Mesolithic

NESCOT former animal husbandry land, new care home site, Reigate Road, Ewell (pt 1)

Excavation by A Haslam of PCA of 1m2 test pits across a colluvial deposit that covered the site, and previously identified during a programme of evaluation (SyAC 99, 218), produced c 7000 pieces of Mesolithic, Neolithic, Bronze Age and Iron Age struck flint. The bulk of the assemblage dated from the later Bronze Age to the Iron Age and may derive from middening practices spanning those periods. Although redeposited, the flint assemblage clearly represents all stages in the reduction process, from the preparation of raw materials through to the manufacture, use and discard of tools.

North Park Farm Quarry, Bletchingley

Excavation by T Munnery of SCAU. The earliest features revealed were a small number of tree-throw hollows of Mesolithic and Bronze Age date, a similarly dated cremation that may have been originally within an organic container and two Bronze Age pits. An early medieval trackway and field system were revealed that were aligned to the western edge of a partially exposed palaeochannel. A post-built structure was carefully placed next to the trackway in the corner of a former field defined by a series of boundary ditches.

North Park Farm Quarry, western extension, Bletchingley

Watching brief by J Condliffe of WA. To the east of Whitehill Lane, a series of eleven postholes on an east–west alignment associated with a large quantity of ceramic building material was identified. This north-west corner of the field is shown on OS maps up to 1897 as being a brick quarry and the posthole alignment probably indicates the line of the boundary fence that surrounded it. To the west of Whitehill Lane, a pit cut by a large posthole was revealed. Each feature contained two sherds of highly abraded Iron Age pottery.

Blackdown Primary School (Portesbery School) (former), Deepcut

Evaluation by N Randall of SCAU recorded an undated pit, possibly an earth oven, and two unstratified flint cores of Mesolithic or Neolithic date. Across the centre of the site were large areas of ground disturbance that probably related to the 20th century use of the site as military barracks, and the impact of a railway line that traversed the site during the inter-war period.

Majestic House, Staines-upon-Thames

Evaluation and excavation by C Ellis of COT followed initial evaluation of the site by AOC in 2006 (SyAC 94, 368). The work revealed that large parts of the site had been subject to extensive modern disturbance but excavation in two areas revealed evidence of activity from the Mesolithic, Neolithic/Bronze Age, Iron Age, Roman, medieval and post-medieval periods. The Mesolithic was represented by residual worked flint artefacts from later features.

Lime Trees Primary School, Battlebridge Lane, Merstham

Evaluation and subsequent excavation by W Weller of SCAU produced residual Mesolithic and Neolithic flintwork and a potential Bronze Age ditch terminal. An intensive period of activity began in the Middle Iron Age and extended into the early 2nd century AD, with a series of boundary or enclosure ditches and pits dominating the excavated area. The ditches may have formed a rectangular enclosure or field boundaries associated with a central domestic enclosure of a previously, partially recorded farmstead.

Merland Rise, Tadworth

Evaluation by T Munnery of SCAU revealed residual Mesolithic and Neolithic flintwork, a number of probable Late Bronze Age/Early Iron Age ditches and medieval or post-medieval quarry/dene holes. The character of the ditches suggests they form part of a field system rather than a settlement enclosure.

South Holmwood Brickworks, Newdigate Road, Newdigate

Strip, map and sample by J Wright of COT revealed two pits and two linear features, and recovered a small quantity of probable Mesolithic flint from the top of the natural substrate. One of the pits was similar to examples investigated in an adjoining area in 2011 thought likely to be tree-throw hollows resulting from tree clearance in the Late Bronze Age or Early Iron Age. The second pit is also likely to be the remains of a tree-throw hollow but probably of recent origin.

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