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Saxon and Medieval Activity

A lone Saxon building was found towards Downs Road. The floor had been dug into the ground and holes found at either end of the structure suggest that the roof would have been supported on posts. Four more sunken-floored buildings containing ovens, hearths and pits were found in a 13th century medieval settlement further east, showing that this way of building survived locally for a very long time. The medieval examples are more likely to have been agricultural and semi-industrial buildings than dwellings, although pottery and quernstones suggest that people lived close by.

Other areas of medieval settlement dating from the 11th to the 14th century were found along the route but none of these lasted after AD 1400, suggesting a shift to the modern pattern of villages and farms towards the end of the medieval period.

Towards the east end of the route an unusual find was the skeletons of a pregnant sow, a dog and the torso of a cow buried in a pit together with 13th century pottery.

While disease may have been the reason for burial, these animals could have been killed deliberately, possibly evidence of medieval superstition and witchcraft.

Future work

Post-excavation analysis of the remains is now underway, with the aim of producing a Popular Report summarising the results in time for the opening of the road in December 2008.