Frere Lithics Collection

Over the last few months members of the Lithics working group (composed from members of the Prehistoric Group) have been cataloguing a collection of lithics from Sanderstead, which was amassed by Mrs NG (Agnes Barbara) Frere during and just after the Second World War. They were deposited in GuildfordMuseum in 1965.

Mangles Collection

The lithics section of the Prehistoric Group has recently reassessed the Mangles Collection held by GuildfordMuseum. This collection has now been itemised on a spreadsheet held by the group and used by the museum in the formation of a database. There are over 100 implements, a third of which are unprovenanced, and the rest of the collection is largely from sites in Surrey, Sussex and Hampshire, with a number of scrapers, axe fragments, blades and hammerstones; mostly attributable to the broad dating range of the Neolithic. Amongst the collection from Sussex is a number of implements from Cissbury including a probable Early Neolithic handaxe which looks like a Palaeolithic ficron, and induced much discussion.

Lasham Collection

During 2010 the Lithics section of the Prehistoric Group reassessed a collection of stone tools which had been amassed by Frank Lasham during the late 19th and early 20th centuries and deposited in GuildfordMuseum at the end of his life. Frank Lasham was born in Essex in 1850, but lived in Guildford from the age of 16 until his death in 1925. He was a successful businessman, owning a book suppliers shop in the High Street, and supported many local worthy causes.

St Martha's Hill near Guildford TQ 035485

The Lithics section of the Prehistoric Group has recently reviewed a collection of flints made by Anne Bowey from this location. Mrs Bowey learnt to recognise worked flints during her participation at the dig of Weston Wood which was directed by Joan Harding.  This collection was checked by one of Mrs Bowey’s old pupils at Woking Girl’s Grammar School, the archaeologist and historian Joy Verrinder of Carisbrooke Castle Museum, IoW.

The flints were collected from St. Martha’s East side which is an area well known to have been rich in finds from many periods. The SSHER contains a number of references to Mesolithic , Neolithic and Bronze Age flints as well as Iron Age and Medieval remains.

Bliaux Lithics Collection

Some members of the Prehistoric Group have recently catalogued a small collection of lithics deposited at the Lightbox, Woking. These items were collected by Mr Arthur Raymond Bliaux, who had been headmaster of Horsell Primary School from before WW2 until about 1946.

Reigate Heath Survey 2009-10

During the winter of 2009-2010 a topographical survey of the barrow cemetery on Reigate Heath commenced. This area is centred at TQ 237504, and there are eight scheduled mounds. None of these mounds can be certainly identified as Bronze Age barrows although in the early 19th century a number of mounds were used to plant conifer clumps and finds in two of these suggested that they were burial mounds (Glover 1814). It is also possible that natural dunes and ridges of harder rock were used and the monuments cannot now be identified by above ground evidence alone.

Abinger Pit Dwelling Museum

Early in 2010 English Heritage approached  Surrey Archaeological Society. They had been asked to assess the Abinger Pit Dwelling museum, owned by Cherry Clarke, as the passage of time had left the premises in a state of disrepair. For those of you not familiar with the site it was discovered in 1948 and excavated in 1950 under the direction of L S B Leakey, who was staying in the area. Owned by Major E Beddington-Behrens, living in Abinger Manor, it was regarded of importance and a museum was established, in the field, by the erection of an agricultural build

Chaldon Report 2012 and 2020

Transcription of aerial photographs by Simon Crutchley (English Heritage) led Mike Russell (2002) to suggest the presence of a prehistoric field system at land on Willey Farm, Chaldon, and that it might be associated with the nearby hillfort known as either War Coppice or Cardinal’s Cap. A visit to the area showed that some of the field boundaries appeared as above ground earthworks and it was decided that an analytical survey would be undertaken by members of the Prehistoric Group. An interim report was published in 2012 below. A report on the completed work has been published in 2020 and is available as a pdf attachment to this page.

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