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Excavations at Alchester, 1928

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 January 2012

J. H. Iliffe
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Extract

The primary object of the work of 1928 was to follow up the discovery in 1927 of the unexpectedly strong and heavy foundation underlying the north-east corner mound. As a result of this year's work it is evident that this corner mound represents some heavy structure which is best explained as a circular corner tower built into the town walls at their northeast angle; but even its foundations were so broken up that it was impossible to discover any outline or recover a complete ground plan. Oh the outside, instead of extending beyond the walls themselves, the circumference of the structure lay flush with the curved external angle of the walls, while on the inside its circumference projected slightly beyond the angle of the walls proper. It was thus rather an internal than an external tower, a fact which it is important to bear in mind.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Antiquaries Journal , Volume 12 , Issue 1 , January 1932 , pp. 35 - 67
Copyright
Copyright © The Society of Antiquaries of London 1932

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References

page 35 note 1 The third season's work at Alchester began on July 16 and continued for six weeks, the fine weather enabling very satisfactory progress to be made. Much help was rendered with the cleaning and drawing of objects, plans, etc., by Miss B. Whittaker and Miss M. J. E. Bagot of Lady Margaret Hall, and Mr. R. L. W. Jones and Mr. R. A. Minter, both of Worcester College, all of whom spent several weeks at the site. Mr. S. Price has as usual given unsparingly of his help and advice at all times, both during the excavation and in the writing of the Report. To the late Dr. E. Norman Gardiner we are greatly indebted for his able management of the finances, and to Mr. R. T. Lattey for photographic work.

page 35 note 2 Site 4, 1927, vide Antiq. Journ., ix, 106, 119.

page 35 note 3 Antiq. Journ., ix, 118.Google Scholar

page 36 note 1 Roman London (Royal Commission on Ancient Monuments), 1928, p. 81.

page 36 note 2 Ibid., p. 79.

page 40 note 1 Wrox. ʼ12, fig. 9, 5, and p. 24. Cf. Haverfield in Arch. Journ., lx, 236 ff., lxxii, 265 ff.

page 41 note 1 The best preserved piece is the well-squared north-west angle of the building (pl. xi, 2), which remains to a height of two courses.

page 42 note 1 Insomuch that, before being completely uncovered, it suggested in many ways a hearth.

page 44 note 1 e.g. hook-rimmed mortaria; jars and ollae of very hard light greyish-blue ware; ollae, of brown clay with grey slip inside and out, with rouletting and girth grooves; soft brown ollae with seven or eight girth grooves, ledge at base of neck, slightly S-shaped neck and beaded rim; the same shape in coarse black clay with biscuit-like particles; a large, tall beaker with girth grooves, between which are combed lines (somewhat as Wrox. ʼ;14, p. 63, 71); two large lightbrown flagon handles with four ribs; hard grey ollae with everted rims; ollae with countersunk cordon at base of neck, strong bulge, and deep girth groove, of black clay; types as Corbridge 4–9 (flat-rimmed); thin brown beakers with rouletting; tall, hard, grey beaker with rouletting; large ollae with swollen shoulder, cordons, and grooves reminiscent of Swarling and Early Iron Age types, of brown clay with greyish core ; and one piece of a beaker of a definite Swarling type, with cordons, of brownish clay with black slip outside.

page 44 note 2 Two fragments of querns, of the same material, were found in 1929.

page 45 note 1 Antiq. Journ., ix, 113 sqq., and fig. 4.

page 45 note 2 Though, naturally, one may have remained open and in use longer than the other.

page 46 note 1 Fine grey beakers with rectangles of dots in barbotine; a bulging olla in light pinkish-brown clay with girth groove; a ‘strainer’ base of olla shape of brown clay with grey-blue slip outside; large, heavy store-jars with wave pattern; a small, fine beaker of white clay with everted rim and brownish-black slip inside and outside, and leaf (?) and other patterns in barbotine ; a cup of hard grey-blue clay, vaguely imitating form 27, but upper fluting nearly flat externally; and a small, fine pinkishbrown beaker with everted rim, decorated with vertical lines in white paint.

page 46 note 2 There occurred also in the filling of ditch 2 numerous lumps of decayed wood. That these were remains of the timber buildings of the first period is an inference supported by the finding of many iron nails throughout the sub-house levels in this area (i.e. over the gravel bank as well as in ditch 2): they were especially plentiful near the junction of the house and corner tower.

page 46 note 3 Large ollae with bulging shoulder and cordons, of brown clay with grey core; small, very fine, white or pink beakers with beaded rim ; large, coarse ollae of black ‘biscuit’ clay, with striations round shoulder; a carinated olla with countersunk cordon at base of neck, of hard, greyish-white clay, with black slip inside and out; and a fragment of strongly cordoned ‘Swarling type’ beaker of black clay, having pattern of herring-bone striations divided by one of the cordons.

page 47 note 1 A small-footed olla of drab clay with polished black slip; a carinated dish in brownish clay, a development of Corbridge 4–7, with faintly reeded rim and girth grooves above carination; a cup of grey clay imitating form 29, with overlapping arch pattern in barbotine; fine, small beaker of hard white clay with brownish red slip rusticated; a ‘beer-mug’ of hard, blue-grey clay; a hookrimmed mortarium with a perfect stamp MATVGENVS (c. A.D. 80–120; cf. Wrox. ʼ12, p. 66, 8); and a number of fine, small pipe-clay beakers.

page 48 note 1 The small objects are in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford.

page 48 note 2 The following abbreviations are made use of in the text, in addition to those mentioned in 1927 Report:

1927 Report. Excavations at Alchester, 1927, by Iliffe, J. H., in the Antiquaries Journal, vol. ix, no. 2, for April 1929.Google Scholar

page 49 note 1 It is hoped to include along with the Report for 1929 a list of definitely pre-Flavian material from Alchester. The work of 1929 supports the conclusions expressed above.