This includes just two contexts of primary levelling, both with pottery dates of mid to mid-late 3rd century. Context 1193 Group 19.1 contains a chip of an NVCC beaker in a later type red-brown fabric, suggesting the mid-late 3rd century date. Group 2.4 Context 2090 includes DWSH, including a Dales ware jar rim, alongside 13 sherds of NVCC beakers, one of which is in the later type of fabric. These sherds are considered to be intrusive. A flake of samian is dated to either the Hadrianic or Antonine period, so, given the problem of intrusive sherds, a terminus post quem of mid 2nd century may be applicable.
The 13 sherds from Period 1 contained no diagnostic datable sherds.
Phase 1 contained 21 contexts, mostly with under 10 sherds, but one Group 24.8 with 29 sherds indicated an early to mid 3rd century date. This included a NVCC folded beaker with a curved rim, and a possible scale-decorated folded beaker in a later fabric, together with sherds from a crushed BB2 dish. Samian from Period 2 included single sherds, dated to the Flavian period, from Group 24.10, Hadrianic-early Antonine from Groups 24.4, 25.15 and 25.16 and Hadrianic or Antonine from Group 24.8. Phase 2 included the first of the locally produced fine wares, and no definite date came from the remaining sherds except for an East Gaulish form 31 bowl from the fill of 73 in Trench I, dated late 2nd to mid 3rd century.
Phase 1 included 28 contexts of fragmented pottery, with most sherds probably not later than the 2nd century, except for a single tiny chip of an NVCC beaker from a soil sample Group 20.16 which appears to be in a later fabric (context 1207), suggesting a mid 3rd century date. Nine sherds of samian included six of Flavian or Trajanic date, two of Hadrianic or Antonine, and a single flake of probably Antonine. The start of the large groups of production ‘waste' occurred in this phase.
Period 3 Phase 2 covered 15 contexts, still fairly fragmented sherds from dumps and levelling, mostly of indeterminate 2nd century date, but two Groups, 21.5 and 21.6, are dated to the early and mid 3rd century on the basis of a single NVCC beaker sherd and a DWSH Dales ware jar rim. Most of the samian is of Hadrianic or early Antonine date, but two sherds of East Gaulish ware came from Group 3.1, both dated to the late 2nd to mid 3rd century, one of which was riveted.
Phase 1, 15 contexts, was similar to preceding groups with little positive dating, except for small groups in Groups 4.4, 27.15 and 27.19 with later sherds, dating to at least the mid 3rd century. The sample included an East Gaulish sherd from the fill of 87, a possible recut of Trench I. There was a quantity of residual local production ‘waste' from Trench 3 in Group 4.4 and in Trench I.
Period 4 Phase 3 has 18 contexts, but still relatively small groups, with indeterminate dating. Groups 5.4, 5.6 and 6.8 contained later sherds, indicative of around the mid 3rd century, including DWSH and two NVCC beakers of later type and fabric. The samian extended to c.AD 125-145, and included residual Flavian sherds.
Period 4 Phase 4, just three contexts from dumps, produced more positively later dating from Group 7.2, mostly more NVCC beaker sherds in later fabrics, Dales ware suggesting the mid 3rd century or later, and an East Gaulish dish of late 2nd to mid 3rd century.
Period 4 Phase 5 is another similar group of small contexts, with little positive dating. Groups 30.38, 30.46 and 31.48 have 3rd century fine wares, centring on the mid 3rd century or later, while Group 31.44 contained post-medieval sherds.
Period 4 Phase 6, 21 contexts with more, less fragmented, pottery dated to the 3rd century, including a quantity of local production ‘waste' from Trench 4, Group 3.6. Groups 8.6, 8.8, 27.22, 34.4 and 36.6 all had pottery centring on the mid 3rd century or later.
Period 4 Phase 7, 13 contexts, similar to the preceding groups, with definite 3rd century datable sherds in Groups 9.13, 9.17, 9.19 and 9.21. Group 9.17 also contained the first large quantity of the coarse shell-gritted fragments OXSH, although fragments occurred from Periods 2 and 3.
Period 4 Phase 8, less fragmented, 11 contexts with 3rd century dated sherds, in Groups 10.1, 10.3 and 32.1.
This assemblage contains the least fragmented sherds, with positive dating of mid 3rd century or later. Wherever there are a reasonable number of sherds, the dating is consistent.
A similar pattern occurs in Period 6, while the material from the upper layers, Periods 7-9, was much more fragmented.
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Last updated: Tue Nov 28 2000