Almost all the prehistoric features uncovered appear to be associated with the southern side of the trackway. Some preliminary evidence was found of a series of gullies that lay between it and a narrow eroded E-W alignment tentatively named the Narrow Way. The width of this was defined by multiple stake-holes; the whole lay under nearly half a metre of barren fill, the excavation of which produced only an occasional flint flake. Some parts were sealed by gravel upcast from the RB ditches.

Although no evidence of any extension of the IA Ditch 49 was found, this part of its successor, Ditch 48, was redug as Ditch 62, the late C3 gravel pit drain from the S. In the mid part of C4 its junction was deliberately backfilled as a base for a rubble-surfaced causeway, possibly for a path between the RB kilns excavated in 2005, and the approaches to the villa. On either side of the causeway Ditch 62 was full of the find-rich domestic refuse encountered last year. This fill ended clear of the outfall of the maltings drain, Ditch 65, but both this and Ditch 62 had silted up and been abandoned before being sealed under the gravel upcast of the northern extension of Ditch 64. This in turn predated the deliberate, careful burial of a possibly deformed calf, a small part of which had been damaged by mediaeval ploughing.

Perhaps the most exciting acquisition of the year was the unexpected receipt of an offprint from an article by Ralph Jackson of the British Museum on `Roman bound captives: symbol of slavery?' This included a description of our 1997 find, which had been set in a 3rd century military belt-plate (see illustration). It is the only recorded example of the ten found in Britain and six on the continent from a site of known status and a dated context. Although always worth finding, items like the bronze wire bangle, tweezers, raised circular disc, and other small finds listed this year are regrettably not in the same class. These and fourteen coins, some of them minims, came from Ditch 62. I am grateful to John Earl, our metal detector operator, who found the smoothed, deliberately bent 17th century silver shilling in the plough soil, and identified it as a love token.

Two October days were spent extending the geophysical survey in the fields around the St Peter's church villa site (SO 771033). The results suggest that on the south side there may be two ditches; the eastward extension of the known western boundary one may swing north-east There was clear evidence of ridge and furrow in the field on the eastern side of the road, but no other features.