Oxfordshire's Historic Archives
Preserving and Enhancing Access to Historic Oxfordshire
Records of Archaeological Work held by the Ashmolean Museum

Site Name: Yarnton

Site Location: Central Oxfordshire
Related Achive: Manning (and Leeds)

Documents in the Manning archive refer to a number of prehistoric sites at Yarnton.

In 1862 an urn was found at the railway cutting at Yarnton Junction. Then in 1875 and 1876 two Bronze Age beakers were found in a gravel pit at a site with two probable ring ditches. One of these beakers is held by the British Museum and the other by the Ashmolean Museum (AN1886.1453).

Between 1854 and 1876 finds and features of an Iron Age settlement were discovered, including ditches, pits, burials, pottery, bronze implements and flints.

Prof. Rolleston examined a number of finds from these sites in Yarnton, adding several flint implements to his collection (AN1886.1455-56).

Further Iron Age material was also recovered from a gravel pit in Sandy Lane, which contained a number of storage pits full of hearth debris.

However, Manning also recorded evidence for an Anglo-Saxon cemetery at Yarnton, which was excavated in 1876 by George Rolleston. The finds from this cemetery are now in the Ashmolen Museum. (Find out more about this cemetery)