Shaping the Landscape / Archaeology
The Big Dig at Oldbury Camp (the ‘Toot’)
Between November 2015 and 2017, our volunteer and professional archaeology teams undertook a large project to discover the origins of Oldbury Camp, Oldbury-on-Severn, also known as the ‘Toot’. The results of this work are written up in a series of reports available for download below.
There’s also a handy leaflet which summarises and illustrates the results of all their hard work.
This report summarises the progress on non-invasive archaeological investigations on the Toot, or Camp, at Oldbury-on-Severn, South Gloucestershire, between December 2015 and December 2016.
The aims covered by this report were to undertake geophysical and topographical surveys of the scheduled monument; to help focus future excavation work. Seven of the nine fields on the monument were available for surveying. All of these seven were surveyed topographically and six of them geophysically.
Test Pit Weekend Report, 2016 DigVentures
This report provides a comprehensive account of the first stage of excavation at Oldbury Camp (the Toot), Oldbury on Severn, comprising the nine 1 x 1 metre test pits, designed to ground truth the results of an earlier geophysical and topographical survey. The results are intended to inform a second stage of fieldwork – a larger community-based excavation.
Geoarchaeological and Palaeoenvironmental Assessment Report, 2017, Wardell Armstrong
Wardell Armstrong Ltd. was commissioned to undertake a geoarchaeological evaluation at Oldbury Camp (the Toot), Oldbury on Severn. The feature is somewhat enigmatic and is currently thought to be an Iron Age Hill Fort. The investigations were designed to establish the nature of deposits across the site through a series of augered sequences which would assess stratigraphy, preservation and archaeological and palaeoenvironmental potential.
Final Excavation Report, 2018, Digventures
This extensive report is a comprehensive account of the archaeological excavations, including the results of fieldwork, specialist reporting and links to the full archaeological record. It is supported by an online database of all written, drawn, photographic and digital data, available through the DigVentures Oldbury Camp website.
Did You Know?
The monument at Oldbury on Severn has long appeared in the historical record. Oldbury-on-Severn is noted in Camden’s Britannia without reference to the Camp (Camden, 1610). He identified Oldbury as the “Traiectus” in Antoninus XIV itinerary between Isca to Calleva (Caerleon to Silchester).
