Mercers Farm Quarry, Bletchingley Road, Nutfield

Evaluation by W Boismier and I Meadows of Andrew Josephs Associates across an area of possible flint scatters recorded during previous fieldwalking (SyAC 97, 208) and located on the terrace edge of a small stream valley. The stratigraphy recorded in all trenches comprised a plough-soil above post-glacial alluvial clay and Cretaceous Gault Formation clay and pebbly sand deposits. Worked flint artefacts were only recovered from the plough-soil with no artefacts, features or deposits found cut into or within the alluvial sediments underlying it. The results showed that ploughing had disturbed the shallow top and subsoils and that the flints recovered during the evaluation and fieldwalking did not derive from an intact, ancient buried soil. The worked flints from the various elements of investigation had a strong Mesolithic component, although later Neolithic and Bronze Age material was also represented, suggesting utilisation and possible occupation of the terrace across that broad timespan.

Year: 
2017
ID: 
2885
NGR: 
TQ308518
Borough: