Archaeological Watching Brief Report, 24 Victoria Road, Cirencester, Gloucestershire, GL7 1ES

The archaeological watching brief comprised the monitoring of the excavation for strip footings 0.85m deep and up to 0.75m wide, and removal of oversite by approximately 0.3m for the rear extension of the property. A plan of the monitored area is shown in the report on figure 2. All work was carried out according to the Chartered Institute for Archaeologists (CIfA) standards, and according to the agreed Written Scheme of Investigation. A digital colour photographic record was maintained, some of which is reproduced in the report as plates 1-3, Appendix 1. The fieldwork was undertaken by Michael Blake. The watching brief revealed a simple stratigraphy of (101), a light yellow weak sandy concrete mix (a bedding layer for paving slabs which had been removed prior to the commencement of the project) which was up to 0.05m thick. This overlay a dark blackish-brown firm sandy-silt with occasional sub-angular limestone (102) that was greater than 0.8m deep, extent unseen. This layer contained modern brick and tile, blue/white pottery sherds, salt-glazed pipe and metalware. No earlier finds or archaeological features were observed. The watching brief revealed a single deposit (102) underlying the bedding layer of the paving slabs (101). This deposit contained 20th century material throughout and no earlier deposits were encountered. The project objectives were met in full with a high confidence rating for the results.