Post-medieval Oxford - Oxford City Council

o Material from the construction of the 18th century north quadrangle at
Queens (trial trench)
o Real Tennis Courts at Oriel (excavation)
o 17th century food waste from Oriel College (excavation?)
Burial grounds and cemeteries
o Wellington Square Workhouse Burials (excavation?)
o Radcliffe Infirmary Burial Ground (evaluation)
o St Clements Church Graveyard (watching brief)
o St Peter at the Bailey Church Yard (excavation)
o Castle Prison burial ground (excavation)
Thames
o Binsey Boat – working boat or punt (excavation)
Chronology
Oxford experienced the Dissolution of the Monasteries after a long period of
economic decline. By 1540 it ranked only 29 th amongst English Towns in terms of its
taxable wealth. The town was granted the status of a city when the see of Oxford
was created in 1542 but stagnation continued until c1580, when the expansion of the
university stimulated growth (Stone ed.1974). The dynamics of growth can be seen
by comparing Agas’ 1578 map of Oxford with the maps of Hollar and Loggan from
the 17th century. The university and colleges expanded by appropriating tenement
blocks in the east end of the walled town and in the suburbs. By the end of this
period, these buildings dominated the landscape in the west end of the walled city
and in the northern suburbs. The city recovered well from the destruction of the Civil
War and by 1662, Oxford ranked eighth amongst English provincial towns on the
basis of the hearth-tax assessments. However, in the later 17th century, the
university entered a period of decline. In the 18th century, Oxford's population fell
slightly, although the town was becoming increasingly renowned for the architectural
achievements of the University and Colleges (VCH iv).
Oxford is well documented and mapped during this period resulting in broadly good
chronological frameworks, although this is less the case for rural areas. This means
that chronology and dating should be better understood than for earlier periods,
however, opportunities to obtain reliable dates for structures or landscapes element
are still extremely valuable. The regional research frameworks note that the reliability
of chronological markers, particularly for the 16th-18th centuries, needs to be tested.
There is considerable scope to use dendro-chronology to test architectural
typologies. The ceramic sequence is reasonably developed, but should be further
tested.
OXFORD ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESOURCE ASSESSMENT- POST MEDIEVAL
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