Test pit 48 was excavated in the back garden of 22 Bedford Street. Bedford Street runs approximately east to west between Warwick Street and Meadow Lane. Number 22 is on a west facing slope overlooking the Thames flood plain (see figure 1). Test pit 48 was one of a

series of investigations in the Iffley Fields area of East Oxford undertaken in 2012/13. It is in the

approximate area of Mesolithic, Neolithic and Early Bronze Age activity identified at the beginning

of the 20th century by Oxford antiquarian Alexander Bell (Nicholas and Hicks 2013). The area was

open fields until the construction of Bedford Street at the turn of the 19/20th centuries(see figure 2).

 

Test pit 48 was excavated close to the boundary between 22 Bedford Street and Sisters of the Love of God convent. The area under investigation had previously been under the concrete base for a shed. This had then been removed to have a new shed built and the owners granted permission to excavate the area prior to the newconcrete area being constructed.The test pit was roughly 2x2m in extent and by approximately 1m deep. 5 layers were encountered in the test pit.  Finds were generally post medieval/modern in date with the exception of a single prehistoric struck flint.