Archaeological Excavations in North Hampshire. sites in Basingstoke, Andover and Odiham (Paperback)

This volume brings together the results of archaeological excavations on four sites in northern Hampshire. At Marnel Park, Popley, Basingstoke, ditched enclosures were constructed towards the end of the Iron Age (late 1st century BC or early 1st century AD) and remained in use into the Roman period (early 2nd century AD). The early abandonment adds to a growing picture of rural settlement instability within the Roman period.

The excavation at 55 Chantry Street, Andover, mainly focussed on medieval occupation at what would then have been the edge of the town. The major feature might conceviably have been a mill race or a very substantial ditch, but its interpretation is very uncertain. The site was occupied from the 11th to 14th century but there was a marked lack of 15th- or early 16th-century evidence, until a cottage was built in the late 16th-century.

Two sites on the High Street in in Odiham offer contrasting perspectives on the development of this relatively little explored town. At number 23, an early Roman occupation, probably a farm, does not appear to have lasted long but there was evidence for both middle and late Saxon phases, probably again a farm, with some evidence for ironworking, radiocarbon dated to the 7th century. If occupation extended into the Medieval at all, however, it was surprisingly slight for such a central location. At number 106, in contrast, nothing appears to be earlier than the 13th century, suggesting this date for an expansion of the settled area further east than previously imagined. Again, however, the occupation was short-lived and the town?s growth overall may have been equally so.