Land North of Gloucester Road, Tutshill, Gloucestershire. Archaeological Excavation.

An archaeological excavation was undertaken by Cotswold Archaeology in January 2018 at the request of Bellway Homes Ltd (Wales) and their archaeological consultant, CgMs Heritage, on land north of Gloucester Road, Tutshill, in the parish of Tidenham, Gloucestershire. These works were the final part of phased investigation of the site that followed on from an archaeological evaluation. The excavation identified a small number of features of principally prehistoric, Late Saxon and medieval date. The earliest find was the truncated and disturbed remains of an Early Bronze Age crouched inhumation burial of an adult male in a possible stone lined cist. Residual finds including a worked flint, and a small quantity of Iron Age and Roman pottery hint at other activity on or near the site. However, the only features that could be dated with any confidence are of late Saxon/medieval and post-medieval date that collectively represent dispersed and small-scale settlement activity and land division associated with rural settlement. Radiocarbon dating indicates a single pit is of probable late Saxon date, whilst two other pits are assigned a 12th to 14th century date based on a small quantity of pottery. Other small features, mostly pits, are probably of this date. A ditch and other traces of ditches and gullies represent likely field boundaries, whilst an extant low, broad linear bank that crossed the site from north to south is interpreted as a possible field lynchet of late medieval or post-medieval date. Plant macrofossils were generally sparse with the exception of those found in two of the late Saxon/medieval pits and included grassland and arable weed seeds, cereal grains (free-threshing wheat and barley), oats and garden pea. One of the pits also contained fish scales, perhaps reflecting the proximity of the River Wye. The excavation produced only a small assemblage of 12th to 13th century pottery, including some non-local wares and part of a jug of Ham Green type. The only other notable artefact is a probable weaver's tool - an antler pin beater or pick, of late Saxon/medieval date