Surrey Archaeological Society

Magnetometry survey of the Scheduled medieval moated site by D Calow of SyAS as part of the Merstham Community Archaeology Project. Although features were difficult to discern because of interference from recently deposited metallic objects, a possible linear anomaly could represent one side of the former moat.

Evaluation by A Turner of PCA. Remains of two early 19th century farm buildings and their later replacements were noted, but no evidence for earlier activity was revealed.

Historic building recording by S Underdown of OAS. The oldest part of the property contained evidence for the remains of two bays of a medieval open hall house of probable late 14th to early 15th century date. A two-bay extension was dendrochronologically dated to 1580–97, with further extensions noted, dating to around 1700 and then continuing through the 18th–20th centuries. The property had been unoccupied for some time, and considerable damage to the historic fabric of the structure was noted, through a combination of vandalism, arson and neglect.

Evaluation by C Edwards of AOC. No finds or features earlier than the 1900s were revealed.

Evaluation by J McNicoll-Norbury of TVAS. No finds or features of archaeological significance were revealed.

Evaluation by J Lewis of TVAS. Two small undated gullies and a single sherd of unabraded 12th–13th century pottery were revealed.

Watching brief by P Harp of Plateau. A small number of Neolithic flints and an adze of the same date were recovered from a pipeline trench.

Magnetometry survey by D Calow of SyAS, following the discovery of Roman and Iron Age coins during metal detecting and the subsequent discovery of small sherds of pottery of Late Iron Age and Early Roman date during fieldwalking by D Williams of SCC, suggests the presence of buried archaeological features. (431)

A test pit dug by L Smith of SyAS in the rear garden of the property revealed a packed flint floor, possibly a courtyard from the former Bookham Court. Various finds were recovered immediately above and between the flints. These included pottery sherds, butchered animal bones, teeth, iron nails, glass and a large quantity of broken clay tiles and building material. The pottery dated from the 13th to the 16th centuries. (Bulletin 426)