The Roman Studies Group is undertaking a third season of excavation on Ashtead Common. Working days are grouped as three sets of 5 days from Wednesday to Sunday each week.
Dates are Wednesday to Sunday, 27 - 31 August, 3 - 7 September and 10 to 14 September (with the possibility of needing 15 and 16 September for tidying up etc.)
A second season of excavation took place from late August to mid-September. The aim this year was to tackle some of the questions arising from the old villa excavation and also to test some of the possible buildings nearby, previously identified by John Hampton and Tony Clark. One of these possible buildings has recently been relocated by magnetometer survey.
In SyAS Bulletin 374 (May 2004) we reported on work at Downside, Epsom which led us to conclude that the alignment of Stane Street through Epsom did not follow that suggested by Winbolt but, rather, that proposed by Margary. We mentioned a terrace which was seen by Margary - and still survives - and which lines up with the site of an excavation by Winbolt at Woodcote Park and an excavation (unpublished) behind St Martin’s Church. This led to the successful discovery of Stane Street on the continuation of this line at Albert Road allotments. Margary predicted that the alignment would continue until it would take a turn northwards, in the vicinity of the railway line, to intersect alignments established in Ewell.
