Wiltshire Archaeological & Natural History Magazine, vol. 97 (2004), pp. 106-43 
Prehistoric Settlement and Medieval to Post- 
Medieval Field Systems at Latton Lands 
by Dan Stansbie and Granville Laws 
with contributions by Alistair Barclay, Fulie Hamilton, Elizabeth Huckerby, 
Hugo Lamdin-Whymark, Ruth Shaffrey, Elizabeth Stafford, Maisie Taylor, 
Jane Timby and Annsofie Witkin 
Work in advance of gravel extraction by Oxford Archaeology allowed the excavation of Prehistoric and medieval 
remains. A ring ditch of probable early Bronze Age date was identified but not excavated. Two linear ditches lying at 
right-angles to one another, with a waterhole between, defined an area of middle Bronze Age settlement, including 
several post-built roundhouses and pits. A wooden bowi came from the basal fills of the waterhole and sherds of 
Deverel-Rimbury urns came from the fills of the ditch termini. An adult female burial of later Bronze Age date lay just 
to the north of the settlement and several pits, also of later Bronze Age date, were discovered during a watching brief to 
the south of the middle Bronze Age activity. One pit contained some disarticulated human remains. Several pits of Iron 
Age date were also revealed during the course of the excavation. Ridge and furrow and ditches of medieval and Post- 
medieval date overlay the Prehistoric activity. 
LOCATION AND GEOLOGY 
Oxford Archaeology undertook excavations north- 
west of the village of Latton, which lies on the A419 
to the north-west of Cricklade (Figure 1). The study 
area comprised a parcel of land approximately 750 
m x 450 m centred on NGR SP 07559695, lying to 
the south-east of the B4696 and to the north-west of 
the former Latton Creamery; it was bisected by the 
route of the new A419. Lying close to the course of 
the River Churn, the underlying geology is First 
Terrace river gravels forming a very flat topography, 
descending from about 84 m OD to 80 m OD. 
ARCHAEOLOGICAL 
BACKGROUND 
Archaeological evidence from the environs of 
Latton indicates occupation and activity from the 
Neolithic period to the present day. Although there 
is no certain evidence of activity prior to the 
Neolithic, a few, possibly Mesolithic, flints were 
found in the Creamery Field, north-east of Cerney 
Wick and Beggars Field, east of Cerney Wick (CAT 
1991a, 69). Neolithic monuments and evidence for 
settlement in the form of flint scatters are 
concentrated in the uplands of the Cotswold region 
and are rare in the valley bottoms until the late 
Neolithic (Darvill 1987, 46). However, an oval 
enclosure south-west of Westfield Farm is 
provisionally dated to the late Neolithic/early 
Bronze Age (CAT 1991b, 44-5). A similar enclosure 
lay to the south-east of Latton within Scheduled 
Ancient Monument 900 and a Neolithic pit was 
found in the same field (Mudd et al. 1999, 7). There 
is no evidence for Bronze Age activity in the 
immediate environs of Latton apart from that 
revealed by the recent phase of work carried out by 
Oxford Archaeology. However, at Cotswold 
Oxford Archaeology, Janus House, Osney Mead, Oxford OX2 0ES 
