Watching Brief at Symonds Yat Promontary Fort, road

The trenching was carried out under constant archaeological supervision along a predetermined route. In week one, a 1.7-tonne tracked excavator with a toothless ditching bucket was used to excavate a 300/mm wide trench to 500/mm depth, though restricted access limited detailed recording. In week two, a remote trenching machine excavated a 150/mm wide trench to 460/mm depth, with recording relying on spoil inspection due to the narrow width. All spoil was visually examined for artefacts, and metal detection was attempted, but no finds were recovered. A unique site code (WB/SY/23) was applied to the project archive. Contexts were recorded on pro-forma sheets, an ordered archive was maintained, and photographs were taken in TIFF format at 16/MP+, with no drawings or small finds recorded, as no archaeological resources were encountered. This document comprises a report on an Archaeological Watching Brief undertaken during all ground disturbance works necessary for the installation of an ultrafast, fibre optic broadband cable. The disturbance ran through the centre of a Scheduled Monument, No: 28861, Symonds Yat Promontory Fort, an area known to be of high archaeological importance. A single small area of closely packed limestone blocks was encountered, potentially along the projected alignment of the outermost rampart of Symonds Yat Hillfort. The outcrop, however, produced no evidence of human modification or related presence, so its interpretation must remain inconclusive. All other encountered contexts were related to the construction of the modern roadway and associated services.