Proposed MALD School, Wheatridge, Gloucester, Gloucestershire

The evaluation fieldwork comprised the excavation of nine trenches, each measuring 30m in length and 1.8m in width. The trenches were predominantly located to test the small number of uncertain responses identified by the preceding geophysical survey and to provide a representative sample of the remainder of the site. All trenches, except Trenches 6 and 7, were moved slightly from their original positions to avoid areas of long grass, which may provide a habitat for slow worms. Trenches were set out and overburden was stripped from the trenches by a mechanical excavator under archaeological supervision to the top of the natural substrate, which was the level at which archaeological features were first encountered. Archaeological features/deposits were investigated, planned and recorded. Deposits were assessed for their palaeoenvironmental potential but no deposits were identified that required sampling. In May 2024, Cotswold Archaeology carried out an archaeological evaluation at the site of a proposed MALD School at Wheatridge, Gloucester. A total of nine trenches were excavated. Evidence of agricultural practice, comprising the ploughed-out remains of probable medieval/post-medieval ridge and furrow cultivation, was identified in all of the excavated trenches. Two undated ditches, also seemingly relating to agricultural land management, drainage or division, were identified in trenches excavated in the south-western and north-eastern parts of the site and may be associated with an earlier iteration of the identified ridge and furrow field system. A small quantity of pottery of 16th- to 19th-century date was recovered from the subsoil of the trenches excavated during the course of the evaluation. It is considered likely to derive from previous ploughing and/or manuring of cultivated fields. A single undated posthole was identified in a trench excavated in the northern half of the site.