Wendover Cricket Club Relocation, Tring Road, Buckinghamshire: Post-Excavation Assessment and Updated Project Design

The fieldwork followed the methodology set out in the WSI (CA 2023a) with the location of the excavation area agreed with BCAS. Archaeological investigation was undertaken across an excavation area totalling 1.21ha (Fig. 4), as agreed with BCAS. The excavation area was located to investigate areas of archaeological significance, identified and confirmed by geophysical survey and trial-trench evaluation (SUMO 2023 and CA 2023b). A programme of archaeological investigation was undertaken by Cotswold Archaeology in January to April 2024 at the request of Wendover Cricket Club, on behalf of HS2 Ltd. An area of 1.21ha of land was excavated to the north-west of Tring Road, Wendover, Buckinghamshire. The archaeological features identified during the excavation were largely concentrated in the western half of the excavation area, with a small number of discrete and linear features situated in the eastern half. The earliest evidence for activity identified on site comprised two dispersed prehistoric pits that contained small quantities of Late Neolithic and Late Bronze Age to Early Iron Age pottery. Following this, Late Iron Age to Early Roman enclosures were established, along with a pit group. During the Middle to Late Roman period a series of enclosures, corndryers, pit/posthole groups and human burials (cremation and inhumation) were established, which together represented two distinct phases of activity (Period 3 Phases 3.1 and 3.2). Medieval plough furrows, a post-medieval field boundary, two postmedieval/ modern wells and post-medieval/modern pits provided further evidence for land-use during later periods. A moderate assemblage of pottery, ceramic building material (CBM) and metalwork, alongside smaller quantities of fired/burnt clay, worked flint, painted wall plaster, worked stone, industrial waste and glass were recovered from the site. The majority of the pottery dates to the Late 8 Wendover Cricket Club Relocation, Tring Road, Buckinghamshire: Post-Excavation Assessment and Updated Project Design � Cotswold Archaeology Iron Age (transitional) or Roman period, with Late Neolithic, Beaker, Anglo-Saxon, medieval and post-medieval sherds being present in smaller quantities. Other artefacts of note include four fragments of quernstone/millstone; fragments of fired/burnt clay ceramic plates, likely utilised as oven furniture; and a fragment of worked bone handle for a clasp-knife. Additionally, a large assemblage of Roman metalwork was recovered including 52 coins, 76 hobnails, three brooches, an incomplete pair of tweezers and a spoon handle. A medieval coin and a postmedieval farthing token are also of particular note due to their rarity.