8 



THE WILTSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY MAGAZINE 



the Archaeological Review of CBA Groups 1 2 and 

 1 3 in their notes on excavations during the previous 

 year. In an attempt to clarify the considerable 

 amount of evidence uncovered David Algar, a 

 former Secretary of SMARG, presents a summary 

 report in the Appendix. The main points that 

 emerge are summarized in the following 

 paragraphs. 



In the abnormally dry months of May and June 

 1962 a linear parch-mark appeared between Old 

 Sarum and the Salisbury-Devizes road (Musty 

 1958, 471). It was sectioned (trench A at SU 

 13463180) in the meadow on the western side of 

 the Stratford Road. Although the ground had been 

 disturbed, due to the close proximity of the modern 

 road and to the foundations of a minor 13th/ 14th 

 century building, a new line for the Roman road to 

 Badbury Rings was confirmed (Stratton 1965). In 

 1964 a second trench (B at SU 13603199) was cut 

 across the parch-mark at the eastern edge of the 

 Salisbury Theological College playing field some 

 250m NE of trench A (Stratton 1965). It revealed 

 not only the Roman road but also the corner of a 

 Romano-British building adjacent to the western 

 side of the thoroughfare. The building had knapped 

 flint walls and dressed ashlar quoins. The associated 

 finds dated the structure to the 3rd/4th century. 



Two further trenches (C and D at SU 

 133033160 and 13403175) were dug across the 

 parch-mark line in 1965, one in Fisherton Meadow 

 on the west side of the river Avon and the other in 

 the same meadow as the 1962 section (Stratton 

 1966). The trenches were 260 and 80m SE of trench 

 A respectively. The height and width of the agger 

 and the separation of the side ditches were the same 

 in both trenches. The Fisherton Meadow cut 

 revealed a series of chalk floors running up to and 

 part way under the agger and together with the 

 occupation debris suggested that the road 

 constructors had lived alongside the road in the 

 last quarter of the 1st century. Trench D, 80m SE 

 of the 1962 dig, produced large quantities of sherds, 

 but in contrast to the finds from the Fisherton 

 Meadow trench they ranged in date from the 1 st to 

 the 4th centuries AD. Box tile, stone roofing tile, 

 knapped flint, greensand fragments and plaster were 

 also found suggesting the presence of a substantial 

 building close to the road. 



In the second half of the 1960s a new housing 

 site (Castle Keep Estate) was developed at the NE 

 end of the meadow in which trenches A and D had 

 been excavated. The construction work revealed 

 considerable evidence of settlement, chalk floors, a 



cobbled area and a small oven. Two sections of the 

 Roman road to Badbury Rings (Margary 1955, 

 Roman Road 4c) were again exposed revealing its 

 construction of hard-packed flints with layering 

 suggesting many resurfacings (Moore 1966, 26-7). 

 Other finds included lst/2nd century AD samian 

 ware and coarse pottery which was mainly 'Belgic' 

 and Durotrigic derived wares and included a small 

 quantity of 3rd century New Forest wares. In 

 addition there were two very worn coins, probably 

 of late 1st century AD date, Purbeck stone and 

 ceramic roofing tiles, hypocaust tiles, and a slab of 

 polished Purbeck marble. 



During 1969 a North Sea Gas pipeline trench 

 was dug across the meadows to the SE of the 

 Stratford Road and the Castle Keep Estate cutting 

 the Roman road at right angles at a point 20m NE 

 of the 1 965 trench D. Occupation debris was located 

 along a length of over 200m and for 65m of this 

 distance the trench revealed multiphased tiled and 

 walled structures of timber and flint, some with 

 plastered walls and with at least four super-imposed 

 floor levels. Structural material included imbrices, 

 hypocaust tiles, a tile stamped LHS and a fragment 

 of window glass. A large quantity of pottery, dating 

 from the 1st to the 4th centuries AD, was recovered 

 (see list at Appendix). This included sherds of 

 samian, New Forest and Oxford wares, an amphora 

 fragment and lead glazed wares. A dupondius of 

 Nero and a sestertius of Commodus were also 

 found. From the north end of the section, some 

 25m from the Roman road, a pit yielded a 3rd/4th 

 century AD group of pottery and fragments of 

 imbrices and painted wall plaster. 



In 1977 it was decided to explore further the 

 building found at the edge of the Roman road in 

 1964 (trench B). A substantial structure, 19.8m 

 long and 6.2m wide, was excavated. It had its long 

 axis at right angles to the Roman road, rammed 

 chalk foundations about 0.5m deep and lm wide 

 and walls with mortared flint and ashlar dressings. 

 The internal structures, while confusing, did reveal 

 a hearth or furnace in the SE end and a cobbled 

 surface at the NW end. About halfway along the 

 SW side of the building an external wall was found 

 at right angles suggesting another room or structure. 

 Three coins were found inside the building, an 

 antoninianus of Gordian III, an irregular radiate 

 and a very worn 4th century AD bronze, which 

 together with a further 1 1 found outside indicated 

 a likely 3rd-4th century date. 



Evidence for a second structure with chalk 

 foundations/floor and flint walls was found on the 



