Surrey Archaeological Society

Watching brief by S Hind and R Poulton of SCAU between 2006 and 2009 during the redevelopment of the barn. There was extensive evidence of post-medieval disturbance, much of it relatively modern in date, but a small amount of prehistoric material, including Mesolithic flintwork and Bronze Age pottery, was recovered. However, the principal interest of the site related to the fact that Place Farm is an 18th century building formed on the manorial complex of Bletchingley Place.

Evaluation by D Milbank of TVAS in advance of the creation of a pond, recovered a sherd of medieval or possibly Roman pottery from subsoil, but did not reveal any features of archaeological interest.

Evaluation by T Munnery of SCAU in advance of the creation of fishing lakes alongside the M25 did not reveal any finds or features of archaeological interest.

Three phases of archaeological investigation were carried out by S Ford, J Pine and J Lewis of TVAS in advance of possible future extraction on this site. The first phase comprised the excavation of 249 trenches and revealed a range of deposits of Late Bronze Age, Roman, Early Saxon, Late Saxon and medieval dates, within an area coincident with a cropmark enclosure complex; a small number of gullies possibly dating to the Neolithic or Bronze Age to the west, and in-situ Mesolithic artefacts and a Mesolithic pit.

Evaluation by T Munnery of SCAU exposed the foundations of the church, and three burials, two of which were likely to be relatively recent and the third of unknown date. A barbed-and-tanged arrowhead was discovered in the graveyard in the 1990s, and an unstratified struck flint, probably of Neolithic or Early Bronze Age date, was recovered during the evaluation.

Watching brief by N Randall of SCAU during groundworks involved in the installation of a water pipeline across and to the east and west of the A22. The probable route of the London–Brighton Roman road is postulated to lie below the present route of the A22. No remains of this were exposed in the trench excavated across the A22, but evidence of a succession of 18th–19th century phases of sub-surface road construction was revealed.

Community Archaeology Project by A Guinness of Heritage Enterprise. LandSkip is a project creating art from rubbish working in conjunction with Esher College and Elmbridge Museum. Several small (2m2) trenches positioned across the bank of a disused 1950–60s dump were shallow-excavated by A Level Art students to demonstrate the process of excavation. A selection of the finds (bottles, shoes, plastic and paint tins) were removed from the site to create artwork for display in Elmbridge Museum.

Landscape survey and historic assessment by P Stevens of SHAHT. A number of landscape features were catalogued, including evidence for the former moated site. A resistivity survey by G James of SHAHT, conducted to identify the remains of the earlier medieval and Tudor manor houses, provided inconclusive results.

Magnetometer survey by D Calow of SyAS, with members of SHAHT, in the area where a possible Iron Age smelting furnace is suggested to be located, revealed a magnetic anomaly that could indicate the presence of a feature of archaeological interest. (418)

Watching brief by T Dawson of TVAS revealed an undated shallow gully alongside evidence of extensive modern disturbance.