A small excavation was carried out when one of the shops in the Bury Street precinct was extended at the rear. Roman pits and Roman pottery dating to the 2nd to 4th centuries AD were found. Pits and domestic rubbish dating to the 12th to 16th centuries were also found.
Period Archives
Waste Court (Austin House), Bath Street
An archaeological trench was dug by Oxford Archaeology in 2019, ahead of a development by Abingdon School. The development was to extend Austin House (previously known as Bath Street), a boarding house of the school in Bath Street.
Pits and ditches, and domestic rubbish of the medieval and post-medieval periods, were found. Some of the pits seem to have been the result of post-medieval quarrying for gravel.
Roman burials had previously been found nearby, but no Roman material was found in this excavation.
Thrupp Cottage, Thrupp, Radley
Excavations in the garden of Thrupp Cottage in 2002 to 2004 found pottery and the stone foundations of two buildings. Most of the pottery was medieval or later in date, but some of it may be Late Saxon.
Thrupp is a hamlet in the parish of Radley. Today it consists of just three houses, but it was once much larger. In medieval times, Thrupp belonged to Abingdon Abbey, and the hamlet supplied cheese and eels to the abbey.
Fairlawn Wharf
A small excavation by AAAHS in 1969 revealed a stone wall, built partly over a stone-lined well. The trench was 8 feet (about 2.4 metres) square. Medieval pottery, dating to the 12th and 13th centuries, was also found.
October House
Archaeological observations were made when foundations were dug for a house extension. Roman pottery, a Roman wall, and demolition debris from Abingdon Abbey were found. A large quantity of 17th century pottery, including cups and mugs, and clay tobacco pipes, were also found. This led to a suggestion that there may have been a tavern on the site, although there is no historical evidence for a tavern here.
Red Lion, Vineyard
Archaeological observations were made when new houses were built on the site of the Red Lion pub in the Vineyard. Bronze Age pits, medieval rubbish pits and quarry pits, and the back wall of a post-medieval building were recorded. The building, which would have fronted onto the Vineyard, had a possible industrial hearth.
South of the Vineyard
Oxford Archaeology excavated six areas before redevelopment of sites in the Vineyard. Discoveries included traces of an Iron Age settlement, Roman burials, medieval rubbish pits and property boundaries, and three large ditches which were part of a defence from the English Civil War in the 1640s.
Wootton Road
A number of adult skeletons were found when digging drainage trenches for new houses on the east side of Wootton Road in 1947. The burials may be Roman or medieval. No artefacts were found. The findspot must have been on the Fitzharris housing estate, but the exact location isn’t known.
Albert Park
A channel lined with stone slabs was found in a trench dug in Albert Park in 1917. The channel once took spring water to the nearby Conduit House. Some of the slabs were elaboarately carved pieces from a 15th century building. They probably came from Abingdon Abbey, possibly even from the abbey church which was demolished after 1538
35 East Saint Helen Street
AAAHS excavated in the rear of this property in 1993. Discoveries included traces of a 19th century stone-mason’s yard, 17th and 18th century rubbish pits, and a large rectangular stone-lined pit with an arch on one side. This may have been a soakaway or a cess-pit. It had been filled with demolition debris, including pieces from a stone chimney which may have been medieval. Medieval and Roman pottery was also found.