Archaeological watching brief at 14 Britannia Square, Barbourne, Worcester

An archaeological watching brief was undertaken at 14, Britannia Square, Barbourne, Worcester (NGR SO 84598 55568). It was commissioned by Ken Francis, in association with the construction of an extension to the existing property. Planning permission had been granted subject to a programme of archaeological works. The site is located in the Barbourne area of Worcester on the south-east side of Britannia Square. The central part of Britannia Square is a scheduled monument, and evidence of Roman buildings have been found on the south side of the square. One trench was excavated for the footings of the extension. The continuation of a Roman sandstone block wall previously identified in a watching brief at the adjacent property, 15, Britannia Square, was uncovered in the trench. Associated Roman roof tile fragments indicated that this structure is of Roman date. This wall is considered likely to have formed part of a building extending to the northwest, as no further structural evidence was encountered in the rest of the trench. A buried brick arch was uncovered in the north-east corner of the trench relating to a 19 th century cellarage structure, although no more of the structure was visible due to the narrow nature of the trench. A later 19 th century well was recorded in the south-east portion of the trench that had partially collapsed into itself. The made ground deposits encountered indicate that the area to the rear of the property has been truncated and built up during the initial construction of the house. The natural geology was only observed in the south-western side of the trench, at c 1.25m depth. Elsewhere the made ground extended to the full depth of the trench, and the north-east side of the trench was only excavated to a depth of 0.75m. With the exception of the Roman wall and associated roof tiles, no other artefacts pre-dating the 19 th century were observed.