We are publishing an interim report on geophysics carried out at a site on the Newton Park campus of Bath Spa University in March this year.
A team of BACAS volunteers and staff and students from Bath Spa carried out a geophysical survey of a site which we had identified in our work last year when we undertook conditions surveys based on the Newton Park conservation plan and a series of historic documents. The site contained a series of mounds on the edge of a promontory and an area close to the river in the valley where there were signs of what might have been fording, milling or garden landscaping.
The survey conducted on the mound next to the playing fields in the Dog Kennel Wood area of the Newton Park Campus of Bath Spa University showed it to be encircled by an ovoid stone ring with a break on its southern side. The ring disappeared under the made-up ground of the playing fields. It was of the order of 30 m north-south, with minimum east-west dimensions of 20 m. A rectangular feature, probably a building, some 7 m by 3 m was placed in the break in the ovoid ring. From its position, it is assumed to be later than the ring. On the steep slope of the mound, where it descends to the west, was a very strong signal, apparently from stones placed in a cutting into the hill. There was no dating evidence.
Down by the stream, some 100 m to the west, there were apparently walls representing either a large building or a small enclosure on the western bank. Again, there was no dating evidence.