The Sheppey, Chipping Campden, Gloucestershire: Archaeological Evaluation

The evaluation fieldwork comprised the excavation of eight trenches, in the locations shown on the attached plan. Seven of the trenches measured 25m in length, and a single trench measured 30m in length; all trenches measured 1.8m in width. The trenches represented a 2% sample of the c. 1.85ha proposed built development area, located in the western part of the wider site (see Fig. 2 for extent); the trenches were located to test geophysical anomalies and to provide a representative sample of the remainder of the site. In December 2025, Cotswold Archaeology carried out an archaeological evaluation of land at The Sheppey, Chipping Campden, Gloucestershire. A total of eight trenches were excavated. A number of broadly north/south aligned ditches, correlating closely to linear anomalies seemingly representing a droveway or trackway, as identified by the preceding geophysical survey, were recorded in three trenches excavated in the western half of the site. Two sherds of pottery of a broad Roman date were recovered from the fill of one of these ditches. A further east/west aligned ditch, seemingly representing a field boundary associated with this droveway/trackway, was identified in a trench excavated in the southern part of the site. Evidence of medieval/post-medieval ridge and furrow cultivation, in the form of extant earthworks, was noted throughout the site. Where observed, this correlated closely to a number of linear trends identified by the preceding geophysical survey indicative of ridge and furrow cultivation. A single sherd of mid 16th to 18th-century pottery was recovered from a ploughsoil layer identified in a trench excavated in the southern part of the site. An undated pit was identified in a trench excavated in the southern part of the site, however the function of this pit remains unclear.