This report presents the results of archaeological investigations along
the 17km-long Gloucester Security of Supply Water Pipeline in the
vicinity of Tewkesbury. The archaeological mitigation works were
commissioned by Severn Trent Water; following evaluation of the whole
route, three sites were chosen for excavation, at Fiddington and
Pamington in Gloucestershire and at Bredon's Norton in Worcestershire.
The site at Pamington revealed oval enclosures of mid-late Iron Age
date, that at Fiddington elements of a rural settlement spanning all of
the Roman period. At Bredon's Norton the pipeline cut through a series
of Iron Age and Roman settlement enclosures and their internal features,
and also included human burials of both periods. Unusually, one Iron Age
burial was accompanied by a saw, and among the Roman burials was a
cemetery of seven newborn infants.
An unexpected discovery was the remains of a Roman bathhouse with a
plunge pool flagged with stones and decorated with painted wall-plaster.
This was later drained and had a central cistern inserted, while the
loft was used to store grain. The building was destroyed by fire at the
very end of the Roman period, resulting in the exceptional preservation
of charred grain, together with fragmentary timbers, on the floor.