EDO1077 - 17A Knighton Lane, Broadmayne; excavation 1980

In June 1980 digging of a vehicle inspection pit inside a garage being built at 17A Knighton Lane revealed up to 1.6m of accumulated sediments overy chalk bedrock. Digging machinery disturbed a flexed burial in a shallow depression at the base of the accumulation, and this was subsequently excavated by the Wessex Archaeological Committee. A sealing deposit immediately over the burial was interpreted as the possible remains of the mound of a round barrow. A ditch was recorded cut through the sediment deposits at the western end of the trench. The ditch was about 2m wide and V-shaped in profile. In the lower deposits of the ditch filling was pottery of 3rd to 4th-century date and a deposit of carbonised grain. Upper fillings of the ditch contained much building debris including a lozenge-shaped roof tile. This and other evidence was interpreted as indicating the presence of a Roman settlement consisting of a least one substantial enclosure and building or buildings.