Archaeological monitoring and recording at No. 41 High Street, Chipping Sodbury, Bristol

A programme of archaeological monitoring and recording was carried out by Oakford Archaeology in April 2025 during works at No. 41 High Street, Chipping Sodbury, South Gloucestershire. The works comprised the excavation of a small area measuring 4m long, 4m wide and approximately 0.18m in depth. Subsequent excavations for a new foundation trench measured 4m in length, 0.7m wide and extended to a depth of 0.7m. The excavations for the infill extension exposed an undated reworked garden soil cut by a single, large, roughly sub-circular pit in the southeast corner. This had gradually breaking sides and a concave base, and the three industrial white- and creamware sherds recovered from the lowest fill provide a late 18th-19th century date for its disuse. The feature was cut by an L-shaped wall foundation, likely the remains of the L-shaped boundary wall shown on the 1882 Ordnance Survey Map. The wall was demolished sometime in the late 19th or early 20th century when the boundary with the neighbouring eastern plot was moved further east and in line with the small rectangular building occupying the rear of the plot. Finally, the works exposed the remains of a stone drain, parallel with the rear boundary wall and extending west from the small building occupying the rear of the plot in the late 19th century. The feature is probably associated with the latter, at a time when the buildings may have functioned as an abattoir. The pottery assemblage recovered from the site is minimal and solely late 18th-20th century in date. The excavations for the infill extension exposed an undated reworked garden soil cut by a single, large, roughly sub-circular pit in the southeast corner. This had gradually breaking sides and a concave base, and the three industrial white- and creamware sherds recovered from the lowest fill provide a late 18th-19th century date for its disuse. The feature was cut by an L-shaped wall foundation, likely the remains of the L-shaped boundary wall shown on the 1882 Ordnance Survey Map. The wall was demolished sometime in the late 19th or early 20th century when the boundary with the neighbouring eastern plot was moved further east and in line with the small rectangular building occupying the rear of the plot. Finally, the works exposed the remains of a stone drain, parallel with the rear boundary wall and extending west from the small building occupying the rear of the plot in the late 19th century. The feature is probably associated with the latter, at a time when the buildings may have functioned as an abattoir. The pottery assemblage recovered from the site is minimal and solely late 18th-20th century in date.