Surrey Archaeological Society

A watching brief was carried out by TVAS on the construction of a sports ground and pavilion, for Ashford Sports Club Ltd, in an area where a ring ditch has been noted on aerial photos. Most of the groundworks were shallow, the limited deeper works revealed only levels of modern dumping. A few pieces of struck flint were recovered during the watching brief. (319)

A watching brief by L Pollinger of TVAS was carried out on a residential development by Fairclough Homes Ltd., in an area partly evaluated by SCAU in 1994. No features or finds of archaeological interest were noted. (319)

Evaluation involving a geophysical survey and trial trenching was carried out on this prospective mineral site, by the Bartlett-Clark Consultancy and G Hayman of SCAU respectively, for Henry Streeter (Sand & Ballast). This work revealed a scatter of prehistoric features across the site and a concentration of features of Roman date indicating settlement, probably a small farmstead, at the southern end of the site. (321)

Evaluation by M Dover of SCAU, for Berkley Hambro & Conlyon Investments, in advance of redevelopment of this site. Some areas were found to have been previously disturbed, but a spread of gravel containing sherds of Roman pottery and tile was tentatively identified as a track surface of that date. (314)

Excavation by J Robertson of SCAU for the Metropolitan Police Service followed on from evaluation in 1995; the site for the new police station lies on the fringes of the Roman and later settlement of Staines. The excavation revealed a number of ditches that had been cut parallel to the roadline.

Evaluation by S Ford of TVAS for the Environment Agency of the area proposed for a flood relief channel adjacent to the River Colne. Most of the trial trenches were negative, but at the northern end of the proposed channel a pit containing burnt flint and a fragment of prehistoric, possibly Bronze Age, pottery was identified. A spread of burnt flint and charcoal adjoining this feature produced a similar sherd of pottery. (319)

Evaluation by G Hayman of SCAU, for Greenham Construction Materials Ltd, of an area proposed for mineral extraction (and a flood relief channel) identified a silty deposit containing worked flint, sherds of prehistoric (probably Bronze Age) pottery and a couple of sherds of Roman pottery, which overlay a buried river channel. (314)

Evaluation by G Hayman of SCAU, for Greenham Construction Materials Ltd, on a site proposed for mineral extraction in the vicinity of a previously excavated Iron Age site. One ditch was noted, but no finds were recovered. A subsequent watching brief by M Dover on the stripping of part of the area for mineral extraction noted no features or finds of archaeological interest. (314)

Evaluation and subsequent excavation was carried out by J Robertson of SCAU for Nicholas King Homes, before residential development of the school grounds. The site lies outside the Roman and medieval settlement of Staines but in close proximity to the parish church. Numerous features of late Saxon date were revealed, confirming that there had been some shift of settlement during that period away from the site of the Roman town. Some features of Saxo-Norman date were identified, but insufficient to establish whether Duncroft was the site of Staines’ Manor House.

Evaluation by R Poulton of SCAU, on behalf of United House Construction, was carried out in advance of redevelopment. Two phases of flood deposits (Roman and post-Roman) were revealed below modern disturbance. These in turn overlay natural brickearth and gravels. The evaluation found no evidence for Roman or earlier features sealed by the flood deposits; in particular no trace of the possible Roman ditch identified by the Spelthorne Archaeological Field Group, during their work in 1992, was revealed in either trial trench.