is incontrast to some other sites such as Ashville (Abingdon). It is hoped to'recover another good sequence of Iron Age pottery, and a sampling system isunder way to record the distribution around the site of three important typesof domestic refuse, pottery, animal bone and charred plant remains. The site