Foundations of a Roman building were found when the Railway Inn site was being developed in 2002.
The building had been built over the infilled defensive ditches of Abingdon’s Iron Age ‘oppidum’. Medieval and later features were also found
Period Archives
St Nicolas’ Churchyard
A coin of the Roman emperor Claudius was found here.
Claudius ordered the Roman invasion of Britain in AD 43.
Market Place
In 1972, an excavation on a vacant site on the Market Place (behind the County Hall) found a large number of medieval rubbish pits and much medieval pottery.
These would have been in rear yard or garden of a property fronting onto the Market Place, which was the heart of the medieval town. Much Roman pottery was also found.
Stratton Way underpass
A complete Roman bowl was found when the Stratton Way underpass was being built. It is now on display in Abingdon Museum.
Debris from a Roman building, including painted wall plaster, was also found.
Vineyard (Cattlemarket) excavations
An excavation on the site of the New Abbey House Council offices found Iron Age houses, a Roman building and stone-lined well, Roman skeletons in lead coffins, Saxon buildings, features relating to Abingdon abbey including the cemetery where townspeople were buried, and a previously unknown cemetery from the English Civil War.
Abingdon Museum Lift Shaft
At a depth of nearly 2 metres below the modern pavement, an excavation beside the County Hall for a lift shaft found remains of Iron Age buildings.
Above these was a Roman road with wheel ruts in it. It had been resurfaced with gravel several times. In medieval times, the site seems to have been been open land, part of Abingdon’s Market Place.
Clothing Factory
Remains of Abingdon’s clothing factory, a major establishment in the 19th century, were found in an excavation in West St Helen Street in 1977.
Roman pottery, a medieval ditch which was probably a property boundary, and much medieval butchery waste were also found. The site is now occupied by the St Helen’s Church Centre.
Twickenham House
Early Bronze Age pottery, traces of Iron Age occupation, an early Roman building, and medieval and later pits and refuse dumps were found in an excavation in the gardens of Twickenham House in 1987.
Human bones which may have been anatomical specimens belonging to a 19th century surgeon who had lived there were also found.
Dunmore Road
An Iron Age and Roman farm was excavated before a housing estate was built here.
A minor Roman road, heading towards the centre of Abingdon, was also found, as well as some Bronze Age pits.
North side of Vineyard
Salvage excavations while building work was taking place here in 1977 to 1978 found a Roman cremation burial with a pottery flagon, a human burial which was probably prehistoric or Roman and a medieval kiln, possibly for malting. Other ditches and pits which may have been Iron Age or Roman were recorded.