WILTSHIRE HERITAGE STUDIES The Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Magazine Volume 93 2000 77 = ieee eee 7 Pa : ; o, aa) a . } an at i i ty : a ; at i _ re ; wo = { 7 + hs = ee fc 7 : Me = 7 ‘ = - 7 ' : ¢ a oe Ko ns < zi ; . : =a fA a i : q 7 z 7 7" + Ti), S eel ee + n 7 . a) ia heey F = , we aX a 3 4 ’ eee . *, \ a = : : i a ne - 7 7 f 7 + - 7 a my 3 i 1 4 a ' ' . 7 7 : nl = ; ' : ae ‘ re : : i .'? a : : 1 a ’ 7 “ 1 r ror Z 7 = i ' : ' : : a a t ; 7 “ry > ge 7 — - f : _ F - - : - $ : - oan ‘ , A ; = 7 : 7 a od fi aT ee : i i : ' _ —_— oO | 1 ‘ 7 a ‘ ' ‘ 7 - 3 es ‘ D : = : { ‘ My -., ; ' ow ' i : fan ' ; bo, oF i = ee 5 w : a x sy ' 7 ‘ ote - - , “3 a i ee - 7 aan - "a - “ ; o 4 f . ; f ; 3 : A ; i : : i : P ' "4 : tC i j ay F m f i C 7 “y ‘ F i 4 a hee 7 —— . u ‘ - i 7 2 * a pes eo =| - _ yey ee ne 7 : : oe 7 2? a -- : « : =. : } + = es ie : sO woah 2 ie arr “ + ; 2 a 2 ; eh: : _ oo we ow i oo 7 : # : Deas - : _— 4 a } — : a (ok oa ! Se 7 ee 4 e c _— = - Z ei : ' ‘ ‘hes , a rs 7 ¥ = % { = — . - = ‘ ‘ ~ , -* 7 + ‘ ' ‘ ‘ : . ’ +. = i t 7 \ i my ° 1 7 - re a a r 7 7 7 zs 7 oe f : - | Ls : oe - 7 a aie = 7 a a ‘ a - : - 7 , 7 a nN os i 5 ans a bo po - ee , : ae - = ' - _~ i} = = - a ‘ 7 7 i e =~ *. dng ' F 7 i - 7 a i - —— rc - - : 7 7 € a i = eS a = = ' a = - “<> 4 o~ : ‘ 7 q i = Sots ’ . 7 ' © = 3 oA 2 of ef ; ‘ r cf ‘ S ; 1! ¥ r : 1 ‘ip 2) oa : a " ‘ 7 & _ : = a, f : ; : ote toa i ‘ ‘ a 2 1 1 - - a 74 y 7 a q 7 se - : ‘ = “ The Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Magazine Volume 93 2000 NORMAN DAVEY. This volume is dedicated to one of our Vice-Presidents, Dr Norman Davey, who celebrated his hundredth birthday 1n January this year, and who has had a long and distinguished career as a civil engineer and amateur archaeologist. Born and educated in London, he served in the Royal Flying Corps towards the end of World War I and later became an associate fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society. For many years he worked at the Buildings Research Establishment, and designed the model dam on which the bouncing bomb was tested by Barnes Wallis. On his retirement, while continuing to work for the BRE, he devised new methods of restoring fallen Roman wall and ceiling plaster, using expanded aluminium mesh; he has also written several books on Roman wall plaster and the history of building materials. For many years associated with the St Albans and Hertfordshire Archaeological Society, of which he 1s Vice-President, he worked with Tessa and Mortimer Wheeler on the Verulamium excavations in the early 1930s, making detailed drawings of the tessellated floors. Published by Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Society 41 Long Street, Devizes, Wilts. SN10 1NS ~ Telephone 01380 727369 Fax 01380 722150 Registered Charity Commission No. 309534 V.A.T. No. 140 2791 91 THE WILTSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY MAGAZINE VOLUME 93 (2000) ISSN 0262 6608 © Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Society and authors 2000 Hon. Editors: Joshua Pollard, BA, PhD, and John Chandler BA, PhD. Hon. Local History Editor: James Thomas, BA, PhD, FRHistS. Hon. Natural History Editor: Michael Darby, PhD, FSA, AMA, FRES, FRGS Hon. Reviews Editor: Michael Marshman, ALA. Editorial Assistant: Lorna Haycock, BA, Dip.ELH, Cert Ed. We acknowledge with thanks publication grants for this volume from the following bodies: Salisbury District Council, for the paper, ‘Excavations at Ivy Street and Brown Street, Salisbury, 1994’, by Mick Rawlings; the Trustees of St John’s Hospital, Wilton, the Trustees of the Matrons’ College, Salisbury, and Dr. A. J. Hall, for the paper, ‘Excavations in Wilton, 1995-6: St. John’s Hospital and South Street’, by Phil Andrews et al.; ‘Transco, for the paper, ‘Excavations along the Littleton Drew to Chippenham Gas Pipeline’, by Clifford Bateman; Wiltshire County Council, for the note, ‘Excavations of Bronze Age and Romano-British sites along the Chippenham Western Bypass A4 to A350 Link’, by Clifford Bateman and Dawn Enright; and Lovell Partnerships (Southern) Ltd, for the note, ‘Excavations at Vale’s Lane, Devizes, 1996-7, by Phil Andrews and Lorraine Mepham. The journals issued to volume 69 as parts of The Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Magazine (Part A Natural History; Part B Archaeology and Local History) were from volumes 70 to 75 published under separate titles as The Wiltshire Natural History Magazine and The Wiltshire Archaeological Magazine. With volume 76 the magazine reverted to its combined form and title. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the Society and authors. Typeset in Plantin by John Chandler and produced for the Society by Avonset, 11 Kelso Place, Upper Bristol Road, Bath BA1 3AU Printed in Great Britain =~, -2 MAR 205i | GENERAL LIBRARY | SSE EN Contents _GENEF [THE NATURAL | HISTORY MUSEUM i i f The Beckhampton Avenue and a ‘new’ Neolithic enclosure near Avebury: an interim report on the 1999 excavations, by Mark Gillings, Joshua Pollard and David Wheatley ‘A Very Pretty Seat’: Erlestoke Park, 1780-1999, by Isabel Ide Excavations at Ivy Street and Brown Street, Salisbury, 1994, by Mick Rawlings, with contributions by Michael J. Allen, John Chandler, P. Hinton, S. Hamilton-Dyer, Emma Loader, Lorraine Mepham and Sarah F. Wyles The Great Bustard in Wiltshire: Flight into Extinction? by James Thomas Beaker Pits at Crescent Copse, near Shrewton, Wiltshire, and the Effects of Arboreal Fungi on Archaeological Remains, by Michael Heaton and Rosamund M J Cleal, with contributions by Peter Higgins, Peter Bellamy, Sheila Hamilton-Dyer and John Wilson A ‘Perillous, Covetous Man’: the career of Thomas Tropenell Esq. (c. 1405-88), a Wiltshire lawyer, Parliamentary burgess and builder of Great Chalfield, by J. T? Driver Excavations along the Littleton Drew to Chippenham Gas Pipeline, by Clifford Bateman, with contributions by Fiona Roe, Jane Timby and Tracey Stickler Early Castles in the Medieval Landscape of Wiltshire, by Oliver H Creighton Looking for Dr Ingen Housz: The evidence for the site and nature of the burial, in Calne, of the famous Dutch physician and scientist of the eighteenth century, by Norman and Elaine Beale Neolithic activity and occupation outside Windmill Hill causewayed enclosure, Wiltshire: survey and excavation 1992-93, by Alasdair Whittle, Jessica J. Davies, Ian Dennis, Andrew S. Fairbairn and Michael A. Hamilton, with a contribution by Joshua Pollard Excavations in Wilton, 1995-6: St John’s Hospital and South Street, by Phil Andrews, Lorraine Mepham and Rachael Seager Smith, with contributions by Michael J. Allen, Sheila Hamilton-Dyer and Pat Hinton; illustrations by S. E. James Names on the Path to Remembrance: the building of Marlborough College Memorial Hall, by Brian Edwards - Investigation of a Roman villa site at Euridge Manor Farm, Colerne, by Larry Luckett, with contributions by D F Mackreth, T S N Moorhead, Judith Roseaman and Bryn Walters Notes Excavations of Bronze Age and Romano-British sites along the Chippenham Western Bypass A4 to A350 link, by Clifford Bateman and Dawn Enright, with contributions by Jane Timby and Graeme Walker 63 71 82 90 105 131 181 A miniature flat axe or chisel from Broad Town, North Wiltshire, by Bob Clarke A gold finger ring from the Rudge Romano-British villa site, Froxfield, by Bernard Phillips and Martin Henig Excavations at Vale’s Lane, Devizes, 1996-7, by Phil Andrews and Lorraine Mepham A monkey’s head knife finial from near Trowbridge, by Paul Robinson Yet more about Cumberwell, by Kenneth Rogers Excavation and Fieldwork in Wiltshire 1998 Reviews S. E. Kelly (editor). Anglo-Saxon Charters V; Charters of Shaftesbury Abbey, by R. Harvey Peter Tolhurst. Wessex, a Literary Pilgrimage, by Michael Marshman Mere Papers, Numbers 1 -9, edited by M. F. Tighe, by Steven Hobbs Hazel Gifford. The Biography of a Country Church; Berwick St. John., by Michael Marshman Gwyneth F. Jackson (compiler). A tale of two manors; Zeals, a Wiltshire village, by Steven Hobbs Books also noted Obituaries Desmond Hawkins Eve Machin Michael Lansdown Index, by Philip Aslett The Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Society The Society was founded in 1853. Its activities include the promotion of the study of archaeology (including industrial archaeology), history, natural history and architecture within the county; the issue of a Magazine, and other publications, and the maintenance of a Museum, Library, and Art Gallery. There is a programme of lectures and excursions to places of archaeological, historical and scientific interest. 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All references cited in the paper should be listed in the bibliography using the following style (with the journal name spelled in full, and the place and publisher of books/ monographs given): For a paper: ROSS, A.J., and JARZEMBOWSKI, E.A., 1996. ‘A Provisional Checklist of Fossil Insects from the Purbeck Group of Wiltshire’, Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Magazine 89, 106-115 For a book or monograph: SMITH, LF., 1965, Windmill Hill and Avebury: Excavations by Alexander Keiller, 1925-39. Oxford: Clarendon Press For a paper in a book or monograph: FITZPATRICK, A., 1984, “The deposition of La Tene metalwork in watery contexts in Southern England’, in B. Cunliffe and D. Miles (eds), Aspects of the Iron Age in Central Southern Britain, 178-90. Oxford: University Committee for Archaeology Endnotes can be used for specific information that cannot otherwise be comfortably incorporated in the main body of the text. 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It is hoped that these changes, which principally affect the hierarchy of headings and the layout of text at the beginning of articles, will make the Magazine easier to use and more attractive. The page size, print area, typeface and point size of the main text remain unchanged, as do the Magazine’s title and scope. WILTSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY COUNCIL AND OFFICERS (October 1999) VICE-PRESIDENTS R.G. Hurn N. Davey, OBE, PhD, DSc, FSA N.J.M. Anderson EK. Annable, BA, MA, FSA H.F. Seymour, BA Chairman FOUNDATION TRUSTEES R.G. Hurn H.F. Seymour, BA Dr T.-K. Maurice, OBE J.-F. Phillips, BSc. Col. D. Part, OBE (Military), TD, DL (London) (1997) D.N. Shelton, BA, BSc., Dip.Ed., FRGS (1993) Lt. Col. C. Chamberlain (1994) M. Darby, PhD, FSA, AMA, FRES, FRGS (1995) B. Coupe, LDS, RCS, MSc. (Dent.) (1996) D. Lovibond, BA (1996) M.J. C. Smith, BA, FICE (1996) C. A. Shell, MA, MMet, PhD (1997) R. Sneyd (1997) M. Corney, BA (Hons) D.N. Shelton, BA, BSc, Dip.Ed., FRGS C.J. Perraton, MA, CBiol, MIBiol. D.J. Williams, MA A.G. Lansdown Mrs L. Bennett, Mrs P. Rugg, Mrs M.S. Groom i. Price T-R. O’Sullivan Mrs M.F. Lloyd Mrs J. Brunt Ms A. Cutforth, BA, Dip.AGMS P.R. Saunders, BA, FSA, FMA, FRSA Chief Executive Curator Deputy Curator Assistant Curator (Natural Sciences) Sandell Librarian Education Officer Deputy Chairman P. Taverner, MA Elected Members Mrs G. Swanton, BA, Dip.Ad.Ed. (1997) D.J. Williams, MA (1997) D. Field (1998) T. Schadla-Hall (1998) Maj. Gen. G. M. G. Swindells CB (1998) E. Stanford ARBS (1998) Mrs P. Sneyd, PhD, BSc., CBiol, MIBiol (1999) Ex-officio Members Nominated Members Chairman, Archaeology Committee Chairman, Buildings and Monuments Committee Chairman, Natural History Committee Chairman, Programme Committee Hon. Treasurer Members, Wiltshire County Council Member, Devizes Town Council Member, Kennet District Council Member, North Wiltshire District Council Member, Swindon Borough Council County Museums Officer, Wiltshire County Council Officers Director, Salisbury & South Wiltshire Museum G. Chancellor, BSc, PhD, AMA, MIMgt P.H. Robinson, PhD, FSA, AMA Mrs A.J. Rawlings, MA, AMA A.S. Tucker, BSc., AMA Mrs L. Haycock, BA, Dip ELH, Cert.Ed. Ms J. Harvest, Cert.Ed. Wiltshire Archaeological & Natural History Magazine, vol: 93 (2000), pp. 1-8 The Beckhampton Avenue and a ‘new’ Neolithic enclosure near Avebury: an interim report on the 1999 excavations by Mark Gillings', Joshua Pollard? and David Wheatley’ Excavations to the west of Avebury have led to the discovery of the remains of a second megalithic avenue leading from the henge monument, and an unusual earthwork enclosure of probable middle Neolithic date. The existence of the second avenue (the so-called Beckhampton Avenue) had been mooted by the 18th-century antiquarian William Stukeley, though doubts about its existence had subsequently developed. Excavation revealed both buried stones and post-medieval stone destruction pits along its course, together with original stone sockets. Oval, and up to 140m in diameter, the enclosure pre-dates the avenue. Consisting of a shallow, semi-segmented ditch broken by a wide entrance, it shares morphological similarities with the first phase of Stonehenge. The work, undertaken during the late summer of 1999, is part of a collaborative project between researchers at the University of Leicester, the University of Wales College, Newport, and the University of Southampton. BACKGROUND TO THE PROJECT The preliminary results described here are from an ongoing project within the Avebury World Heritage Site, designed to develop a detailed understanding of the dynamic of monument construction in the later Neolithic of the region, and of changing configurations of landscape perception and encounter. In part, it builds upon the recent work of Alasdair Whittle, John Evans and others, in investigating the Neolithic sequence, environment and context of the region (cf. Whittle 1993; Evans et al. 1993). The work so far has included topographic survey and stone recording at Avebury, the first stages in the production of a series of Virtual Reality simulations of the monument complex (cf. Pollard and Gillings 1998). Developing from this, the 1999 field season involved excavation 1.3km to the west of Avebury in Longstones Field, Beckhampton (SU 089693). The excavations were intended to explore two features; a cropmark enclosure, visible on aerial photographs taken by the RCHME in 1997 (RCHME 1998), and a section along the course of a putative second megalithic avenue (the ‘Beckhampton’ Avenue) leading from the Avebury henge monument. In both aims, the fieldwork proved highly successful. Previous research Longstones Field derives its name from two substantial megaliths, colloquially known as ‘Adam’ and ‘Eve’. Set c. 27m apart and at right angles to each other, both are massive blocks of local sarsen, standing c. 4m high and comparable in bulk to some of the larger stones within Avebury (Smith 1965). Located c. 100m to the east-south-east of the Longstones are the extensively plough-damaged remains of the South Street long barrow (Ashbee et al. 1979), a second long mound (the ‘Longstones’ barrow (Barker 1984, 23)) being situated 200m to the south-west. 1 School of Archaeological Studies, University of Leicester, Leicester LE1 7RH; 2 Dept. of Humanities & Science, UWCN, Caerleon Campus, PO Box 179, Newport NP18 3YG; 3 Dept. of Archaeology, University of Southampton, Southampton SO17 1BJ The first systematic recording of the Beckhampton complex was undertaken by the antiquarian William Stukeley, who considered the extant Longstones to be part of a putative cove and stone avenue (the ‘Beckhampton Avenue’) leading from the western entrance of the Avebury henge (Stukeley 1743). Little work was undertaken on the complex until 1913, when the fall of one of the stones (‘Adam’) led to its re-erection and a limited excavation by Maud Cunnington (Cunnington 1914). Although no conclusive evidence of date was forthcoming, a Beaker inhumation burial uncovered at the foot of the stone was evidently secondary to its erection. An extensive excavation of the adjacent South Street long barrow was undertaken by John Evans in 1966-67 (Ashbee et al. 1979). In addition to revealing the form of the barrow (constructed in the mid-4th millennium BC), this work provided a lengthy environmental sequence, and evidence for pre-barrow and Beaker episodes of cultivation. A programme of extensive surface collection within the Avebury environs, undertaken by Holgate and Thomas in 1983 (Holgate 1987), included the Longstones field, and demonstrated the presence there of very low lithic densities. Geophysical survey of the field was undertaken by Andrew David of the Ancient Monuments Laboratory during 1989, in an attempt to demonstrate the existence or otherwise of Stukeley’s Beckhampton Avenue (Ucko et al. 1991, 195-9). Whilst the results of this survey were somewhat inconclusive, it did hint at the existence of archaeological features (many perhaps pits or buried stones) around and to the east of the Longstones. Additionally, one of these anomalies appeared to describe part of an oval ditched or palisaded enclosure adjacent to the standing stones, a finding that was confirmed by aerial photographs taken by the RCHME in 1997 (RCHME 1998). The newly discovered enclosure forms a flattened oval, 140 x 100m, with a wide entrance to the east, and encloses the eastern-most of the Longstones within its circuit. Aligned north-east - south-west, its north-western edge appears to run along the present field boundary and that on the south-east along the line of the Beckhampton Avenue. Its course marked by a thin (<2m wide) regular line of more luxuriant crop, the form of the cropmark bore a strong resemblance to those observed marking the late Neolithic palisade enclosures at nearby West Kennet (Whittle 1997). 2 THE WILTSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY MAGAZINE RESULTS OF THE 1999 FIELDWORK Geophysical survey Prior to the commencement of the excavation, the Ancient Monuments Laboratory of English Heritage undertook a detailed geophysical survey of part of the area to be investigated. Resistivity and magnetometer survey were employed on a 60 x 60m area, centred c. 100m to the north-east of the Longstones, over the location of three weak anomalies detected during geophysical work in 1989 (Ucko et al. 1991, pl. 63). The resistivity survey was successful in locating a regular pattern of four anomalies (positive and negative) that subsequently proved to indicate the position of buried and destroyed stones (David et al. 1999). Excavation The Enclosure The cropmark enclosure was examined by means of five trenches (nos. 11, 12, 13, 14 and 15) placed at intervals around its circuit (Figure 1). In trench 14 the northern terminal of the enclosure entrance was exposed and excavated, confirming that the original eastern entrance is of the order of 60m wide. In all the sections the ditch was shallow, steep-sided and flat bottomed, up to 2.10m wide and 0.80m deep. Despite the regularity in profile, it was markedly uneven in plan. This was seen particularly well in the 5m long section excavated in trench 11, where the ditch sides bowed at various points, and the base became correspondingly deeper. A semi-segmented form to the ditch can also be discerned in the re- worked data from the 1989 geophysical survey. The impression is of the ditch having been dug as a series of separate segments, subsequently joined by removing intervening causeways of un-dug chalk. A uniform sequence of ditch filling was encountered in each trench. A primary fill of chalk rubble was sealed by a secondary fill of silty clay and chalk fragments. In places, this was overlain by a thin lens of clean brown loam, corresponding to a turf- or soil-layer that had developed after initial stabilisation of the fills. The ditch was finally levelled in a single episode by a backfill deposit of compact mixed chalk rubble and silty loam, probably comprising material from an associated up- cast bank. The weathered nature of the outer edge of BECKHAMPTON AVENUE AND A ‘NEW’ NEOLITHIC ENCLOSURE NEAR AVEBURY Longstones Field a Silbury Hill -. Sanctuary “tag So West Kennet enclosures NS 2 15 N\ 8 Tr. V4 aN Ridge and furrow 8 y Longstones Figure 1. Longstones Field, Beckhampton: Plan of the excavations 4 THE WILTSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY MAGAZINE the ditch, and the occasional presence of lenses of slump material sitting atop the turf-line on the inner face, suggest that the up-cast bank was internal. Finds from the ditch fill were remarkably few. A small amount of animal bone came from the soil at the base of the tertiary fill, as did a substantial fragment of a single Grooved Ware vessel (from trench 12). Most likely placed deposits, in each instance these may have been sitting in shallow re-cuts. A number of fresh pieces of worked flint were also present, especially in trench 11. The only finds from the primary fills comprised a small spread of bone from the ditch terminal, and a sherd of pottery from trench 11, provisionally identified by Ros Cleal as earlier Neolithic. Although only limited areas of the interior were exposed in the trenches, no features were observed, nor were pieces of worked flint recognised in the ploughsoil over this area. The Beckhampton Avenue ‘The avenue was investigated by means of a single open area (trench 10), centred over the four possible stone pits located on the 1999 geophysical survey, and subsequently extended to the south-west in order to investigate two further anomalies faintly visible on the 1989 survey (Figure 1). A number of features were revealed, prominent amongst which were remnants of medieval ridge-and-furrow cultivation running north-south across the area. Of greater significance were six discrete features belonging to the Avenue, arranged in two parallel lines running south-west to north-east, and directly aligned on the remaining Longstones. Consisting of medieval stone burials and post-medieval stone destruction pits, the longitudinal intervals between each ranged between 22—30m, and the transverse intervals 14-17m. Of the six pits, three contained buried sarsen stones (F.22, 25 and 26), one had evidently contained a stone which had been subsequently removed (F.23), and in the remaining two were layers of stone destruction debris (F.21 and 24). The original stone sockets were found immediately adjacent to each of the buried stones, and another in the base of destruction pit F.24. More intensive searching (precluded due to time constraints) may well have located those for the two remaining stone settings. Figure 2. Longstones Field, Beckhampton: Stone burial pit F.26. Note the original stone socket to the left of the pit BECKHAMPTON AVENUE AND A ‘NEW’ NEOLITHIC ENCLOSURE NEAR AVEBURY 5 Figure 3. Longstones Field, Beckhampton: Stone destruction pit F.21 partially excavated, showing the spread of sarsen flakes and charcoal The alignment of the Avenue is such that it runs through the eastern entrance of the enclosure, though off-set to the south-east in such a manner that a substantial gap (c. 20m) is left between the stones and the northern ditch terminal. Correspondingly, on the south-east side the stones appear to line up with the southern ditch terminal; and it may be that at this point the Avenue was reduced to a single line of standing stones. Stone burials Whilst the soil fills of F.21, 23 and 24 made them immediately visible following stripping, establishing the position and extent of the burial pits F.22, 25 and 26 involved very careful investigation. The tops of buried stones just projected from the chalk rubble backfill of F.22 and 25, but the extent of F.26 only became apparent after a rain storm (which served to distinguish clearly the much cleaner rubble fill from the surrounding weathered natural). All the burial pits were regularly cut, their shape and size closely matching that of the stones. The deepest burial pit was that of F.26 (1.42m in depth), and here the side adjacent to where the stone had stood was ‘battered back’, presumably to avoid destabilising it whilst the burial pit was dug (Figure 2). Following the toppling of the stones, the pits were rapidly filled with chalk rubble, often highly compacted in the top of the fills. The only finds from the pit fills consisted of small sarsen blocks (perhaps disturbed packing stones), a quantity of worked flint, and a chopped large- mammal rib from F.26. The stones, like those of Avebury and the West Kennet Avenue, were unmodified blocks of sarsen. Their shape and size varied, ranging from 2.34 — 3.00m across. That in F.26 was particularly unusual. Its upper face was bisected by a series of large cracks and folds in the rock, and there were numerous natural depressions and perforations (Figure 2). On the southern end three large perforations ran through the full thickness of the stone, one being filled with soil containing a curious assemblage of worked flint and a split large-mammal longbone. On the exposed upper surface of the sarsen in F.25 were a number of features of anthropogenic origin, including a sub- rectangular wedge-hole on its northern end, and a set of three stone axe polishing marks on the southern. The low position of the polishing marks in relation to the presumed original base of the stone (its southern end) demonstrates its utilisation for axe working took place prior to its erection. 6 THE WILTSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY MAGAZINE Stone destruction pits Two of the pits, F.21 and 24, clearly relate to post- medieval stone destruction events. In contrast to the burial pits, these were shallow and irregular features; oval, up to 5.40m across and 0.35m deep, with very uneven bases. The basal fills comprised extensive spreads of flaked and burnt sarsen within a matrix of burnt straw and charcoal (Figure 3). These destruction deposits were sealed by layers of ploughsoil containing small sherds of medieval and early post-medieval pottery. Dating for the destruction is perhaps provided by fragments of later 17th century clay pipe from the burning deposits. Stone sockets Four original stone sockets were discovered (adjacent to F.22, 24, 25 and 26); the destruction event represented by F.21 perhaps removing the socket in that instance, and the incomplete excavation of F.23 precluding more detailed search and investigation here. These were irregular in shape, roughly oval or sub-rectangular, and up to 0.50m deep. The primary fills comprised some compact chalk packing, incorporating sarsen blocks in two instances. Sets of post-holes were discovered in the bases of three sockets, related either to the setting-up of the stones, or forming pre-stone settings. All were filled with loose chalk rubble, and none showed evidence of post- pipes, indicating deliberate withdrawal of the posts rather than in situ decay. DISCUSSION The results of the 1999 excavations proved more successful than anticipated. A ‘new’ Neolithic enclosure has been added to the growing corpus of prehistoric monuments in the region, and the antiquarian observations of William Stukeley have been vindicated through the ‘re-discovery’ of the Beckhampton Avenue. The enclosure lies not far from the southern slope of Windmill Hill and is overlooked by its more famous neighbour. It is tempting to infer some relationship, though both enclosures are of rather different character, in terms of form and the known range of associated activities. Unlike the ditches of Windmill Hill, with their evidence of repeated depositions of animal bone, pottery, flint and other materials (Whittle et al. 1999), little appears to have entered the ditch of the Beckhampton enclosure, at least during its primary phase. It might even be regarded as anomalously ‘clean’. The same might be said for the interior — note the seeming absence of worked flint in the ploughsoil — though this remains to be properly tested. On these grounds there is certainly no reason to assume occupation. The monument might even have been deliberately avoided or ‘abandoned’ once constructed. Perhaps its location adjacent to two earlier long mounds is a clue, the enclosure serving a special purpose for mortuary rituals or other special practices separated from the routines of living. A range of interpretive possibilities presents themselves. Until radiocarbon determinations are available, the date of the enclosure can only be inferred from limited artefactual remains, its morphology and relationship to the Avenue. The position of a substantial fragment of a Grooved Ware vessel from not far above the primary fills (even if in a shallow re- cut) would imply construction in the 3rd rather than 4th millennium cal BC. Morphologically though, the enclosure shares many features with earlier enclosures, such as the suggestion of an internal bank, and the semi-segmented nature of the ditch. Though not of the same geometric regularity, it is in this respect similar to the first phase of Stonehenge (Cleal et al. 1995). Other parallels might be provided by continuously-ditched earlier Neolithic enclosures in Sussex, such as Bury Hill, Houghton (Bedwin 1981). A search for more than general analogies may, however, prove futile. Within its local context the enclosure is unique. It also presents unusual features, such as the exceptionally wide entrance through which the Beckhampton Avenue later ran. The sequence of fills, with a clear episode of backfilling and levelling whilst the secondary silts were forming, implies a short life for the monument, measurable maybe in tens rather than hundreds of years. It remains to be determined whether such planned ‘destruction’ relates to the construction of the Avenue and Longstones ‘Cove’, or whether the use-life of the monument was prescribed from the outset. Whilst the form of the enclosure finds little ready analogy within the immediate region, the stone settings have a direct parallel in those of the West Kennet Avenue leading from the southern entrance of the Avebury monument. The longitudinal and transverse intervals between the stone settings in each monument are identical, as is the range of stone size (Smith 1965, 206). Details of the sockets, and perhaps by extension the processes of erection, can also be matched. The post-holes cut into the bases of the stone sockets fit very closely Smith’s description of so-called ‘anti-friction stakes’ encountered by Keiller during the course of excavations along the West BECKHAMPTON AVENUE AND A ‘NEW’ NEOLITHIC ENCLOSURE NEAR AVEBURY ‘fl Kennet Avenue (Smith 1965, 219). There is, therefore, a temptation to regard both Avenues as part of a unitary episode of construction, perhaps also tied in with the stone settings inside the Avebury henge. Another possibility is for more protracted, perhaps episodic, construction. Changes in alignment along the West Kennet Avenue could indicate that this was built in a piecemeal manner, its final course not being determined from the beginning, but developing through repeated addition and re-working (Burl 1993, 45-7). Dating of the stone settings both at West Kennet and Beckhampton remains to be resolved (no dateable material came from the stone sockets during the recent excavations). Only a broad span, most likely somewhere in the 3rd millennium cal BC, can be offered (Pitts and Whittle 1992). Though the precise chronology of the Avenue’s construction still remains to be determined, we can be more confident about the dates of its destruction. The method of stone burial is identical to that observed at Avebury, with stones being toppled into carefully cut burial pits matching the size and shape of the sarsens with precision, and ‘the whole levelled so that no trace remained of the operation’ (Smith 1965, 177). Jope considers that stone buriai in Avebury occurred over a short period during the early 14th century, the motive being provided by ecclesiastical disapproval of superstitious practices associated with the stones (Jope 1999, 67). Perhaps it is significant that the deepest of the burial pits at Beckhampton (F.26) contained the most unusual and ‘featured’ sarsen — the stone most likely to attract folkloric practices? The second episode of destruction was that recounted by Stukeley (1743). Driven by economic expediency, and undertaken by local farmers such as Griffin and Richard Fowler, this involved breaking up the stones through controlled fire-setting and the use of sledge hammers. Dating is provided by fragments of late 17th century clay pipe. Although large quantities of sarsen chips remained in the backfill of destruction pits F.21 and 24, in each instance this must represent but a small fraction of the original stone. Most of the debris comprised flakes produced through the trimming and shaping of larger blocks, these having been taken away for use as building stone. Having established that the Beckhampton Avenue exists, that Stukeley’s observations on its course from the western of Avebury to Longstones Field are most likely accurate, and that it met the same fate in the hands of medieval zealots and post-medieval farmers as befell Avebury and the West Kennet Avenue, many questions still present themselves. Does the Avenue terminate at the Longstones, or continue further to the south-west as envisaged by Stukeley? If so, could there be another Sanctuary-style structure at its termination? What is the precise chronological relationship between the Avenue and the enclosure? Following Stukeley, is the most westerly of the Longstones (Adam) the sole remnant of a ‘cove’, and are the scale and position of this feature related to its location at the point where the Avenue runs over the line of the enclosure? Could the Avenue be of more than one phase of construction? To an extent, several of these questions can be answered by further excavation and careful geophysical prospection, which are planned for the future. Perhaps the most striking result of the fieldwork is that it emphasises once again the sheer scale and magnitude of monumental construction during the later Neolithic of the region. The new enclosure and Beckhampton Avenue can be added to a list which already includes Avebury itself, the West Kennet Avenue, the Sanctuary, Silbury Hill, the West Kennet palisaded enclosures, and perhaps several as yet uninvestigated small stone circles in the region. All these monuments may have come into being over a time-span of just a few hundred years, though the exact ‘periodicity’ or rhythm of monument construction needs to be established. Whittle considers that the motivation and necessary mobilisation of effort for such constructions could have come as much through the force of shared religious belief — participation in what seemed respectful and proper — than coercion (Whittle 1997, 165-6). Indeed, the construction of the Avenues might be read as a statement of unity, drawing disparate fragments of an earlier landscape into a symbolic whole. Thus, the Beckhampton enclosure, or at least explicit memory of it, was physically drawn into the Avebury complex through the construction of the Avenue. Given the remarkable cleanliness of the enclosure and its location alongside the South Street and Beckhampton (Longstones) long barrows, this may have been a monument closely associated with dealings with the dead and ancestors (whatever form they took: Whittle 1998). As one interpretation, by the 3rd millennium BC this particular place was set apart from the routines of daily practice, already embodying associations of deep-time and mythical beginnings (note the evidence for early occupation and other activities under South Street: Ashbee et al. 1979). Though we would not subscribe to the structural rigidity of their scheme, Parker Pearson and Ramilisonina’s (1998) interpretation of the West Kennet Avenue as a pathway for ‘the ancestors’ might equally apply to that at Beckhampton. 8 THE WILTSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY MAGAZINE Acknowledgements First and foremost, we would like to acknowledge the friendly co-operation and support given by the owner of Longstones Field, Robin Butler. Necessarily, a project such as this is the work of many hands, and for practical support, input and advice we would particularly like to thank Ros Cleal (Alexander Keiller Museum), Andrew David (Ancient Monuments Laboratory), Dave Field (English Heritage), Rosina Mount (for vital camp-site support), and by no means least Gill and Robin Swanton (North Farm). Glyn Goodrick provided invaluable assistance with the excavation supervision. The enthusiastic workforce was composed of students from Leicester, Newport and Southampton, along with local and more distant volunteers. The many visitors to the site offered constructive advice and comment. Alasdair Whittle and Julian Thomas are thanked for their support of the project. The work was generously funded by the AHRB, the Society of Antiquaries of London, the Prehistoric Society, and the Universities of Leicester, Newport and Southampton. References ASHBEE, P., SMITH, I.F. and EVANS, J.G., 1979, “The excavation of three long barrows near Avebury, Wiltshire’, Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 45, 207-300 BARKER, C.T., 1984, ‘The Long Mounds of the Avebury Region’, WAM 79, 7-38 BEDWIN, O., 1981, ‘Excavations at the Neolithic Enclosure on Bury Hill, Houghton, W. Sussex 1979’, Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 47, 69-86 BURL, A., 1993, From Carnac to Callanish: the prehistoric stone rows and avenues of Britain, Ireland and Brittany. New Haven: Yale University Press CLEAL, R.M.J., WALKER, K.E. and MONTAGUE, R., 1995, Stonehenge in its Landscape: Twentieth-century Excavations. London: English Heritage CUNNINGTON, M.E., 1914, ‘The Re-erection of Two Fallen Stones and Discovery of an Interment with Drinking Cup, at Avebury’, WAM 38, 1-11 DAVID, A., MARTIN, L. and PAYNE, A., 1999, Beckhampton, nr. Avebury, Wilts. Draft Report on Geophysical Survey, May 1999. Unpublished report, Ancient Monuments Laboratory, English Heritage EVANS, J.G., LIMBREY, S., MATE, I. and MOUNT, R., 1993, ‘An environmental history of the upper Kennet valley, Wiltshire, for the last 10,000 years’, Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 59, 139-195 HOLGATE, R., 1987, ‘Neolithic settlement patterns at Avebury, Wiltshire’, Antiquity 61, 259-63 JOPE, E.M., 1999, “The Saxon and Medieval Pottery from Alexander Keiller’s Excavations at Avebury’, WAM 92, 60-91 PARKER PEARSON, M. and RAMILISONINA, 1998, ‘Stonehenge for the ancestors: the stones pass on the message’, Antiquity 72, 308-3206. POLLARD, J. and GILLINGS, M., 1998, ‘Romancing the Stones: towards a virtual and elemental Avebury’, Archaeological Dialogues 5:2, 143-164 RCHME 1998, An Enclosure at Beckhampton, Wilts: Aerial Photographic Transcription and Analysis. Unpublished report SMITH, I.F., 1965, Windmill Hill and Avebury: Excavations by Alexander Keiller 1925-1939. Oxford: Clarendon Press STUKELEY, W., 1743, Abury: a Temple of the British Druids. London UCKO, P.J., HUNTER, M., CLARK, A.J., and DAVID, A., 1991, Avebury Reconsidered: From the 1660s to the 1990s. London: Unwin Hyman WHITTLE, A., 1993, ‘The Neolithic of the Avebury area: sequence, environment, settlement and monuments’, Oxford Journal of Archaeology 12, 29-53 WHITTLE, A., 1997, Sacred Mound, Holy Rings: Silbury Hill and the West Kennet palisade enclosures: a Later Neolithic complex in north Wiltshire. Oxford: Oxbow Books. WHITTLE, A., 1998, ‘People and the diverse past: two comments on ‘Stonehenge for the ancestors”, Antiquity 72, 852-4 WHITTLE, A., POLLARD, J. and GRIGSON, C., 1999, The Harmony of Symbols: the Windmill Hill causewayed enclosure, Wiltshire. Oxford: Oxbow Books Wiltshire Archaeological & Natural History Magazine, vol. 93 (2000), pp. 9-19 ‘A Very Pretty Seat’: Erlestoke Park, 1780—1999 by Isabel Ide This paper offers a short history of Erlestoke Park, its owners and tenants, including the builder Joshua Smith, M.P,, the next occupier, George Watson Taylor, M.P., a long-term tenant, John Cam Hobhouse, M.P., later Lord Broughton de Gyftord, the return of the Watson Taylors, and the final dispersal of the estate after the First World War, and the fire of 1950. ris os sated wis 2) Zot Beate Bact aee Ee Fig. 1. Erlestoke Park from the east: engraving published by John Britton in 1825 ‘A very pretty seat,’ William Cobbett remarked when riding past Erlestoke Park in 1826, noting the black swans on the lakes and the clematis-covered cottages in the village.! The present-day traveller is more likely to observe the ornamental black and gold gates and the notice board bearing the legend ‘Her Majesty’s Prison Erlestoke Park’. Upon the site there had been an Elizabethan manor house on the sheltered meadowland of which no trace remains. Peter Delmé Rhotteridge Farm, Lower Woodrow, Forest, Melksham, Wilts SN12 7RB sold this earlier house to John Smith, a merchant of Lambeth, in 1780° and he had it demolished immediately in order to make way for a new house. Shortly after completing the transaction John Smith died and it was his eldest son, Joshua Smith (1732-— 1819), who was responsible for building the new mansion. The architect whom he chose to build Erlestoke Park was George Steuart (1730-1806), about whom not a lot is known. He is said to have 10 THE WILTSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY MAGAZINE started his working life as a housepainter, but his transformation to an architect is shrouded in mystery. It has been said that his country house architecture is characterised by an elegant restraint verging on bleakness.’ ‘Stoke Park’, as the house was originally named, had the thinly modelled elevations, chaste neo-classical motifs, and compact planning that were typical of George Steuart’s designs. The new house was considered sufficiently large for polite society, but not extravagantly grand. On entering the house the visitor would have found himself in a hall 40 feet wide by 32 feet deep surrounded by Grecian columns. On the right hand side was the main drawing room and the dining room. Through the hall was a large library. On the other side of the entrance hall was the breakfast room, the stairs and a dressing room. Above the public rooms were eleven bedrooms and one water closet. In his design Steuart had omitted any external doors to the central part of the house. Behind the steps and imposing portico of the principal front were three tall sash windows, so the only entry was through an inconspicuous door in the west wing. In contrast inside the house there were plenty of doors; the library alone had four real doors and two false ones. The main block was three stories high over the basement and cellars; the service wings were two stories high. While the house was being built the surrounding countryside was being converted into a handsome park by the landscape designer George Eames and completed in 1786.*There is a description of the park in its full glory in John Britton’s Beauties of Wiltshire (1800): The sides and summit of the escarpment edge of the plain have been thickly planted with wood, which as it advances in growth will give the seat an additional beauty. The Park abounds with many fine large elm trees and is enriched with a sheet of water, after forming seven different cascades in its progress it is collected into a lake of considerable dimensions. This spot abounds with a choice collection of botanical plants. Not only did Joshua Smith spend lavishly on the house and its environment; he also improved the village of Erlestoke, as Britton recounted: ‘The poor villagers’ humble cottages were formerly devoid of comfort, the houses being situated in a narrow valley, subject to the inundations of every trifling flood. This has been remedied by the proprietor and a comfortable habitation has been provided for the peasant and his family with a sufficiency of garden ground to supply them with vegetables. I feel considerable pleasure in relating these instances of benevolent condescension to the wants and distresses of the poor; but the pleasure would be heightened into rapture, if any encomiums of mine could shame the penurious or the inconsiderate to similar actions.’ Joshua Smith first stood for Parliament at Penryn in 1784 as a supporter of Pitt’s administration. Having failed to get elected, however, he turned his attention closer to his new home and in 1788 stood for the parliamentary borough of Devizes.° At this time one of the town’s two representatives was Henry Addington, later Viscount Sidmouth. Remarkably, Addington represented Devizes unopposed for 30 years from 1783, a feat which Smith emulated from 1788. This can be partly explained by Smith’s generosity. The electors of Devizes benefited from gifts from Smith of £500 in 1791 and of £1,000 in 1803 for improvements to the town. He could not be described as an over-active Member of Parliament, and there is no record of his ever having actually spoken in the House. In 1766 Joshua Smith had married Sarah Gilbert, the daughter of a judge who was a member of the Antigua legislative council. Smith can be described as an acolyte of Addington, whose policies were pro- slavery, anti-emancipation for Catholics, and very much against any hint of Parliamentary reform. After his 80th year Smith’s health deteriorated; he took leave of absence from the House of Commons in 1816 and 1817, and finally retired in 1818 at the age of 86. By this time three of his daughters had married M.P.s, respectively Lord Compton, William Chute and Charles Smith.’ After Smith’s death in 1819 his daughters sold Erlestoke Park to George Watson Taylor, a theatrical, profligate, larger than life character. The fourth son of George Watson of Sauls’ River, Jamaica, George Watson (as he then was) was educated in England, at Lincoln’s Inn and St Mary’s Hall, Oxford. He originally made his name as a playwright. His play England Preserved was performed at the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden at George III’s request in February 1795, being much applauded for its anti- French sentiments!* In addition he was an author of poetry and political pamphlets. At the age of 24 he was appointed private secretary to the lst Marquess of Camden when he was Lord Lieutenant of Ireland during the years from 1795 to 1798, so Watson was a witness to the atrocities that took place in Ireland in 1798.° Subsequently he held office again in Ireland, probably as assistant to Lord Castlereagh while he was Chief Secretary for Ireland (1798-1801). When Castlereagh was moved to the India Board in 1802 Watson continued to be his private secretary, but later returned to the service of the Marquess of “AVERY PRETTY SEAT’: ERLESTOKE PARK, 1780-1999 sal DLrgenwec S Subrtabed ty tyeomn Aarhivivabver Fig. 2. Erlestoke Park: first floor (above) and ground floor (below) plans, 1799 (Wiltshire Buildings Record, file B1664) 12 THE WILTSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY MAGAZINE Camden and, through Camden’s influence, was appointed in 1806 to a deputy tellership and a Commissioner of Excise at a combined salary of £2,200 per annum.'° When he was 38 George Watson started courting Anna Susanna Taylor, the daughter of Sir John Taylor of Lyssons in Jamaica. ‘Although it was acknowledged that he bears a most excellent character and is much esteemed by all his friends and relations, his lack of a private income stood in the way of his happiness.’ Eventually in 1810 the match was allowed to proceed on the understanding that a favourable settlement was made on her and any children of the marriage.'! Anna Taylor was the niece of Simon Taylor (1740- 1813), a bachelor, the owner of six sugar estates and three cattle ranches, who also acted as a plantation attorney for absentee proprietors. He was commonly supposed to be the richest man in Jamaica, and was determined that his nephew and heir, Anna’s brother Simon Richard Taylor, would inherit his fortune and thereby become the richest commoner in England.'” The years between 1790 and 1799 brought unprecedented prosperity to plantation owners, as the result of the St Dominican slave revolt and the Napoleonic War. Sugar prices doubled and more prolific types of sugar cane were imported from Tahiti and Bourbon. From 1800 profits declined from both sugar and coffee, as production costs rose and customs duties were increased. At the time of Simon Taylor’s death in April 1813 he owned the estates of Lyssons, Holland, Llanrhumney, and Haughton Court. He had additional property of £740,000 bringing in an annual income of £47,000.'? His heir, Sir Simon Richard Brisset Taylor, sadly died only two years after inheriting all this wealth, which then passed to his sister Anna Susanna Watson. The fortunate couple took the additional name of Taylor, and as Lady Charlotte Bury commented: ‘What a wonderful change of fortune for these two persons, from having an income of two to three thousand a year with tastes far beyond such limits, to almost boundless and unequalled riches! It is said they are full of projects of splendour and enjoyment.’!* ‘The newly enriched couple embarked on the joyful process of house-hunting with a deep purse. One of the houses under contemplation was Houghton Hall in Norfolk, which had been built for Sir Robert Walpole in 1730. In 1819, however, the Watson Taylors decided to buy Erlestoke Park and the surrounding estates from the executors of Joshua Smith for £200,000." Since 1816 Watson Taylor had been M.P. for Newport on the Isle of Wight. Between 1818 and 1820 he had represented Seaford in Sussex and then from 1820 until 1826 East Looe in Cornwall.'® His reasons for entering Parliament included a desire to participate in any debates that concerned the West Indies, and particularly Jamaica. By 1808 public opinion had slowly begun to move against slavery and the import of slaves into British colonies had been banned. These moves had a deleterious effect on the profitability of the sugar plantations, the source of Watson Taylors’ income. George Watson Taylor was immediately elected to the standing committee of the West Indian Planters and Merchants on his arrival in the House of Commons. When a vacancy occurred at Devizes in 1826 Watson Taylor put himself forward, but not all the electors were in favour of returning a member whose income was dependent on slave labour. A local newspaper commented that, ‘MrWatson Taylor of Earl Stoke has offered himself to the notice of the electors of Devizes, lately represented by Mr Estcourt, and will most likely to be returned, unless the Quackery of negro emancipation should interfere, Mr Taylor being the possessor of between two and three thousand slaves.’!’ The ‘Quackery’ was insufficient to prevent Watson Taylor being returned. Although he attempted to respect his wife’s desire that her slaves should be treated with considerations of pure humanity, benevolence, justice and liberality, and indeed boasted in 1824 that he had spent over £140,000 in attempting to ameliorate the condition of his slaves, Watson Taylor was obdurate in his antagonism to abolition, and objected, ‘to the way that itinerant adventurers had collected signatures for anti-slavery petitions by inflaming the passions of the people’.'* Quite suddenly, however, the profits to be made from sugar plantations fell due to preferential tariffs being abolished, and the replacement of West Indian sugar with sugar extracted from home-grown sugar cane.'” Despite being commoners the Watson Taylors consorted with the highest in the land. In addition to Erlestoke Park they had a magnificent mansion in Cavendish Square, which was ‘superbly illuminated’ on the acquittal of the tragi-comic Queen Caroline in the celebrated divorce case brought against her by her husband George IV prior to his coronation.”° Mr and Mrs Watson Taylor were rarae aves in being on friendly terms with both the Duke of Clarence and the Duchess of Kent and her younger daughter Victoria, The duchess strongly disapproved of her brothers-in-law, and would allow the young heiress to the throne very little contact with them. Already by 1823 George Watson Taylor’s extravagance had led him into financial trouble, and ‘AVERY PRETTY SEAT’: ERLESTOKE PARK, 1780-1999 he was forced to sell some of his finest books and paintings. The sales of the books alone covered nine days, the total amount raised being over £30,000. Despite this setback they continued with their generous hospitality, as shown by the following account from the Devizes and Wiltshire Gazette of 16th August 1827: FETE CHAMPETRE AT ERLESTOKE PARK Mr and Mrs Watson Taylor, with that munificence by which they are characterised, on Tuesday last gave one of the most splendid fetes ever witnessed in this part of the country. The invitations were principally confined to Devizes and its neighbourhood, but we observed many of the most respectable families from different parts of the county. The number on the ground we should suppose could not be less than seven hundred. The beautiful scenery of Erlestoke Park is well calculated to set off to advantage such assemblage of fashion and beauty and display, with full effect, the accompanying variety of costume. The weather in the morning was lowering and inauspicious, but toward mid-day it brightened, and continued free from rain until eight in the evening. The gates of the park were open at two o’clock, and within a short time afterward, the company began to arrive. The carriages drew up at the front door, and after passing through a spacious entrance hall (the butler announcing the names as they entered) the company were received in the Library in the most polite and affable manner by both Mrs and Mr Watson Taylor. They then passed into a beautiful flower- garden, and after promenading here for some time, proceeded to the extensive pleasure grounds. The excellent arrangement of the walks in these grounds (extending over 600 acres) and the order and care in which they are kept, excite the admiration of all who visit them. In different parts were stationed bands of music, playing some of the most popular airs, which greatly added to the enchanting pleasures of the day. About three quarters of a mile from the house, and as an ample lawn, gently rising above the water which winds its course through the pleasure grounds into the Park, was a temporary erection, seventy feet square, and of proportionate altitude. This erection was neatly thatched, and the pillars supporting it tastefully decorated with laurels and evergreens; within, and on the turf four long tables, capable of containing 500 persons were laid; and from the variety and fanciful arrangements of the viands, they had quite a picturesque appearance. At a short distance, a room between 60 and 70 ft in length, with an excellent flooring, was erected for dancing, supported by columns (rendered exceedingly graceful by wreaths of flowers and evergreens) forming a beautiful arcade with a piazza on either side. In front of these rooms, on the lawn, was the principal promenade before dinner, and it is impossible to imagine a more gay and imposing scene. No one could view, without delight and rapture, the 13 groups of lovely women, glowing with animation and gracefully and splendidly attired, parading to and fro upon the verdant lawn: they vindicated their just claim to the character ascribed to them of ‘giving the country its charms’, as in less ostentatious situations they merit that of ‘imparting to home its delights’. It was indeed a scene of enchantment. A few parties perambulated the various walks, where the music now and then break in, in full choir upon the air, came with added sweetness because unseen. Soon after four o’clock, the company crowded to the dining room, where there was an ample supply of the best and most substantial viands, of the choicest wines, and of all the delicacies of the season. Soups, fowls, lamb, venison, lobsters, tongues, hams, Etc, Etc, (the soups and fowls hot). Confectionery in great variety — under the direction of Mr Kemp of South Audley Street, whose arrangements evinced great taste and judgement; fruits rich and abundant; Sparkling Champagne, Burgundy, Madeira, Port, Sherry Etc, Etc. The room for dancing was, in the meantime, lighted with variegated lamps, formed in festoons; and at about half past five o’clock quadrille parties were arranged, and quadrilles danced with grace and softened animation, to the tones of an efficient quadrille band from Bath. Other parties separated to a distant part of the lawn, where the more rural country dance was kept up with great spirit; but the greater part of the company indulged in the pleasures of the promenade. Throughout the evening, ices, jellies, with a variety of other sweet things, and confectionery, lemonades, Roman punch, wines, tea, etc, etc were distributed in abundance. Variegated lamps forming two large stars and various festoons in different parts illuminated the walk leading from the dancing room to the gate at the entrance of the village of Stoke, at which place the carriages were brought up; but it was between nine and ten o’clock before the great bulk of the company thought of separating; the hours flew with the wings of birds of paradise; the pace of time gave no echo to the sense; and never was the sentiment of the poet more entirely realised — ‘Noiseless falls the foot of Time Which only treads on flowers’ We do not think the day will ever be forgotten by those who were present; it will be ranked among the most happy of their lives. The extreme affability and kindness of Mr & Mrs Watson Taylor, have excited an impression that will never be effaced. All were alike happy — all delighted. Silk hats, ornamented with flowers or feathers, were generally worn by the ladies, & most of the dresses very handsome * * * * It affords us sincere pleasure to state, that throughout this gay and happy day not the slightest accident occurred. Mr Watson Taylor, with his accustomed politeness and attention, sent into Devizes on the following morning, to ascertain the safe returns of his friends. 14 THE WILTSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY MAGAZINE Fig. 3. Erlestoke Park, south front: engraving published by John Britton in 1825 Between 40 and 50 pairs of horses were ordered from the Bear Inn alone, on the occasion; and the excellent appearance of those horses, together with the good arrangement of the carriages, and the personal attention of Mr E. Parsons, reflects on him considerable credit. Within a couple of months Mr and Mrs Watson Taylor were again entertaining the local gentry. This time the report in the Devizes and Wiltshire Gazette gave greater details of the furnishing of Stoke Park: SPLENDID DINNER On Friday last a most Splendid Dinner Entertainment was given by Mr & Mrs Watson Taylor, at Erle Stoke Park. We have taken some pains to collect the particulars, and we believe the following to be correct: — The invitations included the resident members of our Corporation; the Members for the County; the neighbouring Magistrates and other gentlemen of distinction. The company assembled in the magnificent and well furnished library —aroom of large dimensions, and which, in addition to a valuable collection of books, is ornamented with many paintings and busts of poets and scientific, literary, or remarkable persons:— Pope, Dryden, Lord Byron, Sir Walter Scott, Sir Joseph Banks, Dr Johnson, Warren Hastings, Sir Joshua Reynolds, Baretti, Etc. It is also adorned with splendid mirrors, of great size, and which are so placed as to reflect and apparently multiply, the various objects of Taste, Literature or vertu with which the rooms abounds. Here the party was met by the amiable Host and Hostess, (attended by their fine young family) and received with that kind hearted and well bred courtesy, by which Mr and Mrs Watson Taylor are so eminently distinguished. After a short interval, the dining room (40 feet by 38, we believe) was thrown open, and the company were at once struck by the magnificent scene before them. A plateau of massy silver gilt, (about 30 feet long, it is said) blazing with lights, and surrounded by classical and admirably executed Tripods or Candelabra, and groups of figures, nearly filled the entire centre of a long table — The Sideboards also, resplendent with superb plate and numerous lamps and branches rendered the coup d’oeil as brilliant as it was beautiful. The figures on the Plateau bespoke at once the taste and the opulence of the proprietor; whether as related to the designs, the intrinsic value (we do not vouch for the exact amount, but we have heard £18,000) — or the skill of the artists employed in its execution, — The chief subject was ‘The Graces unrobed by the Loves’, and we are informed that nothing could exceed the voluptuous, yet chaste beauties of the one, except, perhaps, the light, airy, and playful archness and ardent interest of the others. The Sideboards were covered, one with gilt, and the others with silver plate, uniting beauty and utility. Some of the gilt salvers were of great size, and covered with admirably executed designs in alto or basso relievo. The “AVERY PRETTY SEAT’: ERLESTOKE PARK, 1780-1999 dinner service for the first course was entirely of highly embossed silver, and for the succeeding one and the dessert beautifully painted china. The viands consisted of everything rare or excellent, which the season or the various elements afforded. Turtle — different sorts of Fish —Venison and Game — besides the usual combinations of the Cuisine Francaise. The wines were of exquisite flavours, and seemed, from variety and number, to have laid France, the Rhine, Spain, Portugal and Madeira, all under liberal contribution. The liqueurs, also Maraschino and Curacao, were excellent of their kinds. The dessert was not inferior to the other parts of the repast — the pines, in particular, were both unusually numerous and fine; ices too were in abundance. Nothing could exceed the animated and general attention of the amiable hostess, who with Mr Watson Taylor, left an impression on the numerous guests, which will not soon be effaced. Instead of haughty condescension which sometimes marks and disgraces similar entertainments, where the ranks of the parties invited are not and cannot be equal — the humblest person invited felt that he had fully participated in the attentions of the day; while those of a higher class received every notice to which they were justly entitled, either by birth, rank, or official station. Of the corporation, or those connected with it, including the worthy mayor (the Rev Mr Bayntun) there were twenty present; the other guests were, our two county members (Mr Bennet and Sir J. D. Astley) T. G. B. Estcourt esq. M.P. for the University of Oxford, Sir Edw. Poore, Col. Baker M.P., Mr T. H. Phipps and son, Mr Warriner, the Rev Mr Edmonstone, and Dr Segrim, who with the host and hostess, and their two elder sons, formed a company of 34 persons. We cannot here omit noticing that the conduct of Mr & Mrs Watson’s two sons, was distinguished by good sense, candour, and manners greatly beyond their years, and did such honour to those who have the superintendence of their education. The party broke up at about 10 o’clock, (after partaking of coffee) and returned to their respective residences, loud in the praises of what they had witnessed and grateful for hospitalities, which are not likely soon be equalled — still less surpassed.?! George Watson Taylor appears briefly on the pages of history in the following anecdote. When the Duke of Clarence unexpectedly inherited the throne on the death of George IV he was uninterested in royal etiquette, having spent his life in the Royal Navy or in comparative seclusion surrounded by a large family of illegitimate children. In July 1830, five days after his brother’s funeral, William IV reviewed his Guards _ dressed in uncomfortable uniform, so he decided to change into civilian clothes and strolled down St James Street. Here he met his old friend Mr Watson Taylor and arm-in-arm they were swept along by an enthusiastic crowd; the jolly monarch was even kissed on the cheek by a street walker. Outside White’s Club 15 the crowd brought the two friends to a halt, so members of the club rushed out and escorted the pair to the safety of St James Palace. The King was completely unconcerned and thanking his escort he remarked, ‘Oh never mind all this, when I have walked about a few times they will get used to it, and will take no notice!’*? The Taylors’ hospitality was crowned on Saturday 23rd October 1830 when they were honoured by a visit from the widowed Duchess of Kent and her daughter Princess Victoria, then aged 11.** The royal visitors changed horses at the Bear Hotel Devizes, where Princess Victoria was shown a drawing by Sir Thomas Lawrence which she later purchased. They arrived at Erlestoke Park at 5 o’clock where they were met by Thomas Moore the poet, and Mr Fisher the Duchess’s chaplain. The whole evening was spent in singing, the Duchess and her daughter singing several duets. The next morning they all went to Church. Later there was a large dinner party, the guests including Lord and Lady Sidmouth, the members for the County, the members for Devizes and the Mayor of Devizes. On Monday morning there was more singing and, after lunch, the guests departed in order to view Stonehenge. This visit from the future Queen Victoria was the apogee of the Watson Taylors’ social success. Nemesis, however, was close at hand. George Watson Taylor was totally incapable of adapting his life style to his declining income. Shortly after the royal visit he was given leave of absence from Parliament on account of the disturbed state of his neighbourhood, but Taylor ensured his personal popularity by increasing wages, reducing rents and ending the preservation of game.” The Watson Taylors had tried to ignore the diminution of their income, but the end of slavery and the exhaustion of the soil in Jamaica by overcropping had lowered their income by at least 70 per cent. There had been sales in 1821 and the one already mentioned in 1823 that had raised over £30,000, but the problems continued over the next few years, and finally in 1832 the crash came, bringing down George Watson Taylor and many of his dependants. The local newspaper commented on his sad dilemma: Notwithstanding that Mr Watson Taylor was surrounded by a degree of splendour, which it has been well said, might have excited the envy of royalty itself, his mind was scarcely for a moment at ease — he appeared to have an insatiable thirst for something he did not possess. He could not for a moment have thought of the money he was expending.” 16 THE WILTSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY MAGAZINE This time everything had to go. The pictures by Rubens, Murillo, Corregio, Parmegiano, Guido, Hobbima, Poussin and Zoffany were sold. So, too, was all the furniture, porcelain and plate, the library of over 4,000 books and no fewer than 5,000 rare exotic plants.*° By autumn 1832 Watson Taylor was residing in Holland and he left the House of Commons at the dissolution that December. He was never formally declared bankrupt but in 1839 he was still in debt to the tune of over £60,000. He died in Edinburgh in June 1841. His wife outlived him. Fortunately, the Erlestoke and Jamaican estates were entailed and she remained in control of them until her death in 1853.°’ For five years the great house lay empty, until in 1837 it was let, the new tenant being John Cam Hobhouse. A radical politician and reformer, he was a prominent supporter of the Parliamentary Reform Bill of 1832. Now, however, he is best remembered for his great friendship with Lord Byron. Hobhouse was born in Bristol in 1786. His father was a politician and his mother a dissenter. He was sent at an early age to a Unitarian School and then to Westminster School.** From there he went to Trinity College, Cambridge, where he was a contemporary of Byron. Hobhouse and Byron travelled together to Portugal, Spain, Albania, Greece and finally Constantinople. Subsequently Byron dedicated the fourth canto of Childe Harolde to Hobhouse, and Hobbouse was Byron’s best man at the poet’s misconceived marriage to Anne Milbanke.’? Hobhouse was present in Paris when Louis XVIII entered his capital in May 1814, and published an account of the Hundred Days which was notably anti-Bourbon and sympathetic to Napoleon. This led to his first brush with the law when the French translation was seized and the printer and translator were fined and imprisoned.* In 1819 Hobbouse made his first attempt to become a Member of Parliament, standing for Westminster as a Whig. He was defeated by George Lamb, Lord Melbourne’s brother, by 4,465 votes to 3,861.?! Meanwhile Hobhouse continued to publish anonymous political pamphlets. Unfortunately, one of these, entitled A Trifling Mistake, was held to be in breach of privilege by the House of Commons” and on 14th December 1819 he was committed to Newgate prison. In the pamphlet Hobhouse had asked, ‘What prevents the people from walking down to the House and pulling the members by the ears, locking their doors, and flinging the key into the ‘Thames’, to which he answered, ‘their true practical protectors are to be found at the Horse Guards and the Knightsbridge barracks’. On appeal on 5 February 1820 the Court of the King’s Bench refused to interfere with the Speaker’s warrant and so Hobhouse remained in prison until the dissolution of Parliament on 29 February. After his release Hobhouse stood again and this time he defeated George Lamb by 446 votes.*? On Byron’s death in 1824 Hobhouse, who was one of the poet’s executors, arranged his funeral and persuaded Thomas Moore to destroy Byron’s memoirs in order to keep private Byron’s liaison with his half-sister. ** Hobbouse was very conscious of his diminutive stature and comparatively humble origins. After some abortive efforts at courtship he finally achieved a happy marriage with Lady Julia Hay, the youngest daughter of the 7th Marquis of lweeddale. Sadly Lady Julia was consumptive and the marriage lasted just seven years, leaving Hobhouse a widower with three small daughters.” Thus he decided that in addition to his house in London he would also need a home in the country for his three little girls. He had been acquainted with Wiltshire through his friendship with the Lansdownes at Bowood, and the Methuens at Corsham. Indeed, it was probably Lady Methuen who suggested that Hobhouse should rent Erlestoke Park.*® The little girls were tended by a French governess and took an active interest in village life. At Christmas time 1840, Sir John, as he had become, distributed clothes to nearly one hundred children from Erlestoke and the surrounding parishes while his daughters, Julia, Charlotte and Sophia, waited on the village children serving them with cakes and ale.’ As relaxation from his parliamentary duties Hobbouse’s_ greatest pleasure was entertaining his friends. He moved in the highest circles, including among his close friends King Leopold of the Belgians. When Prince Albert and Queen Victoria desired to raise the cultural standards of their dinner party conversation they consulted Sir John as to which scientists and authors would educate and amuse the royal couple.** Among Hobhouse’s close friends was the Prime Minister, Lord Melbourne, and he was a member of the erudite Holland House set. Visitors to Erlestoke during these years included Thackeray, Thomas Love Peacock and Disraeli with his rich, elderly, silly wife. The normally polite Hobhouse was quite acidic about Mary Anne Disraeli, noting in his diary that, ‘her £3,000 or £4,000 a year are dearly purchased’.*’ In January 1841 Erlestoke Park caught fire and the house would have been destroyed had Hobhouse’s nephew not been woken by the smell of burning. Fortunately, this time the fire was extinguished before much damage had been done.”’ In 1849 his beloved “AVERY PRETTY SEAT’: ERLESTOKE PARK, 1780-1999 CATALOGUE OF THE MAGNIRIGAND ASSAMBLAGH OF PROPERTY ExrlestokeNWiansio: NEAR DEVIZES, IN WITS, ACCUMULATE! > WHTHAN THIS FAR-FAMED ABODE OF TASTE ASD Vira, During the last Twenty Years, at an enormous expense, the whule selected by GEORGE WATSON TAYLOR, Eso. ™.r. It is only necessary to observe, that within this classic Residence will be found as extensive a Collection of objects of superior clegance and taste as that which adorned 1] HE ABBEY OF FONTHILL; WHICH WILL BE SOLD BY AUCTION, BY ON-PHE PREMISES, On MONDAY, the 9th Day of JULY, 1632, And Twenty sneceeding Days, at Twelve o'Clock, (Sundays excepted), THE SPLENDID FURNWEIT Throughout the Mansion is adorned and fitted up in the most superb style of eclesance ; THE DRAWING ROOM SUITES comprise very beautiful satin and India silk Preneh curtains, costly carved and gilt sofas, ottomans, fantenil and route chairs, cheval screens, solid rose-wood sofas and chairs, nd rich Axminster carpets. THE PURNITURE OF THE DINING ROOM is no less complete. To the LIBRARY is a range of elegant maltugany bovkcases, winged and single ditto, THE BOUDOSR is furnished with rich Indian silk hangings, &e. THE BED CHAMBERS Are fitted up in a very superior manner, The principal Kooms with splendid solid satin wood.oak and mahog+ any bedsteads, with rich silk tabaret and cotton hangings, (altogether upwards of forty,) with bedding com. plete; winged and single wardrobes of the choicest gatin-wood and imahogany, wilh every other requisite for the Sleeping Apartments. THE COLLECTION OF VALUABLE AND CELEBRATED PICTURES, ERMEBLTS MANY CHIEF DQLUVRES BY GUIDO PARMEGIANO —ALBANO N. POUSSIN MURILLO = RUDENS HOBBIMA POTTER RUYSDALE CORREGLO GREUZE te. ke, Gallery of Portraits of Distinguished Characters, By Sir Joshua Reynolds, Sir Thomas Lawrence, Hagarth, Gainsborough, Debson, Zoifuny, Sir P, Lely, Philips, Mopuer, é&c. aud THE BOURBON & BUONAPARTE FAMILIES By Lefevre, Mignaud, Duplessis and Mirevelt. (TURK OVER.) Fig. 4. Erlestoke sale catalogue, 1832 (WRO 1335/1) 18 THE WILTSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY MAGAZINE eldest daughter Julia caught cholera whilst on holiday in Guernsey; she died a few days later at Erlestoke at the age of eighteen. Affairs of State prevented Hobbouse mourning in private, but the Cabinet showed him much kindness, particularly Prime Minister Melbourne."! Here is not the place to go into close details of Hobhouse’s political career, but he did much to ensure the success of the 1832 Parliamentary Reform Bill. While Secretary at War he was responsible for restricting flogging as a punishment. Also he is supposed to have invented the phrase ‘His Majesty’s Opposition’.*” He was created Baron Broughton de Gyfford in 1859. His later years were consoled by the companionship of his remaining daughters, their husbands and, in time, his grandchildren. His diaries, Recollections of a Long Life, were privately printed in 1865.’ By then, however, another change had taken place, and by about 1860 the Watson Taylors’ financial situation enabled them to return to Erlestoke, so Lord Broughton removed himself firstly to Corsham Court and from there to Tedworth House." Simon Watson Taylor, like his father, was elected a member of the standing committee of the Planters and Merchants in 1832, when he was only twenty- one. Later he stood for Devizes as a Liberal. Despite supporting the total abolition of income tax, however, he does not appear to have pleased the electors and was only in Parliament from 1857 to 1859.° He married Lady Charlotte Hay, the daughter of the 8th Marquis of Tweeddale, and it was she who was responsible for the demolition of the decayed medieval church and its resurrection by George Street in 1880 in the perpendicular style with a porch tower. In the interior some of the Norman bases of the pillars were reused. The rebuilding cost £6,000 and Lady Charlotte dedicated it to the memory of her father. There is a local rumour that something in the rebuilding displeased her, and that her ghost haunts the mansion.*° Simon Watson Taylor lived to be over ninety years old, surviving into the twentieth century. His obituary notice in this society’s journal reminded readers that for nearly fifty years while the self-elected Corporation of Devizes returned two members of Parliament, one of these had been the owner of Erlestoke Park , and that this process only ended with the passing of the Reform Bill of 1832.” After Simon’s death in 1902, George Watson Taylor inherited a property that stretched from Brattton to Urchfont, and north to the outskirts of Devizes. These estates remained in the ownership of the Watson Taylor family until, like so many other estates, they were affected by the financial devastation of the First World War. As a result, the estate was put on the market. It was reported in the Wiltshire Gazette of 25 September 1919 that the estate had been bought by a timber merchant and that after the timber had been felled the estate was to be divided and resold. The new owners were Messrs Green & Co, and the new tenant was a Mr Potter of Croydon. The Wiltshire Gazette understood that he proposed to use it as a ‘Spiritual Healing Home’. Mr Potter was a Christian Spiritualist and Sir Oliver Lodge was a frequent visitor. Potter styled himself as the Rev. J. W. Potter, and although he was short of financial resources he had grandiose ideas. One of these was to turn the Park into the Wiltshire equivalent of Kew Gardens, and to further this plan he circulated articles in order to try and raise the £8,000 necessary for this project. He thought that the garden would provide work for the unemployed, of which there was a multitude in England in 1935, and that Erlestoke would provide an ideal centre for either restful or invigorating holidays.** When Mr Potter ran Erlestoke as a guest house, there was an impression of damp and disorder, mauve distemper and a bath sitting disconsolately in the middle of a passage in one of the wings of the house.’” But the commemoration gardens remained an unfulfilled dream for the Rev Mr Potter, who died unexpectedly while undertaking a lecture tour in America in 1939.” On the outbreak of hostilities in that year Erlestoke Park was taken over for a Senior Officers Training School. As late as 1940, however, it was still possible to trace the outlines of the original gardens along the paths besides the lakes, the protective iron fences having decayed. After the liberation of Europe in 1944 officers from many of the Allied Countries, including China, Jordan, Iran and Holland undertook courses at Erlestoke. As a Senior Officers Training School after the end of the War, the house remained fundamentally unchanged until the end of June 1950. Then a major fire, originating perhaps in a faulty chimney flue, caused considerable damage to the first floor and completely gutted the second. Fire fighting appliances were brought from as far as Bulford, and the fire was the largest that the Wiltshire brigade tackled in 1950. Water was pumped from the big lake near to Erlestoke church, and it was used by three major pumps to feed the firefighters at the face of the building, where the men of five brigades were directing the jets of water into the heart of the flames. Shortly after the arrival of the first firemen the whole of the roof crashed in. Fortunately there were no casualties and by 11.30 p.m. the fire was under control.’! The Senior Officers School continued in the main wings of the house until “AVERY PRETTY SEAT’: ERLESTOKE PARK, 1780-1999 1961 when, with the addition of many new buildings in the park, it became a detention centre for young offenders. At the same time the War Office insisted on demolishing the bridges across the road which linked the separate parts of Joshua Smith’s original gardens. Despite protests from the village the demolition went ahead, the excuse being that the War Office was unable to afford the upkeep of the bridges. Erlestoke was officially opened as a detention centre for young offenders in 1962 and since then it has been a penal institution, originally for young offenders and, more recently, as a category C adult prison.” In 1993 Alison Gomme was in charge of the prison and the television drama “The Governor’ by Linda La Plante was loosely based on Erlestoke prison. Today the old house is almost unrecognisable, surrounded as it is by new red brick buildings. The prison library is in one of the few rooms in the main house to have survived the fire of 1950. It is slightly ironic that the remnants of a classical mansion erected by aWhig magnate to display his wealth and success are now occupied by the failures of our present society. Acknowledgements The author would like to express her gratitude to Valerie Cromwell of the History of Parliament Trust for permission to reproduce excerpts from the unpublished account of George Watson Taylor, and for the assistance of Mrs Margaret Parrot and Ms Gill Izzard of the Wiltshire Buildings Record, Mrs Pamela Colman and Mrs Lorna Haycock of Wiltshire Archaeological & Natural History Society’s Library, the librarian of Erlestoke Prison and staff of the Trowbridge Reference and Local Studies Library. Copyright of any material that has been extracted from the History of Parliament is herewith acknowledged. Notes 1 W. Cobbett, Rural rides, 1885 ed., p. 410 2 VCH Wilts., vol. 7, 1953, p. 85 3 J. Lever and M. Richardson, Great drawings from the collection of the RIBA, c. 1983 (RIBA) 4_N. Pevsner, Wiltshire, 2nd ed., 1975 (The Buildings of England), p. 241 5 J. Britton, The Beauties of Wiltshire, vol. 2, 1801, p. 203 6 R. G. Thorne (ed.), House of Commons, 1790-1820, 1986, vol. 5, p. 197 (The History of Parliament) 7 Ibid. p. 198 8 The Times, 23rd Feb. 1795 9 Centre for Kentish Studies U 840 C90/3 19 10 Univ. London, Institute of Commonwealth Studies, Simon Taylor MSS VI/A/8 11 Ibid. 12 M. Nugent, Lady Nugent’s Journal. . ., rev. ed., 1966 (Institute of Jamaica) 13 R.B. Sheridan, ‘Simon Taylor, sugar tycoon of Jamaica’, Agricultural History, vol. 45, 1971, p. 290 14 Lady Charlotte Bury (i.e. C.S. M. Campbell), Diary of a lady in waiting, 2 vols., 1908, pp. 181-2 15 VCH Wilts., vol. 7, 1953, p. 84 16 Uniy. London, Institute of Commonwealth Studies, Simon Taylor MSS VIHT/A/3 17 WANHS Library, cuttings book 2, p. 180 18 The Times, 11 Feb. 1824 19 S.J. and E. F. Hurwitz, Jamaica: a historical portrait, 1971, p. 30 20 Devizes & Wiltshire Gazette, 16 Nov. 1820 21 Devizes & Wiltshire Gazette, 16 Aug. 1827; 4 Oct. 1827 22 R. Fulford, Royal dukes: the father and uncles of Queen Victoria, 1933, p. 139 23 Devizes & Wiltshire Gazette, 17 June 1897, diamond jubilee edition 24 Ibid. 9 Dec. 1830 25 Ibid. 21 and 28 June 1832 26 Ibid.; sale catalogue in WRO 1335/1 27 Salisbury & Winchester Journal, 1 Oct. 1832; The Times, 25 Feb. 1839 28 Dictionary of National Biography, vol. 9, p. 941 29 T. Moore, Life of Lord Byron, with his letters and journals, 1860 30 Gentleman’s Magazine, vol. 89 (2), 1819, p. 450 31 Dictionary of National Biography, vol. 9, p. 941 32 Parliamentary Debates, vol. 12, pp. 995-6, 998-1004, 1009-26 33, Dictionary of National Biography, vol. 9, p. 942 34 §. Smiles, A publisher and his friends: memoirs and correspondence of John Murray, 2 vols., 1891 35 M. Joyce, My friend H: John Cam Hobhouse. . ., 1948, p. 271 36 Ibid. p. 280 37 Ibid. p. 295 38 S. Weintraub, Albert: uncrowned king, 1997, p. 108 39 Joyce, op. cit., p. 317 40 Ibid. p. 295 41 Ibid. p. 320 42. Dictionary of National Biography, vol. 9, p. 943 43 Ibid. p. 944 44 Joyce, op. cit., p. 347 45 M. Stenton (ed.), Who’s Who of British Members of Parliament: a biographical dictionary, vol. 1, 1976, p. 373 46 Devizes & Wiltshire Gazette, 3 Aug. 1961 47 WAM, vol. 33, p. 69 48 brochure in Wiltshire Buildings Record 49 author’s memories 50 R. Wightman, Rural rides, 1957, p. 133 51 Devizes & Wiltshire Gazette, 29 June 1950 52 information from the Home Office THE WILTSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY MAGAZINE Xe Laverstock pottery kilns Trench 2-7 ' : eae ' \ \ : | = 2 ee Trench 1 aso ‘'s Arms , Ld Yj ML. & api oe / Vi We fs Li Wi, a / Yi, ae, Ye Why wy Vs WILE Usetisaa Fig. 1. Site Location Wiltshire Archaeological & Natural History Magazine, vol. 93 (2000), pp. 20-62 Excavations at Ivy Street and Brown Street, Salisbury, 1994 by Mick Rawlings’ with contributions by Michael J. Allen', John Chandler’, P. Hinton’, S. Hamilton-Dyer*, Emma Loader’, Lorraine Mepham’, and Sarah F. Wyles' Archaeological excavation 1n advance of development revealed evidence of occupation relating to the original establishment and settlement of the city of New Sarum in the early 13th century AD. Parts of several tenements were examined, with the differences in land use in each tenement being clearly defined. A medieval building aligned along the street frontage had at least three rooms and an extension to the rear that contained a cess pit. The building continued to be occupied 1n the later medieval period and examination of the contents of the cess pit of this period revealed much evidence of the sources of dietary material. INTRODUCTION An archaeological excavation was undertaken at the junction of Brown Street and Ivy Street, Salisbury (centred on SU 146 298; Figure 1), on land which was to be redeveloped for residential purposes. The excavation was commissioned and funded by Salisbury District Council, and was carried out by Wessex Archaeology in July and August 1994. It was hoped that evidence of the 13th century AD establishment and early development of this part of the city would be recovered. ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL BACKGROUND The city of New Sarum (Salisbury) was laid out on a regular grid pattern commencing in or around AD 1219 (RCHME 1980), resulting in a series of rectangular blocks known as ‘chequers’. The excavation site lies on each side of the south-east corner of Antelope Chequer, named after the Antelope Inn which was located in the central part of the chequer. The site is bounded by Ivy Street to the south and Brown Street to the east. Ivy Street is a continuation of New Street and originally bore that name. This street was probably one of the first to be laid out during the development of the new town, and thus it is presumed that the frontages along New Street would have been amongst the first to be occupied. PROJECT BACKGROUND The excavation represented the major component of a staged programme of archaeological investigation undertaken in advance of the construction of a new residential development at the site. A major aim of this programme was to locate and record structural remains and deposits of medieval date, especially those relating to the establishment and early development of the city. Although material of later medieval, post-medieval and modern date was also anticipated on the site, it was hoped that information on these periods could be provided by documentary research and thus 1. Wessex Archaeology, Portway House, Old Sarum Park, Salisbury SP4 6EB 2. Salisbury & South Wilts Museum, 65 The Close, Salisbury SP12EN 3. Hillview, Higher Totnell, Leigh, Sherborne, Dorset DT9 6HZ 4. 5 Suffolk Avenue, Shirley, Southampton SO15 5EF 22 THE WILTSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY MAGAZINE excavation resources could be concentrated on the earlier levels. In order to test the archaeological potential of the site, a series of small test-pits was excavated in areas which were to be car parking spaces or courtyards within the redevelopment block. These test pits established that deposits of medieval date were sealed by at least one metre of later material, mostly of 18th century or later date. Prior to the current redevelopment, the land had been used as a car park, with a tarmac surface laid directly over recent demolition deposits. EXCAVATION METHODS ‘Two trenches were opened at the site; each measured c. 160m° and was positioned directly within the proposed locations of the buildings that comprised the new residential development (Figure 1). In both cases the tarmac surface and the underlying layers of hardcore, demolition debris and modern concrete floors were removed using a 360° tracked excavator fitted with a toothed bucket. The underlying material was then removed in horizontal spits using a toothless bucket until medieval deposits or natural gravels were reached. All further excavation was by hand. RESULTS TRENCH 1 (Figure 2) This was located adjacent to the Ivy Street frontage. During machine excavation no obvious floor surfaces were observed, and only one length of wall was recorded; this was quickly investigated but was found to be of post-medieval date. Following the completion of the machine excavation, all of the trench sections were cleaned and recorded, and all features seen cutting into the basal gravels were investigated. The overall depth of excavation varied between 1.3 and 1.75m below current ground levels and for reasons of health and safety, a 1m wide step was created at a depth of 0.9 - 1.0m below the current surface level. The lower 0.3-0.4m of the trench fill sequence comprised dark loamy soils which contained pottery of 13th and 14th century date. Along the southern section, close to the Ivy Street frontage, two slot trenches, each 1m wide, were excavated by hand through the lower step. Both of these slot trenches found that along this edge of the trench the lower 0.3 - 0.4m of the sequence was made up of a series of thin spreads of compact deposits. These were predominantly clays and gravels, along with at least two layers of crushed and puddled chalk and occasional lenses of darker, more organic material. Although some of these deposits produced no artefacts at all, the pottery that was recovered was consistently of later 12th - early 14th century date. A number of the excavated features in Trench 1 were found to be of medieval date. A large subcircular pit (288) was cut into the gravels to a depth of 1.05m and was shown to have just penetrated the current groundwater level. Bulk soil samples taken from two of the lower fills (281, 287) were discovered to be waterlogged and detailed analysis has indicated that these deposits contain material typical of that found in cess pits. Pottery of 13th - early 14th century date was found in these lower fills, along with a fragment of Purbeck Marble which appears to be from an architectural piece. A second pit (234) 0.7m deep was cut wholly into the upper fills of pit 288. Although this later feature was also subcircular in plan, it was lined internally with a number of roughly-hewn chalk blocks to form a square setting measuring 1.2m? which was recorded to a height of two courses or 0.6m. These blocks were set against a framework of horizontal timbers which were well-preserved in situ. Again the fills were found to be waterlogged and to contain pottery of 13th - early 14th century date, but the subsequent environmental analysis of these soils indicated that they did not contain materials indicating the presence of cess. To the north of the two pits described above was a group of three shallow, irregular, intercutting pits. The earliest and deepest of these (291) was 0.5m deep and filled with a silty deposit which contained six sherds of pottery of 13th - early 14th century date. The upper part of the pit had been truncated by a second pit (290) which again contained medieval pottery. The latest pit in this group (233), however, contained sherds of later medieval and post-medieval date as well as some medieval pottery. It is possible that these pits were originally for the purpose of gravel extraction or some other function rather than refuse disposal. A further shallow pit (323), this one having distinctive squared corners, was located partially within the eastern baulk section. Excavation showed this to be 0.6m deep and it was clearly cut through the loamy medieval soils which formed the basal part of the sequence in this part of the trench. The sides and base of the pit were concave and the fills (321, 322) were dark and humic and again appeared to EXCAVATIONS AT IVY STREET AND BROWN STREET, SALISBURY, 1994 sainjeay [je € I youaly, °c Shy Bas \ (- | | | & 81S [PULequr Jo 693 = | 8 i. a : : -~—--~.. — wr Yuen jo e6py See eee ie ' ua yo e6P3 s aS |BULEIUI JO BBpy ~~ JEHOW eee sajnpou july = Ze aunyeay 10)e7 syooiq Mey = AL. | a S490|q HEY 7 saunyee} ! payepun pue jersipaw—jsog Pra sainpeay |eAdipay\| oy , youasy | Youddy -—_——__ ° aa eae wed 24 THE WILTSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY MAGAZINE contain cess or similar materials. Only one sherd of 13th — 14th century pottery was recovered, but several fragments of roof tile, including two glazed pieces, are also thought to be of medieval date. In the north-eastern corner of the trench was a large rounded pit (192); this was also cut through the medieval loamy soils which made up most of the lower step in this area. The full size of this feature was not ascertained, but examination of the main trench section revealed it to be at least 0.7m deep. The main fill (194) contained three sherds of 13th — 14th century pottery along with a large number of cattle horncores, probably representing the waste products from industrial activity such as tanning. Adjacent to the northern baulk of the trench were two more pits. These were both rounded in plan, although the full outline of the earliest one (284) could not be defined as it had been truncated by a later feature. Pit 284 was c. 0.75m deep and excavation of part of the fill sequence resulted in the recovery of sherds of 13th —14th century pottery and fragment of roof tile. A single sherd of post-medieval pottery was also found but is considered to be intrusive. The southern edge of pit 284 was cut by a much more shallow example; pit 165. This was only 0.2m deep; the single fill (166) contained a substantial amount of medieval roof tile fragments and two sherds of 13th century pottery. Several of the features investigated in Trench 1 were found to be of post-medieval date in addition to pit 233 mentioned above. Two of these were conjoined and comprised square pits lined with chalk blocks, both located adjacent to the northern baulk (301, 302). These were preserved to a depth of c. 1m and the central party wall included two courses of brick in addition to six of ashlar chalk blocks. Both this wall and the west wall of pit 301 were mortared, suggesting that these formed a single unit, possibly a successor to pit 302. No dateable artefacts were recovered from pit 302, although several roof tiles were recorded in the section. Pit 301, however, contained pottery of 18th — 19th century date along with pieces of glass of a similar date. A further pit (157), this one very square or rectangular in plan, was located partially within the western baulk. It was 0.75m deep and was excavated 0.4m into the basal gravels. Pottery of late 17th — 18th century date was found in several of the fills of this feature, along with other materials (glass, clay pipe, roof tiles) of similar date. The layers at the very base of the feature were waterlogged and some pieces of wood were preserved in these deposits. Another chalk-lined square or rectangular pit (147) was located to the south but was not dated, although it certainly cut through the medieval soils which formed the lower part of the sequence. At the southern end of the main eastern baulk was a circular chalk-lined well c. 1m in diameter (176). Although this was not investigated and thus no artefacts recovered from within it, the level from which the feature was initially excavated indicates a post-medieval date, probably 17th - 18th century. Projecting from the Ivy Street frontage at the southern end of the trench was a section of wall footing recorded for a total length of approximately 4m (306). This was 0.5m wide and made up of a single course of chalk blocks set in a mortar matrix, with occasional large flint nodules. Close examination of the material below the wall and also of the main southern baulk revealed that the wall footing was definitely of post-medieval date. Although there were associated surfaces on either side of the footing, none of these were within buildings (until very late in the sequence) and thus the footing probably represents a property boundary wall. A number of later walls or footings were built directly on top of this one, indicating the continuity of this boundary. The most recent of these was made up of five courses of red brick and was directly below the modern tarmac surface of the car park. Summary No evidence of medieval buildings was found during the investigation of Trench 1. Instead, the frontage along Ivy Street appears to have been left as open ground, with a series of compact dump deposits which may represent attempts to raise the ground level, possibly in order to avoid the high water table. In the backlands a few pits were excavated, at least two of which were cess pits, but over much of the area soils were able to develop. This area could have been a garden or orchard. In the post-medieval period a boundary wall was established running from the frontage into the backlands, but no major buildings were constructed. Again a few pits were excavated in the backlands, along with a well. Only two sherds of later medieval pottery were recovered from this trench, although the paucity of material of this date is a common phenomenon within the city and does not necessarily indicate a lack of activity. TRENCH 2 (Figure 3 and 4) This trench was excavated to a depth of 1.1m-1.3m below the current surface level, but it was not EXCAVATIONS AT IVY STREET AND BROWN STREET, SALISBURY, 1994 Trench 2 Medieval and later medieval features : men J) e. Ecoe! ke Modern Petrol tank ia Mortar ——}) Chalk blocks °°, Flint nodules 854 Chalk surface ap Greensand blocks Gravel surface Later feature Post-medieval features 2 Edge of trench pe eared SS - 898 Modern ' i i ' \ Peirol tank rs] pe 907 Paving _ > 832 840 a 836 i as : 838 pone , {uwSCS Ferruginous sandstone ¢3 ¢?” Greenstone | ( ae Ss ee oye: Flint nodules a », Tile 0 5 10m t I i I | — | Fig. 3. Trench 2, all features 26 THE WILTSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY MAGAZINE necessary to create any internal steps in the baulk sections. The north-west corner of the trench was not fully investigated due to the presence of a large subsurface petrol tank sealed within a concrete bund. This was disused and had been filled with gravel. At the eastern end of the trench, adjacent to the Brown Street frontage, the remains of a medieval structure were uncovered and excavated. The northern boundary of this building was actually a tenement plot wall which continued through into the backlands. Although a number of small postholes were found below the chalk floors of the earliest building, not all of the floors were removed and so it is not clear if these postholes represented some form of structure preceding the one which was excavated. A detailed analysis of the pottery from this sequence could not distinguish any difference between the material found below the floors and that from within or above them; all of the sherds recovered were of 13th - early 14th century date. Also below the chalk floors, but sealing the postholes, were thin interleaving spreads of clayey gravel and more organic material which probably represent levelling or make- up material and are thus part of the initial phase of construction. The medieval building at the east end of the trench was aligned along the Brown Street frontage and was at least 7.5m long and 3.5m wide. Estimation of the original position of the medieval frontage below the current pavement area suggests a true width of c. 5.5m for the building. At the northern end of the structure an extension to the rear resulted in a potential original width of c. 9.5m. This extension was found to be an integral part of the building from the initial phase of construction rather than a later addition, although examination of the floor deposits suggested that it may have been a separate room. The external walls of the building were founded on dwarf wall footings (857, 979, 985), each of which comprised a band of gravel and mortar c. 0.3m wide with occasional flint nodules set into this mixture. There was some evidence for a northern wall directly abutting the main tenement wall (984), but this was fairly ephemeral and certainly the west wall (985) of the building directly abutted the tenement wall and appeared to be bonded with it at foundation level. Within the backlands, the tenement wall footing showed evidence for several stages of alteration and rebuilding along its recorded length. In this frontage area, however, the wall footing was of consistent build type and thickness, and no alterations were noted. Where investigated, the wall footings were found to be placed directly on the basal gravels and had not been placed into any cut or trench through the natural deposits. Large crudely-worked blocks of greensand were placed at some wall junctions, presumably at the base of larger structural members within the main timber frame of the building. Within the narrower part of the building the ground area was divided up into smaller rooms by two narrow partition walls represented by beam slots. The most southerly of these (854) appeared to have two small postholes along its length, suggesting the use of vertical timber supports. The other beam slot (964) formed the southern side of a wider area of unfloored ground, suggesting that the partition wall had something built against it prior to any floor being laid in this area. The building thus had at least two rooms along the frontage; a northern one measuring c. 4.5 by 5.5m and a southern one measuring c. 2.5 by 5.5m. The edge of a third room was also uncovered at the southern edge of the trench. The rear extension measured 3.7 by 2.1m. The floor surfaces were made up of crushed chalk and were generally between 40 and 80mm in thickness. These deposits were patchy and showed signs of repair and replacement. Pottery recovered from the surface of these floors was of 13th - early 14th century date. Although described here as floors, it is equally plausible that the actual floors were made of timbered planking suspended above these surfaces and thus the chalk would have been a sealant of underlying materials rather than a floor in its own right. Located within the rear extension was a rounded pit (966) which was 1.5m deep. Most of the fills of this pit had been removed by a chalk-lined example of later medieval date (590). Pit 966 measured c. 1.1m in diameter and the waterlogged basal fills (777, 965) contained sherds of 13th - early 14th century pottery. Analysis of one of the fills showed the presence of excreta in addition to the remains of a variety of plant species. This pit did not appear to be lined, and it was almost certainly an integral feature within the building, although it clearly was cut partially through the edge of the southern wall of the rear extension. A second medieval pit (932) was recorded outside the building but adjacent to the rear extension. This example was sub-circular in plan, measuring c. 1.8m in diameter but only 0.45m deep. A large quantity of 13th - early 14th century pottery was recovered from the fills of this pit, along with roof tiles and animal bones. A few sherds of post- EXCAVATIONS AT IVY STREET AND BROWN STREET, SALISBURY, 1994 medieval pottery found in the upper fill layer are assumed to be intrusive. To the north of the tenement wall there was no evidence of buildings located adjacent to the street frontage. Instead, a series of thin medieval soils lay directly over the basal gravels and no features were recorded in this area. Cutting through these soils was a square pit (926) lined with blocks of chalk. Although the outer dimensions of the feature resulted in a pit measuring 1.6m square, the lined part of the pit was only 1.15m square internally. The pit was excavated to a depth of 0.8m but the base was not reached. Each of the ashlar chalk blocks measured c. 300 x 150 x 200mm, with the latter measurement representing the height of each course. In some places ceramic tiles had been used as a levelling material between courses. The upper 0.65m of the pit was filled with a homogenous deposit (925) which contained pottery of both 13th — 14th century and 15th —1 6th century date, suggesting that this deposit was of later medieval date. The lower fill (958) was much darker and more organic, and analysis of the plant remains from this deposit indicated that this feature was indeed a cess pit. A similar feature was located in the rear extension of the building to the south of the tenement wall, cutting through and removing most of the medieval cess pit here (966). This later pit (590) was also lined with chalk blocks and had internal dimensions of 1.2 x 1.1m. Excavation proved the full depth to be 0.9m below the surface of the basal gravels, and at the base of the pit was a floor made of two layers of planks, the uppermost aligned east/west and the lower one north/south. Overlying the timber floor was a thin layer of chalky material followed by a very dark and organic deposit (594). Once again, analysis of this material indicated that much of it was composed of cess. This deposit was sealed by a further thin layer of chalky material, above which were two fills (692, 591) which appeared to represent refuse disposal. Pottery of 15th — 16th century date was recovered from the upper fill (591), indicating a later medieval date for the feature. A few pieces of medieval tile were found in the layer of cess but are probably residual. Two copper alloy pins were also found in these upper fills, one of which has been identified as a later medieval type. The clear difference between the areas either side of the tenement wall was maintained in the backlands. To the south of the wall and to the rear of the building, a number of pits dated to the post- medieval period were recorded. One of these (770) Qik cut through the south wall of the rear extension of the medieval building. This feature was sub-square in plan, measuring 1.1m across and 0.75m deep. The lower part of a wooden barrel had been placed in the base of the pit, rising to a height of 0.55m and then provided with a ‘rim’ of ceramic roof tile fragments and flint nodules. The wooden staves of the barrel were very degraded and could not be retained for analysis, although an L-shaped iron fitting was recovered and could be part of this construction. Although exclusively medieval pottery was recovered from this pit, this material is considered to be residual as the pit clearly cut through an adjacent pit (587) which was definitely of post-medieval date. Pit 587 was circular in plan, measuring 0.85m in diameter. It was only 0.4m deep and had vertical sides and a flat base. The upper fill appeared to contain lenses of cess along with a considerable quantity of pottery of 17th — 18th century date. Another pit (585) immediately to the south-west was only partially excavated and was found to be irregular in form. This pit was also of post-medieval date (1 6th —17th century) and appeared to have been used for refuse disposal. In the frontage area, both within and without the medieval building, was an east/west alignment of six postholes (Figure 3; 830 - 840). These cut through the floors and the western wall of the earlier building, and although one of them (838) contained a sherd of 13th century pottery and another (836) a sherd of 15th century date, this group is thought to be of post-medieval date. The postholes varied in recorded depth from 0.06 to 0.24m and may not be exactly contemporary, but probably represent a linear structural feature such as a fence. Also located within the earlier building was a circular chalk-lined well (865). This lay in the area between the main part of the building and the rear extension, suggesting that the building was no longer in use when the well was first constructed. This feature was excavated to a depth of 0.7m below the surface of the basal gravels, and the homogeneous fill contained much pottery of 17th — 18th century date. Further into the backlands area, however, beyond the pits described above, the trench was not extensively excavated. Most of this area appeared to be occupied by large and amorphous pits of 19th — 20th century date (e.g. 559, 867) cutting through post-medieval dump deposits. The main feature investigated in this area was a surface (869) made up of limestone flags surrounded by red bricks, 28 THE WILTSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY MAGAZINE Trench 2 7 Modern petrol tank maat LY =) JDO {i Be fe SSSeasnSses3 Se ySsc Loo ICC jcc oe Brick Chalk blocks Fig. 4. Trench 2, Paving 869 located in the north-west corner of the trench. No walls were recorded in association with this surface, but the chalk rubble layer which formed the bedding for the surface contained a single sherd of 17th century pottery which provides a terminus post quem for the feature. This surface is likely to have been an exterior yard rather than a floor within a building. ‘To the north of the tenement wall the differences between the tenements were again clear. In the small part of this backlands area which was available for excavation, a number of wall footings (882, 907, 978) were aligned perpendicular to the tenement wall. There were no clear surfaces associated with these footings but they were cut through medieval soils similar to those recorded at the frontage in this area. They were also obviously later than the tenement wall, which showed signs of having been rebuilt and realigned in this area. These wall footings probably represent small outbuildings of post-medieval date. The remains of a small pitched-tile hearth or flue (898) were also recorded in this area and were probably a feature within one of these outbuildings. Summary ‘Trench 2 was found to contain parts of two separate tenements. In the northern one, soils which formed Flint nodules Ferruginous sandstone in the medieval period were cut by a later medieval chalk-lined cess pit. Within the backlands area, small outbuildings of post-medieval date were constructed up against the tenement wall, and one of these contained a small pitched-tile hearth or flue. South of the tenement wall the recorded deposits were very different. Along the frontage was a medieval building with internal partition walls and a rear extension within which was a cess pit. This building utilised the tenement wall as the main north wall, and otherwise comprised dwarf walls or footings on which the timber superstructure would have been built. The internal cess pit was replaced in the later medieval period by a chalk-lined version similar to the one recorded to the north of the tenement wall. In the post-medieval period a number of pits were excavated to the rear of the building, and an alignment of postholes cut through the floors and the west wall. A well was also constructed within the earlier building. In the backlands a series of modern pits had disturbed the post-medieval and medieval deposits, but a flagstone floor of 17th — 18th century date represented an exterior yard surface. EXCAVATIONS AT IVY STREET AND BROWN STREET, SALISBURY, 1994 THE FINDS THE METALWORK by Emma Loader The assemblage of metalwork comprises 161 objects; 147 of iron, 10 of copper alloy and four of lead. Of this total, 39 objects came from medieval contexts. All iron and copper alloy objects have been X- radiographed. Most of the objects which have been dated to the post-medieval period are not discussed here; details may be found in the archive. IRON OBJECTS The 36 iron objects from medieval deposits comprise one knife, 30 nails and five objects which were too corroded for any positive identification. A whittle tang knife was recovered from the make- up of one of the wall footings (857) for the building adjacent to the Brown Street frontage in Trench 2. This is acommon medieval type, comparable to knives found, for example, at Clarendon Palace (Goodall 1988, fig. 74, 4). The X-radiograph of this object suggests that it is constructed from iron with a steel cutting edge. The purpose of combining the two metals was to produce a knife with a sharper blade but which also did not break easily. Iron is more ductile than steel, but it cannot be sharpened to produce a good blade, whilst heat-treated steel produces a good cutting edge (Wilthew 1987). Tylecote (1981) identifies four methods of combining steel and iron to produce blades, and all four methods were commonly used in the production of knives at this time. The method of combining the two metals in this instance is comparable with his type B whereby the steel cutting edge was welded onto the iron strip. This method enables the blade to be continually sharpened until eventually the steel wears away and the knife is discarded. The indication that the steel has not been worn away suggested accidental loss rather than intentional discard, as the object was still functional. Thirty nails were recovered from a number of medieval features. Classification has been made by visual examination of the objects and the X- radiographs. Three types were identified; round- headed (seven examples), flat-headed (four examples) and T-headed (one example); all types have square shanks. Other nails were unidentifiable. All types were probably used in woodworking, and no horseshoe nails or large masonry nails were observed. 29 Of the five unidentified objects, two are lumps of iron, possibly large nail heads. Another object is possibly an L-shaped fitting, which was recovered from the base of post-medieval pit 770 in Trench 2, in which the remains of a wooden barrel were identified. Another L-shaped piece of unknown function was recovered from the fill of a beam slot for one of the partition walls within the medieval building adjacent to Brown Street in Trench 2. The fifth object consists of five fragments of iron and is completely unidentifiable. It was recovered from a medieval soil layer immediately to the rear of the same building. COPPER ALLOY OBJECTS The two objects of copper alloy recovered from the earlier deposits comprise one pin and one pin/needle, both found in the fill of pit 590 in Trench 2 and associated with pottery of 15th— 16th century date. The pin is very fragmented, with a head formed by wrapping wire once or twice around the shaft and shaping this to create a globular head. This type is comparable to the small type 2 pins found at Colchester (Crummy 1988) and is likely to be of later medieval date. The pin/needle has a flattened head with three small perforations. The end of this object is hooked, probably unintentionally, and its function is uncertain. LEAD OBJECT A flat triangular piece of lead was recovered from a soil layer to the rear of the medieval building along the Brown Street frontage in Trench 2. It has two cut marks at the wider end and is probably a waste fragment from a larger object. THE POTTERY by Lorraine Mepham The complete pottery assemblage recovered during the excavations at Ivy Street/Brown Street amounts to 1671 sherds (24,712g), all of medieval to post- medieval date, of which 1069 sherds (13,775g) from stratified medieval contexts have been analysed in detail and are discussed here. This is an assemblage of relatively modest size, but as it represents the first stratified medieval pottery assemblage of any size from Salisbury to be published, analysis has been undertaken in some detail in order to establish a type series for Salisbury which can be used as the basis for future analyses. 30 THE WILTSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY MAGAZINE Reference will be made to other, as yet unpublished, assemblages from Salisbury (Mepham and Underwood n.d.) in order to support chronological and other conclusions drawn here. METHODS Analysis of the medieval pottery has followed the standard Wessex Archaeology recording system (Morris 1992), involving the identification of fabric types on the basis of the range, size and frequency of macroscopic inclusions, and the grouping of these types according to the dominant inclusion type or known source. In this instance the fabric series 1s based around the Laverstock-type fabrics coded within Wessex Archaeology’s ‘established wares’ series (Group E); other fabrics fall into two fabric groups: sandy fabrics (Group Q) and limestone- tempered fabrics (Group C). Fabric totals are presented in Table 1. Vessel forms have been defined using rims and other diagnostic sherds, and follow the recommended nomenclature for medieval vessel forms (MPRG 1998). Details of surface treatment, decoration, manufacture and evidence of use have Table 1: Pottery fabric totals (medieval contexts) Fabric No. Weight % of type sherds (g) group % of total LAVERSTOCK TYPE COARSEWARES E422a 9 140 1.5 E422b 222 4627 49.7 E422c 432 4539 48.8 Sub-total 663 9306 67.5 LAVERSTOCK TYPE FINEWARES E420a 25 323, 7.6 E420b 74 684 16.2 E42la 130 1263 29.9 E421b 68 1301 30.8 E421c 83 655 15-5 Sub-total 380 4226 30.7 OTHER FABRICS “Tudor Green’ 2 6 2.5 C400 1 2 0.8 F400 1 8 33 Q400 4 76 31.3 Q401 18 bowl 62.1 Sub-total 26 243 1.8 Overall total 1069 13775 also been recorded; detailed pottery records by context are held in archive. Pottery from post-medieval contexts has not been subjected to the same level of analysis, but has been scanned for medieval types not represented amongst the stratified assemblage. Post-medieval pottery types are briefly summarised at the end of this report. In the fabric descriptions below, the terms used to describe the density of inclusions follow Terry and Chilingar (1955), and are defined as follows: rare (1-3%); sparse (3-10%); moderate (10-20%); common (20-30%). The fabrics identified are discussed below within groups according to known or putative source. LAVERSTOCK-TYPE WARES The overwhelming majority of the medieval assemblage comprises coarseware and fineware sherds which are comparable to products of the Laverstock kilns located just outside the city (Musty et al. 1969). The coarsewares are sufficiently visually similar throughout the medieval assemblage as to represent variations of a single fabric (E422); this has been subdivided here into three fabrics on the basis of the size of the quartz inclusions. Two basic fineware fabrics have been defined (E420, E421); again, both have been subdivided on the basis of inclusion size. These subdivisions are somewhat arbitrary, but have been made in order to determine whether variations in coarseness may be explained by chronological factors, or whether they are influenced rather by vessel form. The putative source for these fabrics is, of course, the Laverstock kilns. The excavated kilns, however, have a restricted estimated life span of 1230-75 (ibid. 93), although there 1s indirect documentary evidence for the operation of kilns in the Laverstock/ Clarendon Park area during the period 1318-23 (bid. 83, footnote). References to pottery production near Milford Bridge in 1270 probably apply also to Laverstock (Robinson 1988, 170). It is apparent that Laverstock-type fabrics continued to be produced after the known date of the excavated kilns, and there is no evidence either from this assemblage or from other medieval assemblages excavated in the city that other pottery types made significant inroads at any point into the Laverstock monopoly. Tantalising hints at pottery production within the city itself were revealed during construction of the inner ring road in 1972/3 - a pit filled with possible potting clay and containing a 13th century baluster jug was observed at London Road/ Rampart Road (WAM 68, 137), and a group of EXCAVATIONS AT IVY STREET AND BROWN STREET, SALISBURY, 1994 ‘wasters’ recovered elsewhere along the route (not mentioned in the WAM notes, but cited by Spoerry (1990, 3); this may be the basis for Robinson’s reference (1988, 170) to a kiln at Guilder Lane, but there is no other mention of kiln structure(s)). Two ‘wasters’ are also known from West Grimstead and Ashley Hill near Petersfinger (1bid. 170). Whilst it is highly likely that a production centre existed in or close to the city throughout the medieval period, either at Laverstock or nearby, it should be pointed out that visually similar coarseware and fineware fabrics are common throughout south-east Wiltshire and east Dorset. Recent chemical analysis (Spoerry 1990) has failed to differentiate between coarseware pottery samples from Laverstock and south Dorset, while a documentary search has demonstrated the likelihood of the existence of further medieval production centres exploiting the clays of the Reading Beds and London Clay which outcrop in a band from south-east Wiltshire to Purbeck, particularly in the area of the post-medieval Verwood industry (Spoerry 1988). Coarsewares E422a Hard, moderately coarse matrix; common, fairly well sorted, subangular/ subrounded quartz, sometimes iron-stained, | eS 7 Medieval Pottery EXCAVATIONS AT IVY STREET AND BROWN STREET, SALISBURY, 1994 dishes, both in the finer variant E422c. One is partially glazed internally, and has stabbed decoration along the top of the rim (Figure 5, 6); other internally glazed sherds may derive from similar open vessels. The illustrated example is sooted on the exterior, indicating a probable use in cooking. Two thickened rims from open vessels with slightly convex profiles (Figure 5, 7) are likely to represent bowls - comparable forms are known from Laverstock, some of them handled (Musty et al. 1969, fig. 12, 55) - although the possibility that they could be curfews should not be entirely ruled out. In addition, one acute base angle from an inturned or ‘West Country’ dish, in fabric E422c, was recognised (ibid. fig. 11, 41-4). Finewares E420a Hard, fine matrix; common, well sorted, subrounded/subangular quartz, not iron stained, <0.5mm; rare iron oxides. Handmade or wheel-thrown; oxidised (very pale-firing: buff to cream). E420b As E420a but with quartz <0.25mm. E42la Hard, fine matrix; moderate to common, well sorted, subrounded quartz, iron-stained, <0.5mm; rare iron oxides. Handmade or wheel-thrown; oxidised (pale-firing: buff to pale salmon pink). E421b As E421a but with quartz <0.25mm. E421c As E421b but quartz not iron-stained. A similarly restricted range of vessel forms is found in the fineware fabrics; these are represented almost entirely by jugs of various forms and decoration. These jugs have a long upright or slightly everted neck, occasionally collared, and a flattened rim of triangular profile; handles are of strap or rod form (Figure 6, 8-12). Most vessels are at least partially glazed, on the upper part of the body, and glaze is either colourless (appearing yellow) or an even to mottled apple green. No complete profiles were reconstructable, which has hampered close dating since the chronological progression from baggy, rounded body profiles to more slender, baluster forms during the lifetime of the kilns has been _ demonstrated at Laverstock (Musty et al. 1969, 112). One specific, more unusual form, however, could be identified: a strut jug with incised struts and rod handle, sherds of which were recovered from various contexts (Figure 6, 10). Strut jugs were found in three of the Laverstock kilns which fall in 33 the middle of the chronological sequence (ibid. fig. 21, 166-8). Some chronological clues may also be gained from the decorative treatments. The earliest groups of jugs from Laverstock have a range of linear and curvilinear combing, applied foliage motifs, and stamping straight onto the body or on applied clay elements; one example from within the medieval building on the Brown Street frontage has ring-and- dot stamps around the bridge spout and on clay pads around the rim (Figure 6, 9). This is closely comparable to a jug from the earliest kiln group at Laverstock (ibid., fig. 13, 68), and there are other examples of similar stamping as well as a few comb- decorated sherds. Later jugs display a much greater range, although often less well executed, of applied and stamped motifs. At Ivy Street/Brown Street slipped decoration is well in evidence: pellets, pads, scales and strips, which themselves may be stamped, impressed or incised. The slip is either brushed or trailed on in a thin solution, or applied in a thicker, more plastic form; the slip colour is generally red, contrasting with the pale body colour, although purple-brown (manganese) colouring is also used (e.g. Figure 6, 8). The fragmentary nature of the assemblage means that decorative schemes are rarely reconstructable; the most complete example displays a vibrant design of applied scales and stamped pellets (Figure 6, 12). Other fineware vessel forms are limited to a small number of shallow saucer-shaped forms, internally glazed, occasionally with pulled or pinched lips (Figure 6, 13); these are probably the bowls from saucer lamps (see Musty et al. 1969, fig. 24, 185). NON-LOCAL FABRICS Four other fabrics were identified, all coarsewares, one limestone-tempered, one flint-tempered and two sandy. They are described as follows: C400 Soft, moderately coarse matrix, slightly micaceous; common, poorly sorted, subangular limestone fragments 2.5mm - 0.5mm) they were stored in Industrial Methylated Spirit (IMS). 40 Table 3: Plant Remains Key: (_) = identification uncertain THE WILTSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY MAGAZINE charred mineralised _frs = fragments * totals estimated. Feature Context Sample volume (litres) 234 288 590, 287 594 | 235 10 281 10 10 10 592 10 966 7717 10 Cereals Triticum cf aestivum s.1. - grains - rachis fragment Hordeum vulgare L. - grains - rachis frag Secale cereale L. Avena sp. ent Cerealia indet. bread wheat hulled barley cereal grain fragments Pulses Vicia faba L. - seed fragments - hila Pisum sativum L. - seed fragments -hila broad bean Ficus carica L. Rubus cf idaeus L. Rubus fruticosus agg. Fragaria vesca L. Prunus spinosa/ insiutia Prunus domestica s.1. Prunus avium (L.) L. wild strawberry 5 4 3200* 13" sloe and bullace 108 + frs 10 + frs 28 + frs wild cherry Malus sylvestris/domesuca - seeds crab or cultivated & GRE ‘ a z eo a ii \o nw — {bt Sina =n Rumex sp. Brassica cf migra black mustard 6*(60*) Dye Coriandrum sativum L. coriander Laz Foeniculum vulgare (Miller) fennel 1 Anethum graveolens L. 20h ay ea a | 6” Apium graveolens L. (ane es ee es oe ae Cannabis sativa L. hemp 3 Linum usitaussimum L. Arable &/or ruderal Papaver rhoeas/dubium | —{| — 23% Fumaria sp. 2 Uruca dioica L. stinging nettle — |--}2+—— 22m Chenopodium album L. fat hen aw ae ee ee) 54% ole Fata ee common orache chickweed a Ee ial Agrostemma githago L. Boor 31 irs: frs Persicaria Japathifolia (L.) Gray 13 Polygonum aviculare s.1. knotgrass 3 Fallopia convolvulus (L.) A.Léve black bindweed 6 eas Rumex cf crispus curled dock 5 lie hos Rumex obtusifolius L. broad-leaved dock i Sa ee ae eee ewan an | Malva cf moschata Malva cf sylvestris musk mallow common mallow EXCAVATIONS AT IVY STREET AND BROWN STREET, SALISBURY, 1994 field pansy/violet = smooth tare Euphorbia helioscopia L. Vicia cf tetrasperma Vicia/Lathyrus sp. vetch or vetchling Scandix pecten-veneris L. shepherd’s needle Aethusa cynapium L. fool’s parsley Bupleurum rotundifolium L. 1 | _Lamium cf purpureum | reddead-newle | | |_Galeopsis terrahitL. | commonhemp-newtle | | |_Lithospermum arvenseL. | field gromwell | | | Centaurea cyanusL. | comnflower_ | || | Sonchus cfoleraceous | smooth sow-thistle || Chrysanthemem segetum L. Tmpleurospermum inodorum (L.) Schulz-Bip UW thorow-wax Bromus hordaceous/secalinus Grassland Ranunculus acris/repens/bulbosus Vicia sauva L. buttercup 1 common vetch 1) cf Trifolium sp. clover aS etoae Pasunaca/Heracleum sp. parsnip or hogweed Torilis japonica (Houtt.) DC upright hedge-parsle Myosots sp. forget-me-not 1 Prunella vulgaris L. Plantago lanceolata L. ribwort plantain | Euphrasiasp. eye bright Odontutes vernus/Euphrasia sp. red bartsia/eyebright Euphrasia sp. Cirsium cf eriophorum self -heal woolly thistle Cirstum cf vulgare spear thistle Cirsium sp. Hypochaeris radicata L. Leontodon autumnalis L. autumn hawkbit =a cf Crepis sp. thistle hawk’s-beard ; ; _ im 16* 70*(12) 28* _ _ : ; _ Lactuca serriola L. prickly lettuce Anisantha sterilis (L.) Nevski Poaceae Scrub or wood margin plants Salix sp. - buds Sambucus nigra L. Stachys sylvatica L. | hedge woundwort_ |_| barren brome grasses 2(4) liillowsse eee tet 2 3 elder cf Viburnam Jantana wayfaring tree Heathland plants Preridium aquilinum L. - pinnules Calluna vulgaris (L.) Hull - shoots - flowers - seeds Erica cinerea L. - leaves - flowers bracken bell heather Potenuilla erecta (L.) Rausch tormentil Damp/wet area plants Sphagnum sp. - fragments bog moss Musci indet. - stem frag Caltha palustris L. Ranunculus flammula L. Lychnis flos-cucult L. Apium nodiflorum (L.) Lagasca Bidens cernua/tripartita Potamogeton cf polygonifolius eee) | Conium maculatumE, “| hemlock | | aa indeterminate mosses marsh marigold lesser spearwort ragged robin fool's water-cress nodding or trifid bur marigold bog pondweed 41 42 THE WILTSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY MAGAZINE common or slender spike-rush Eleocharis palustris/uniglumis Carex cf demissa common sedge Carex nigra (L.) Reichard jistlesesntee fff sedges The ‘flots’ and residues were large, several >500ml, but in all cases the whole of the larger fractions were searched. The smaller fractions were scanned but in the case of large numbers of very small seeds only those from sub-samples were counted. Sorting and most identifications were made with a stereo microscope at x 7-40 magnification. Higher magnifications with transmitted light were used when studying some plant tissues. For identification it was often necessary to allow items, a few at a time, to partially dry so that surface features could be more easily seen. Extracted seeds (the term is used loosely to include fruits, caryopses, nutlets etc.) were then stored in alcohol and the remainder returned to IMS. Fruit stones were allowed to dry and later measured by eye-piece graticule, taking thickness to be the distance between the ventral and dorsal edges and breadth to be from side to side (Behre 1978). Nomenclature follows Stace (1991), using scientific names only at first mention. In Table 3 all taxa are represented by seeds unless otherwise stated. Totals are unavoidably inaccurate but are used to provide some means of comparison between samples or contexts. Some seeds are accompanied by many fragments. The remains are listed in terms of categories and most likely original habitats of the seeds but, as always, this cannot be applied too rigidly. Many plants in the arable, ruderal and grassland categories are not restricted to specific conditions and some wetland plants could have occurred occasionally as weeds in damper patches of fields. PIT 234 —TRENCH 1 A sample from the main fill (235) consists mainly of compacted lumps of soil, bone, charcoal and small fragments of wood, mostly reddened; very few seeds were identified. There are numerous small, black, apparently charred, fungal sclerotia. These are mostly spherical, (c. 0.5mm - 2.0mm diameter), which when broken show a relatively thick wall and dense amorphous core. A few are lighter in colour and possibly have not been burned. PIT 288 —TRENCH 1 The sample from fill layer 281 is very different and the contents are characteristic of cess pits. They consist largely of light brown concretions ranging from very small crumbs up to 20 — 30mm, appearing as parts of a compacted mass. Most are friable but some are partly or completely mineralised. Many can be seen to incorporate small bones, stem and leaf fragments, and occasionally stones of Prunus species (sloes, plums) etc. and also voids left where fruit stones, seeds, and other fragments have become dislodged. Apart from this compacted material there is a large volume of free plant remains, some of which are mineralised. The main constituents are fine shreds and occasionally larger fragments of charcoal, wood, twigs and monocotyledonous stems which have not been identified. Identified items include plum and sloe stones, seeds and endocarp (core) fragments of Malus sp. (wild or cultivated apple) and some Ficus (fig), Fragaria (strawberry) and Rubus sp. (blackberry/ raspberry) seeds. Other edible plants are represented by the seeds of Brassica nigra (black mustard), Apium graveolens (wild celery) and Anethum graveolens (dill) which may have used as spices or flavourings. Two detached hila are the only identified evidence of Vicia faba (broad/field bean) but small featureless fragments may be parts of legumes. Cereals are represented only by a mineralised wheat grain, a few charred fragments and one seed of Bromus sp. (chess/rye brome). A mineralised seed of Linum usitatissimum (flax) may well have been consumed but possibly the plant was grown for fibre. There are small numbers of characteristic field weeds, of which Agrostemma githago (corn cockle) represented mostly by fragments, is the most significant. The only variants to these plants and weeds of supposedly domestic origin are a shoot of Calluna vulgaris (ling, heather) and a few fragments of moss, suggesting usage of heathland plant material. Another sample from the basal fill (287) of the same feature, with quantities of flint and chalk rubble, has a similar content of charcoal and wood, but there are more mineralised concretions. Plant remains are similar to those in the later fill but there is a wider range of seeds of weeds and ruderals. Both Triticum (wheat) and Hordeum (barley) are present as charred grains, and the many fragments of corn cockle suggest that these were ingested with cereal products. Fragments of heather and of Pteridium aquilinum (bracken) are further indications of heathland, with more fragments of several species of mosses. EXCAVATIONS AT IVY STREET AND BROWN STREET, SALISBURY, 1994 Both of the samples from pit 288 consist largely of faecal material and comprise obviously digested plant foods. Other items probably represent the disposal of kitchen and other household rubbish. PIT 590 —TRENCH 2 A sample from the basal fill layer (594) is also composed of very characteristic cess pit components, i.e. compacted masses, some of which can be broken down and many others which are mineralised. These include very small shreds of stems or other vegetation, and as before incorporate fruit stones, smaller seeds and bone fragments. Cereals occur only as mineralised and are uncertainly identified but there is a large amount of comminuted vegetable material. Little attempt has been made to identify this but examination at x200 and reference to Dickson (1987) shows that there are many fragments of testa and integuments of cereals, i.e. ‘bran’. Other fragments are probably remains of other leafy foods. Plum and sloe stones, whole, and in very many cases smaller fragments to only c. 2mm, seeds of apples and of Vitis vinifera (grapes), figs and the wild fruits such as strawberry and blackberry or raspberry form a large part of the assemblage. Beans and Pisum sativum (peas) appear only as detached hila and probable testa fragments, occasionally incorporated in a buff-coloured matrix which is almost certainly excrement. There are fewer seeds of field or grassland, but these include several very characteristic field weeds, in particular mineralised whole seeds and many fragments of corn cockle. No heather, bracken, or mosses were found in this sample which appears to consist almost entirely of food remains. Another sample from a later fill (692) contains little plant material. There are two fragments only of charred probable cereal, a few mineralised seeds of fig and strawberry and fragments of sloe or plum stones. These appear to be chance inclusions of probable kitchen debris. PIT 966 —TRENCH 2 The sample taken from the basal fill (777) is more informative since it contains not only obvious excreta but, with the food remnants, more seeds of crop weeds, grassland and ruderals. Charred wheat and barley, and one mineralised grain of Secale cereale (rye), ‘together with seeds of corn cockle, Centaurea cyanus (cornflower), Chrysanthemum segetum (corn marigold), and Anthemis cotula (stinking chamomile) are present in greater numbers than in the previously examined samples. Large fruit stones are absent from this sample but there are some seeds of smaller fruits 43 and possible spices. There is a larger presence of heathland plants, and plants not only of damp or wet grassland but, in the form of Potamogeton (pondweed) seeds, possibly open water. PIT 926 —-TRENCH 2 A sample of the lower fill (958) included very many compacted lumps of faecal material and mineralised concretions. In some it is possible, as before, to detect traces of included seeds, insect pupae or voids left by their loss. Loose seeds found in the sample, with the exception of Cannabis sativa (hemp) and a few weed seeds (which may well have been inadvertently consumed), are almost entirely those of fruit or other edible plants, mostly preserved by waterlogging but many by mineralisation. Fruit stones and seeds of figs, grapes and gathered soft fruits are abundant and seeds of flavourings slightly more numerous than in other samples. More unusual is aseed of Euphrasia sp. (eyebright), a complex series of plants usually of grass or damp heathland, but an infusion of this plant has been used medicinally Johnson 1862). Sub-fossil seeds of Euphrasia species and Odontites verna (red bartsia) are difficult to distinguish but in this case the mineralised seed is perfectly preserved and definite identification possible. Apart from one small carbonised shoot tip, heathers and bracken were not found in this sample but there are a few fragments of one moss species. However, some fragments of concretions incorporate lengths of what may be mineralised fragments of a moss. DISCUSSION Of the seven pit fills examined, two appear to be refuse deposits with only few chance inclusions of plant remains, but the other five are closely associated with the likely original use of the pits. The contents are typical of cess-pits of medieval date and, although there are many stem and straw fragments, the greater part consists of food residues which have passed through the human alimentary system. Remains of non-edible plants form a lesser part. The larger fruit stones of plums, sloes and cherries and the small seeds of other fruits are the most noticeable components. Domesticated plums, distinguished by their greater size and relatively lower breadth are less in evidence than the smaller wild sloes. The sloe stones range in size from 7.0 x 5.3.x 5.8mm to 13.5 x 9.0 x 10.1mm and their range of measurements is similar to that from fruits collected recently in Wiltshire, Gloucestershire and Dorset. The modern hedgerow fruits included the very astringent small sloes through to larger and sweeter bullaces or 44 THE WILTSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY MAGAZINE wild plums, reflecting the many cross-fertilisations of native and introduced species. Despite their size, the stones may have been swallowed and there is unequivocal evidence of this from York (Kenward and Hall, 1995) where a sloe stone (max. diameter 9mm) was found embedded in human faeces. The degradation of fragments of Prunus stones in these samples, particularly that from the lower fill of pit 590, also suggests that these may have been digested. The apple seeds have not been distinguished as from wild or cultivated trees. Blackberries, raspberries and strawberries would have been gathered from the wild but the fully formed seeds show that the figs were imported. Grape seeds may perhaps have arrived in imported dried fruits but vines could have been in cultivation locally. However, the large quantities of fragments indicate that a great part of the consumed food was in the form of leafy vegetables, salads and cereal products. The very small fragments of cereal bran have not been identified but charred and mineralised grains indicate wheat, barley and rye. Bread, or pottage, made from incompletely cleaned grains, could account for the many testa fragments of corn cockle and probably for many of the other seeds. Weeds such as corn cockle (which has toxic effects if eaten regularly), Scandix pecten-veneris (shepherd’s needle), Bupleurum rotundifolium (thorow-wax), cornflower, Anthemis cotula (stinking chamomile) and Chrysanthemum segetum (corn marigold), which have now disappeared from cereal crops were once frequent contaminants. Brassica seeds are notoriously difficult to identify and the separation of ‘vegetable’ types such as cabbage, turnip etc. from B. nigra (black mustard) is not often possible. Occasionally, however, the reticulation on the testa surface of some of the Brassica seeds is comparatively conspicuous and suggests the higher cell walls of black mustard. These are perhaps more likely to occur in cess-pits than the seeds of plants of which only leaves or roots are eaten, but the identification of many is uncertain. Other plants which might have been used as flavourings include Coriandrum sativum (coriander), Foeniculum vulgare (fennel), dill, and celery. The first three are not native plants but had been introduced earlier to England (Harvey 1981).Wild celery grows in wet soils although more frequently found in brackish conditions nearer the sea. The seeds of flax may have been consumed when used in food preparation but it is probable that this plant, and also hemp, were grown for fibre. As these plants require steeping in water (often near the site of cultivation) at a preliminary stage in processing, they are not uncommonly found in places where preservation of plant remains is by waterlogging. Urtica dioica (stinging nettle), apart from the young leaves used as a pot-herb, also provides fibres which have been used as a substitute for, and even considered superior to, flax (Johnson 1862). Other plants may have had uses which are unfamiliar today, not only as food but perhaps for medicinal purposes. Hyoscyamus niger (henbane) provides a narcotic and Conium maculatum (hemlock) has also been used for this purpose, presumably with considerable care since this is a particularly poisonous plant. Even the leaves of sloes and wild plums, in addition to the use of the fruits, may have been used as an infusion; they were so used in the nineteenth century for adulterating tea. The bark too can be used as an astringent medicine and the flowers as a laxative. In fact, there is scarcely any plant which does not have some use, whether nutritional, medicinal, magical, or as a source of dye, fibre or fuel. Bracken and heathers, prominent in samples from pit 966 and in lesser evidence in one from pit 590, were presumably gathered from heathland for use as bedding, flooring or fuel, but the seeds of wet grassland and water-side plants seem inappropriate, and even more so the pondweed seeds. Caltha palustris (marsh marigold), Lychnis flos-cucull (ragged robin), Eleocharis sp. (spike-rush) and the Carex (sedge) species suggest wet grassland but Apium nodiflorum (fool’s watercress) and Bidens species (bur marigolds) are more common at muddy stream sides. Pondweeds are aquatics, normally growing in either still or flowing waters and a possible explanation might be that they were introduced with water carried in from nearby watercourses, used for domestic or hygiene purposes, and discarded in the cess-pits. However, Potamogeton polygonifolius, identified from Jessen’s (1955) key, although typically growing in shallow water such as streams and ditches, frequently grows sub-terrestrially in flushes (Preston and Croft 1997). This plant is a calcifuge so its provenance may well have been the same as the bracken and heathers. Mosses may have been introduced with the heath or wetland plants, perhaps unintentionally, possibly as wipes for toilet use. If the mineralised fragments in the sample from pit 926 are indeed moss this might account for their presence in this faecal deposit. Alternatively they, and other damp loving plants, may have been part of the immediately surrounding flora but this is perhaps unlikely in the case of Sphagnum sp. (bog moss) EXCAVATIONS AT IVY STREET AND BROWN STREET, SALISBURY, 1994 found in pit 966. Time has not permitted further work on moss identification. Stems of grasses, cereals and other plants occur in all cess-pit samples, and may indicate bedding, thatch or fodder. Seeds of grassland plants are more numerous in a couple of samples but are not sufficient to confirm the presence of hay. There is some variation in the cess-pit contents in terms of species represented and numbers of seeds. The sample from pit 966, for instance, includes only a small number of fruit seeds but a greater range of seeds of non-edible plants, whereas in the sample from pit 926 the latter are scarcer and food plant remains are more abundant. These differences might be explained in terms of usage, if one household enjoyed a more varied diet than a neighbour, or conditions of preservation. Similarly there is little by which the users might be distinguished or their social status inferred, unless the absence of less common fruits such as Mespilus (medlar) and Morus nigra (mulberry) could be taken to indicate a more lowly status. Both trees were valued in medieval gardens (Harvey 1981; Roach 1985), but the quoted inventories are usually those of aristocratic or monastic gardens. Alternatively it may be that evidence is lacking at this site, and it must be emphasised that many fragments, particularly those that are mineralised, are unidentified and even with more time may remain so. Compared with the results from similar cess-pit deposits of this period, e.g. Worcester (Greig 1981), Chester (Greig 1988), Taunton (Greig 1990), Hastings (Hinton 1993), Canterbury (Hinton unpublished) and from documentary evidence (Green 1984), these conform in many respects. Cereal bran, arable weed seeds, fragments of beans and peas, plum, sloe and cherry stones and seeds of gathered soft fruits are almost universally present and often associated with other plants such as flax, hemp, heather, bracken and mosses, and occasionally wetland species. THE MARINE SHELLS by Sarah F. Wyles and Michael J. Allen A total of 156 shells were retrieved during the course of the excavations, and a further four were recovered from bulk soil samples. The shell, although fairly ubiquitous, was never recovered in large quantities from any one context. Only four deposits produced more than 10 shells and the largest assemblage was only 18. Generally all of the shells were in good condition and the majority were oyster (Ostrea 45 edulis). There was also one scallop (Pecten sp.), one whelk (Buccinum undatum) and occasional mussel fragments (cf. Mytilus edulis). THE FAUNAL REMAINS by Sheila Hamilton-Dyer Much of the faunal material derives from pits and is of medieval date. A smaller amount of post-medieval material is briefly noted. The remains were from both hand-—excavation and sieved samples. METHODS Identifications were made using the modern comparative collections of S. Hamilton-Dyer. The fragments have been recorded to species and anatomy where possible, undiagnostic fragments have been classified as horse/cattle-sized (LAR) and sheep/pig-sized (SAR). Some small fragments could not be ascribed to any group and are recorded only as mammalian (MAM). Measurements were taken using a vernier calliper and are in millimetres. In general these follow the methods of von den Driesch (1976) for mammals and birds, and Morales and Rosenlund (1979) for fish. Sheep withers heights are based on factors recommended by von den Driesch and Boessneck (1974). The archive gives full details of the individual bones and includes further information on butchery, ageing, sex measurements and so on not in text. Archive table Al lists all the species identified and their printout codes. RESULTS Over 2,000 bones were recovered for study, mainly from Trench 2. Sieving of bulk soil samples contributed almost half of this total, and almost all of the fish bones, which formed the bulk of the sieved bone. Much of the material is in excellent condition and includes several bones with an ivoried appearance. A few bones had been burnt and some had brown/green concretions adhering, typical of cess deposits. Gnawing is at a low level and mainly localised in just a few contexts. Mammal species include the expected large domestic ungulates; cattle, sheep and pig, as well as some remains of dog, cat, hare, rabbit, and fallow deer, but no horse. Bird bones are frequent and mainly of fowl and goose. Many bones are of fish, mainly eel. Occasional bones of mice and amphibians were also encountered. A summary of the distribution of taxa is given in Table 4, details of the 46 Distribution Summary ee ae ie pais Species Table 4 Hare and 3 é & S = Sheep-size Cattle-size 4 aaa] Cess pit 234 Cess pit 288 Percent THE WILTSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY MAGAZINE wn] elanlo tls a“ va +N N = BSc Paes See an aS ae 2 3 Se ES ee SS SS] 7 ne Ee es ae 9 2 0.4 Sa EE Ee ee a isd [94 [72 | D Cess pit 590 % cattle, % cattle, Pit 770 Percentage overall % cattle, 4 [2 | went 86s Undated BSS SSS brie ter medieval Post-medieval cera | 172 EXCAVATIONS AT IVY STREET AND BROWN STREET, SALISBURY, 1994 Details of sieved bone and fish distribution SARA ca a ee | | Table 5 Flatts Bullhead Cyprinid Cyprinid Whiting Conger Feature Hand-collected fish Context ys 953 y 957 584 Porcent elu eo |< - > = N = n n atx s ne ' q T Herring Sheep-size Context 859 97 592 Percent Medieval medieval 48 THE WILTSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY MAGAZINE fish and sieved material is given in Table 5 and a complete listing of the number of fragments of the taxa from each context is given in archive Table A2. MEDIEVAL AND LATER MEDIEVAL The total number of bones from contexts assigned to medieval and later medieval date is 1,347. Well over half of these were recovered from sieved samples and most of these were of fish, primarily from the later medieval cess pit 590 in Trench 2. Apart from the fish, most of the bones are of the expected main domestic ungulates; cattle, sheep and pig and also fragments probably of these animals. Overall, sheep bones dominate but cattle occur in more contexts and probably represent a greater weight of meat. Of the 53 cattle bones, most are from prime meat areas with the remainder from the feet or the head, but including only one loose tooth. Six of the head bones are horncores chopped from the skull, presumably for hornworking. In the unidentified large ungulate material, assumed to be all of cattle, a high proportion of the fragments are of ribs. Many of these had been chopped, as had several of the other bones. Most of the bone can be interpreted as kitchen or plate waste rather than primary slaughter and butchery waste. ‘There is some evidence for secondary products in the case of the horncores, indicating bone from a mixture of sources. Due to the small number of bones and the high degree of fragmentation, almost none of the bones was measurable. Bones from immature animals include eight of very young calves (including examples from cess pit 234 and cess pit 590). These are mainly meat bones, some chopped, and represent veal remains rather than stock mortalities. Although calf bones can be found from any period, they are more often to be found in post-medieval contexts reflecting an increasing interest in veal. Further examples of bones from young calves were recovered from several post- medieval contexts. The more numerous bones of sheep (78) also show a biased pattern in the anatomical distribution. In this case many of the bones are of feet. Head fragments are also frequent, although only two loose teeth were recovered, an indication of the good state of preservation. The metapodial bones of the foot, along with the distal tibia and distal humerus, are often well-represented as they fuse early and are more resistant to erosion, dog gnawing and other taphonomic factors. Here, however, there are just two fragments of humerus and four of tibiae and one of these is an unfused proximal end. In contrast the total of foot bones is 36, 46% of all the sheep bones. The material is well preserved and this bias in favour of the feet appears to be genuine. Bones from the limbs, scapula and pelvis account for the rest of the assemblage. The proportion of rib fragments in the sheep/pig-sized material is very high; several of these are almost certainly of pig but a high proportion matched sheep. No bones were identified as goat, whilst a number were positively identified as sheep. These included horned and hornless animals. Measurable bones are present including two complete ones from which withers height estimates can be made. These are a metatarsus from cess pit 234 which gives an height of 0.567m and a large radius in cess pit 590 which gives an height of 0.631m. The smaller is typical of the animals reported from medieval Southampton (Bourdillon 1980). The largest (and latest) is substantial for later medieval material, though some from Saxon Southampton exceed this measurement and it is not large by modern standards. An increase in the size of post-medieval sheep has been reported by several researchers (e.g. O’Connor 1995), but the few previous examples of later medieval and early post-medieval date from Salisbury have been of quite small animals, between 0.49 and 0.60m (Coy 1986). The high number of foot bones may imply waste from processing skins, but there is also some kitchen and plate waste represented in the assemblage. The foot bones are not concentrated in any one feature. The pig bones are more evenly spread across the body and no anatomical concentrations were noticeable. This is a very small sample of only 37 bones and also the pig carcase, including the head and feet, has more meat value than cattle and sheep. Other mammal remains are very rare; there is one bone of hare (cess pit 590) and two of a mouse (probably house mouse) in the same feature. No dog bones were found in dated medieval contexts but some bones were gnawed. Most of the bird bones are of domestic fowl. These occur sporadically throughout the assemblage but not in any concentrations. Some bones can be attributed to hens in lay (Driver 1982). Other birds represented are goose (7), woodcock (1), kite (see pit 192 below) and finch (cess pit 590). The goose bones match greylag/domestic; some are large. At this date they are all likely to be of domestic birds. Woodcock is often one of the most common wild birds in assemblages and makes good eating; this bone is a femur. EXCAVATIONS AT IVY STREET AND BROWN STREET, SALISBURY, 1994 Pit 192 in Trench 1 contained 14 bones; three of bird, six cattle and a few scraps of other bone. The interest in this small pit lies in the bird bones. These comprise a femur, radius and ulna of a kite. There are two species of kite in Europe; red kite (Milvus milvus) and black kite (Milvus migrans). The red kite is rare but still present in Britain whereas the former distribution of the black kite is not known but has certainly been absent in recent records. The bones here are small and therefore this latter species cannot be ruled out. Kites hunt small mammals but are also carrion feeders and were once common in towns (Reid-Henry and Harrison 1988). They may also have been considered a threat to young poultry, in the same manner as buzzard and crow, and destroyed as vermin. The eleven bones of a small passerine recovered from bulk soil samples taken from cess pit 590 could be from any one of a number of related songbirds but they most closely match the greenfinch. One of the largest of the common finches, this resident bird could have been a pet or eaten as food. As indicated above, the 787 fish bones were mainly recovered by sieving of bulk soil samples, particularly from the later medieval cess pit 590 in Trench 2. Only 14 of these bones were recovered by hand-collection, all bones or fragments of large fish. Details of the material from the processed samples, and of the overall fish species distribution is given in Table 5. Bones of conger, cod and flatfish were identified in the hand-collected material; other fragments were undiagnostic. The four bones of conger found in a medieval soil layer in Trench 2 were vertebrae and head bones of a large fish, probably about 2m long. A fifth bone recovered from the underlying layer was another large vertebra which had been chopped both axially and across, implying that the fish had been split in half and further divided into sections. One of the reasons for splitting such a fish is for preservation. Divided congers were found in the stores of the Mary Rose (Hamilton-Dyer 1995). Almost all of the fish bones recovered from bulk soil samples were from cess pit 590, but there were also a few bones of herring, eel and unidentified fragments from a soil layer. The species identified from cess pit 590 include ray, eel, herring, cyprinids, ~ stickleback, and bullhead (Table 5). Most of these, well over 400 bones, were of common eel. These remains were mainly vertebrae but also included head bones and cleithra. Herring bones were also common, in this case vertebrae and prootic bones. None of the other head bones was identified, but 49 since most herring bones are very thin and fragile and may not have survived, some of the unidentified fragments may be of herring. The nine ray remains are of teeth and denticles, including some positively identified as male thornback, the most frequently caught of the ‘skate’ family. The 81 cyprinid bones included 29 inferior pharyngeals from at least 15 fish. These are diagnostic elements and all were identified as dace; the other cyprinid bones are probably of the same species. Dace can achieve a length of 0.25m and a weight of 0.6kg but these specimens are from much smaller fish, no more than a few centimetres long. The stickleback and bullhead are also small fish. All of the fish bones from this feature are small and a number had been crushed. Such damage occurs when fish are eaten by humans (Jones 1984; 1986) and, along with the botanical evidence, confirms the supposition that this pit was used for cess disposal. Very few other bones were found in this feature, but the sieved remains included five of the very small peripheral toes of pig, one of which was partly digested, and many small scraps of mammal bone associated with mineralised cess accretions. DISCUSSION This assemblage, though not large, is important as it comes from the centre of the medieval town. Although some faunal analysis has been previously undertaken on material recovered from Salisbury, there was little material from sealed and well-dated medieval material and reports have not yet been published. The initial impression of the assemblage from the excavations at Ivy Street/Brown Street is of well- preserved material broadly similar to that from other medieval urban deposits in the area. The mammal bones are mainly of sheep, cattle and pig. Individual contexts vary but overall more sheep bones were recovered than cattle. This may not reflect the true picture of meat usage however, as cattle have a much greater meat weight and their larger bones may have been partly disposed of elsewhere. Pig bones are relatively common; at Gigant Street, although the sample sizes are small, pig bones appear to show a decrease over time (Coy 1986). Pig bones were also low in numbers at Andover (Hamilton-Dyer n.d.), and in the post- medieval material at Romsey (Bourdillon n.d.). Part of the problem of interpreting small assemblages is the bias of context types, and their position in the settlement. Large semi-industrial waste dumps are different in character from the material in rubbish 50 THE WILTSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY MAGAZINE and cess pits in the backyards of houses, and even pits on the same property can be variable, for example at Bull Hall, Southampton (Driver n.d.). Horse and goat are absent from this small assemblage. There are no dog bones either but there is indirect evidence of dog with gnawing on some bones. Wild mammals are represented only by one bone of hare and two of a mouse. Birds include the expected fowl and goose together with a few fragments of other species including woodcock, greenfinch and a kite of uncertain species. The marine fish, thornback, conger, herring, cod and plaice, almost certainly came through the port of Southampton, as indicated by documentary records (Coy 1996), and these species are frequently found in excavations in the town. Some may well have been preserved in salt, pickled or both (particularly cod and herring) and possibly smoked in the case of conger. The Brokage Books of Southampton record many barrels of herrings and sometimes carts of congers (Stevens and Olding 1985). Herring, conger and codfish could have been brought from some distance, as there are records of boats from Plymouth and the Channel Islands. Other marine fish are likely to have been locally caught in the Solent. The eel is anadromous but the remains here are all of small eels, neither elvers nor silver eels, and were almost certainly caught locally. The dace, bullhead and stickleback were probably incidental catches but utilised anyway. Nets and wicker traps are the most likely method of collection. If caught together the source is likely to have been a clean stream or shallow river with a stoney bed, rather than a pond. The botanical evidence indicates the accessibility of plants from similar habitats, though not from the same pit as the fish. There is no shortage of suitable streams and rivers round Salisbury. The remains of these small fish probably represent cess deposits, as quite a number of the vertebrae are characteristically crushed sideways (Jones 1984; 1986). Isaak Walton (1633) describes a recipe for ‘minnow tansies’, a kind of herbed fish omelette, and these small fish here could have been treated in this way or fried as ‘whitebait’. The bones are small and could easily have been eaten and passed through the digestive system. A similar mixture of eel, herring, ray and small freshwater fish was found in a cess pit in Andover (Hamilton-Dyer n.d.), and in the castle garderobe at Southampton (Hamilton- Dyer 1986). Butchery marks were frequently observed, in part because the material is very well preserved. Almost all of the butchery was carried out with a heavy bladed cleaver or axe; knife marks were very rare. Precise para-median chopping on sheep and pig vertebrae indicate carcase division of the type described by Bourdillon (1980; n.d.) and others for medieval sites in the area. There is evidence that geese too were divided in half, and jointing appears to be carried out by chopping. Some of the cattle bones had been reduced to small fragments, probably for stews, and all types of ribs were frequently chopped neatly into small sections. Few metrical data are available but the sizes of the animals are similar to those from other sites both in Salisbury (Coy 1986) and elsewhere (Bourdillon 1980; Hamilton-Dyer n.d.). Excepting cess pit 590, which has its totals boosted by the small fish bones, the features are not rich in terms of bone density. Cess pit 288 offered 26 bones from several fills, and rubbish pit 932 only seven (the largest number came from the post- medieval pit 585, which contributed 125 from a single fill). Most features were half sectioned but even small parts of some medieval pits at the Lower High Street site in Southampton produced many hundreds of bones (Hamilton-Dyer in prep.). Whether this paucity is standard for Salisbury or is peculiar to the site is not clear. At other Salisbury sites the bone assemblages do not appear to be large, but a meaningful comparison requires extraction of detailed information from the archives. Apart from cess pit 590, none of the other features which had been used for cess disposal, as indicated by the botanical remains, contained this concentration of fish and other bone which almost certainly originated from the cess itself. Those pits intended for cess disposal do not appear to have been much used for general bone waste; most bone in these features is from the secondary backfill. The material overall does not appear to originate from high status households. Wild resources, other than fish, are poorly represented and several of the sheep bones are of possible craft waste. Some of the cattle bones are also of low value parts of the carcase, yet they include veal bones and overall the remains give the impression of mainly domestic waste. The marine fish bones show the probable ultimate destination of some of the fish leaving Southampton, while the freshwater species indicate that local resources were also being utilised. Urban refuse disposal in the medieval period is often variable and selective, and only limited aspects of the faunal economy can be suggested from a small assemblage EXCAVATIONS AT IVY STREET AND BROWN STREET, SALISBURY, 1994 51 such as this. Nevertheless, it has provided a rare opportunity to examine material from the heart of the town. POST-MEDIEVAL AND UNDATED Cattle, sheep and pig are the main species identified in the post-medieval assemblage of 469 bones. Bones of other species include all of the dog and cat remains as well as a few bones of fallow deer, rabbit, fowl, goose, cod and haddock. Cattle form a slightly higher proportion of the bones than in the earlier material. Several bones were again from veal calves; this is consistent with a post-medieval date at other urban sites while here they are also frequent in the medieval assemblage (though it should be remembered that both samples are relatively small). Several of the sheep bones from well 865 are large; a complete metacarpus gives an estimated withers height of 0.694m. This is larger than the size expected for medieval material. The 18th century saw the development of ‘improved’ sheep and the origins of recognisable breeds such as the Southdown and the Leicester Longwool. This bone is relatively slim and could indicate a slow maturing type like the Leicester (O’Connor 1995). However, a radius from pit 585 gives an height of 0.559m which would be considered of average size for medieval material. There is also a very small metacarpus from the same feature. This bone gives an estimated withers height of only 0.482m, comparable with the very smallest values from medieval Southampton (Bourdillon 1980) and smaller than any previously recorded from Salisbury from medieval and post-medieval material (Coy 1986). Well 865 (Trench 2) also contained sawn cattle ribs; this type of butchery is usually associated with assemblages of a late, even modern, date. Pit 157 (Trench 1) contained a group of sheep metatarsal distal ends, the bones having been broken or chopped off mid-shaft. These may represent tanning waste. The only other notable bone assemblage is from the pitched-tile hearth (898) in Trench 2. All but one of the 15 fragments are calcined, eight are elements of a sheep forefoot. Given that this is a hearth and that burnt bones were almost absent from the rest of the assemblage, these are likely to be contemporary with use of the hearth. The small number of bones from undated contexts is mainly composed of sheep and sheep- sized bones. Other species include cattle, pig, fallow deer, rabbit, fowl, goose, conger, ling and red seabream. These general clearance contexts contained bones of small sheep comparable with the medieval material; a complete metacarpus gives an estimated withers height of 0.551m, and a distal tibia measurement of only 21mm is also very small. DOCUMENTARY REPORT by John Chandler INTRODUCTION This report was undertaken in 1997 as part of the programme of analysis following the excavations of 1994. The aim of the documentary research has been to use maps, printed and manuscript sources in order to comment on the land use history of the site. Research has been conducted in the Wiltshire and Swindon Record Office, Trowbridge (hereafter WRO), the Salisbury Cathedral Archives (hereafter SCA), Salisbury Local Studies Library, and Trowbridge Reference and Local Studies Library. Unfortunately, because of the indisposition of the Salisbury Cathedral Librarian, Suzanne Eward, it has not been possible to examine all relevant sources in SCA. RESEARCH STRATEGY The corner site occupied by the building now known as the Queens Arms Inn was the property of the Dean and Chapter of Salisbury Cathedral from the early 15th until the late 19th century. There has been an inn on the site since the 16th century or earlier, known first as the Maiden Head, then the Blue Lion, and by the 17th century under its present name. It has thus provided a landmark for deeds, lists and surveys, and has been used as a reliable point of reference in this research. ‘Brown Street’ was thus named by the late 13th century, but the name ‘Ivy Street’ is not recorded before c. 1600; it was earlier regarded as part of New Street, of which it is the eastern continuation. The chequer in which the site lies is now known as Antelope, but has also been called White Bear and, around 1600, Blue Lion Chequer. The chequer lay in the parish of St Thomas, and in Martins ward. This report discusses the corner tenement and the excavation site together during three periods; medieval, post-medieval and modern. A brief summary is appended. Sources for the medieval and later history of properties in Salisbury survive in profusion, notably among the records of Salisbury City Council (WRO G23), the city parishes (St Thomas’s is WRO 1900), and the muniments of the Dean and Chapter (SCA). In the WRO are also relevant collections deposited 52 THE WILTSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY MAGAZINE by museums, solicitors, and individuals. Many deeds have not, however, been catalogued in sufficient detail to locate easily the properties to which they refer, and so research of this nature is somewhat frustrating, since it is very likely that relevant material has been overlooked. THE MEDIEVAL PERIOD The standard size of Salisbury burgage tenements, as laid down in the bishop’s charter of 1225, was 7 x 3 perches (RCHME 1980, xxxii), which is the equivalent of 115.5ft x 49.5ft, or approximately 35 x 15 metres. Antelope Chequer, as is clear from Naish’s 1716 map (RCHME 1980, pl. 16), was laid out with the long axis of tenements running east-west, and a straight boundary line bisecting the chequer north- south. If, therefore, the standard size was adhered to in the area of the site, it and the corner plot would have impinged on the three southernmost tenements fronting Brown Street, and the rear of the two southernmost tenements fronting Catherine Street. However, because of their prestige and commercial possibilities, it is clear that from an early date corner tenements and adjacent land were subdivided and rearranged in various ways. A notable example of this, which has been studied in detail, was Balle’s Place at the corner of Winchester Street and Rollestone Street (Bonney 1964; RCHME 1980, 135-7). The earliest reference to the corner tenement discovered by this research is the will of Richard de Berewyke, proved in 1361 (WRO G23/1/212, f.22v). The relevant passage may be translated thus: ‘Also I leave and bequeath to William de Berewike to sell after the death of my wife Edith, all that [corner] tenement of mine in which I dwell, which is situated in the foresaid city [New Sarum] in New Street and Brown Street, with its gardens, curtilage, and all things pertaining, together with one plot of garden ground in St Martin’s Street annexed to the said tenement, which I hold by concession of Agnes my former wife...’. It is not clear from the wording whether the tenement as well as the separate garden came to Richard via his first wife. The St Martin’s Street garden cannot have been literally adjoining his tenement. A copy of part of the same will, transcribed on the recto of the same folio, adds the word ‘angular’ (corner) as indicated above. In fact the property was sold less than a year later, in 1362, by Richard’s executor, Stephen de Botelesham, to Thomas de Hungerford (SCA press 1, boxes 13-15, Sal 3/63). The property is described as a corner tenement in New Street and Brown Street, with garden and curtilage; and a site in St Martin’s Street. Thomas was a citizen and merchant of Salisbury, and served as mayor, a kinsman of (or even the same as) Thomas Hungerford of Heytesbury, founder of the Hungerford dynasty (see Kirby 1994, xvi). Thomas either let the property or sold it, by the 1390s, to Alice Rusteshale (see below), who appears to have been related to its next owner, John Caundel, a ‘mattins clerk’ in the cathedral. In his will, proved in 1400 (WRO G23/1/213, f29), John Caundel bequeathed to his servant Margaret Deneman, for the term of her life, his tenement in which he lived in New Street. After her death, it appears to have been Caundel’s intention (although the wording is not altogether clear) that the house should be sold and the proceeds used to endow a chantry or obit for prayers for his soul and those of John Dewel and Alice Rusteshale, who was once Dewel’s wife (this suggesting that Caundel himself was related to Rusteshale). In the event the property was granted to the Dean and Chapter by Margaret Deneman’s executor after her death in 1410 (WRO G23/1/213, f.92). This deed is important, because it gives the earliest firm indication discovered during this research of the ownership of the plots on either side of the corner tenement. The deed’s description of the premises may be translated thus: ‘All that corner tenement with everything pertaining to it in which the foresaid testator, John Caundel, lived, and before him Alice Rusteshale, situated in New Sarum in New Street and Brown Street, between the tenements of William Warmwell on both sides’. William Warmwell was a prominent citizen who in c. 1399 was living in Market ward, and who was one of the highest- assessed contributors to a tax levied in that year (Chandler 1983, 263, no. 39). He died in 1412, and his will (WRO G23/1/214, f.88) refers to a number of city properties, but none that can be identified with the site. He may have sold it before his death, although a search of enrolled deeds in the Domesday Books (WRO G23/1/213-14) did not discover any evidence for this. Alternatively he may have retained it, but regarded it as too insignificant to be separately itemised in his will. In any event, it is important that the corner tenement was already by this date surrounded by land in single ownership (as it continued to be for several centuries), suggesting that the original arrangement of tenements had broken down by c. 1400 and been replaced by something more complicated. There is a little evidence (Helen Bonney, pers comm.) that the c. 1399 ward lists reflect the topographical sequence of householders, and if this EXCAVATIONS AT IVY STREET AND BROWN STREET, SALISBURY, 1994 is the case we may surmise that the names adjacent to John Caundel’s in the list were his neighbours. The sequence, with their tax assessments, was as follows (WRO G23/1/236, transcribed in Chandler 1983, 268, nos. 653-9): John Route (6d); Cristina Handle (8d); William Busshel (4d); John Caundel clerk (40d); the wife of William Pobeman (4d); Thomas Denham (4d); Richard Pympol (4d). If the list is sequential we may deduce that the value of the building on the corner tenement, or of its owner, was a great deal more than any of the neighbours. Cristina Handle appears to have been involved in the cloth trade, since an aulnage return of 1396/7 reveals that the alnager sealed 40.5 of her cloths, making her the 52nd highest (out of 292) Salisbury cloth-producer in that year (derived from list in Chandler 1983, 260-2). It should be noted that the east range of the present Queens Arms Inn is regarded as being of 14th century origin (RCHME 1980, 111, no. 225), and so dates from the time of Caundel and his predecessors. The next positive evidence of the corner site occurs in a bishop’s rental of the whole city, the Liber Niger, dating from 1455 (Nevill 1911). Listed among the chapter property is: a tenement formerly of Alice Rusteshale in New Street and Brown Street, assessed at 5.5d (ibid., 69). All the other relevant properties are doubtless listed, but it is impossible to locate them precisely. An indication that, despite Salisbury’s wealth and rising population during the early 15th century, houses in this area of the city were being demolished to make way for tentering racks and gardens, comes in a deed of 1433 (WRO 164/1/11) which relates to, ‘my toft with racks adjoining the toft, which lies between tofts with racks and gardens in Gigant Street and Brown Street... and a toft with adjoining garden in New Street near Barnwell Cross’. No evidence for the site during the later 15th or early 16th centuries has been found. THE POST-MEDIEVAL PERIOD Throughout this period the corner tenement belonged to the Dean and Chapter, who leased it to individuals. Sometimes the lessee sublet it to a tenant. The earliest book of chapter leases begins in 1533 (WRO CC Bishoprick 460) and extends to 1561, but includes no relevant lease. The next book (WRO CC Chapter 207), spanning 1563-1608, has a lease of 1570 (p. 104) to Robert Stephens of New Sarum, ‘weafer’, of: ‘All that theyre corner tenemente little courte and stable roomes commonly called the Mayden hedd with all and singuler their appurtenances nowe in the tenure and 53 occupation of George Vynynge bocher sett lyinge and beinge in the ... streate there called New Streate and Browne strete between the lands sometyme belonginge to Thomas Chaffyn the eldre late deceassid nowe in the severall tenures and occupations of the said George Vinynge and Nicholas Dycar currier on the weste and northe parties, and the Queenes highe wayes on the east and south parties.’ Thereafter the renewals of the lease may be traced through the chapter lease books (SCA 41-59) up to the beginning of the 19th century. The dates of the leases, with lessees’ names and occupations, and document references, are as follows: 1637, George Mustin, innholder (SCA 42, f.36); 1699, Thomas Jatt, wheelwright, formerly Peter Dove of Pyt House (SCA 47, 376); 1715, Thomas and Mary Martin, of the Close (SCA 49, f.151); 1729 and 1743, as 1715 (SCA 50, f.113; SCA 51, f.107); 1757, John Wilkes, innholder (SCA 52, f.126; alsoWRO 1075/001/90); 1771, Elizabeth Wilkes (SCA 53, f.95v); John Mills, cordwainer (SCA 56, f.7v); 1806, Jasper Fawconer, of Charlton in Downton (SCA 57, f.97); ?1821, James Sutton and Thomas Budden; 1835, John and Mary Grimes (SCA 59, f.92). By 1637 (and indeed somewhat earlier, see below) the name Maiden Head had been replaced by Blue Lion, and by the 18th century the name changed again, to the Queens Arms. From 1699 the descriptions include the phrase ‘lately rebuilt’ in parentheses. The descriptions of the premises and the abuttals included in these leases are of limited value, because nearly all details are merely copied from the previous lease. The information to be gleaned from the abuttals is discussed below. In addition, however, there are two more detailed descriptions of the premises, dating from 1644 and 1649. The will of Elizabeth Mustion (WRO Cons Sarum wills 1644) includes a room-by-room inventory, and the rooms are listed as: hall, parlour, little buttery within the parlour, room next to parlour, room next to wash house, wash house, great chamber, chamber over parlour and drawing chamber within it, chamber next the street called road chamber, two chambers over the hall and taphouse, taphouse, backsides. The 1649 Parliamentary survey of church property in Salisbury (SCA 11, f.5) describes the premises as: a hall, a parlour, two tapp houses, a little buttery, three drinking rooms, a little parlour, five chamberes, two other over roomes, two stables containing two bayes of building with a little courtyard of 20 feet square. More important for present purposes than the information about the Queens Arms is the evidence which these leases and other documents give about 54 THE WILTSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY MAGAZINE the adjoining properties to north and west. The 1570 lease quoted above refers to Thomas Chaffyn the elder, deceased, as the former owner of the surrounding land, and George Vinynge and Nicholas Dycar as the current tenants. Vinynge, a butcher, also occupied the corner tenement, and Dycar was a currier. The owners and tenants given as abuttals at later dates (so far as they are not merely repetitions of names from earlier documents) are as follows: 1637, Thomas Chafin the elder, gent (owner), George Mustin and Margarett Lawrence, widow (occupiers); 1649, the inn called the Antelopp to the north, the land of Mistress C. Chafyn, widow, or her assigns, to the west; 1715, Thomas Chafin Marks (owner), Richard Petty, wheelwright, and Thomas Durdall (present or former occupiers). Thus the owners of the Ivy Street portion of the site, west of the corner tenement, from before 1570 until after 1715, were members of the Chafyn family. The 1623 heralds’ visitation of Wiltshire includes a pedigree of this family (Squibb 1954, 36-7) which suggests that the Salisbury branch was one of several claiming as a common ancestor Thomas Chafin of Warminster, who must have flourished in the early 15th century. They were well-established in Salisbury by 1545, when Thomas Chaffyn senior and Thomas Chaffyn were two of the most highly rated citizens for a tax (Ramsay 1954, 38-9). Both died c. 1558/9 (Squibb op. cit.), but the younger’s son and heir, Thomas Chafin, appears to have lived until 1619. At his death he was a major landlord in Salisbury, owning no fewer than 46 properties, as well as 22 in Warminster, and others elsewhere (Fry and Fry 1893, 196). He was succeeded by his son, also Thomas, who was born c. 1582, and died in 1646 (Matthews and Matthews 1906). Indexes of wills proved in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury have been checked to 1700, and reveal that Charles Chafyn, gentleman, Dorothy Chafyn, widow, and William Chafin, gentleman, all of Salisbury Close, died in 1657, 1659, and 1665 respectively (Blagg 1936; Morrison 1935); and that Edmund Markes, apothecary of Salisbury, died in 1675 (Ainsworth 1942). No relevant wills of the Chafyn or Marks families have been found via WRO indexes. The property which they owned west of the Queens Arms Inn was presumably the house of c.1500 now known as No. 7 Ivy Street (RCHME 1980, 111, no. 226). Its lessee at the time of her death in 1644 was Elizabeth Mustion of the Queens Arms, since her probate inventory (WRO Cons. Sarum wills, 1644) includes, ‘one other chattell lease of a tenement and garden with the appurtenances adjoining to the foresaid tenement [Queens Arms] held from Thomas Chafyn gent for certain years yet to come’. It had perhaps been leased by the occupant of the Queens Arms for many years, since George Vyninge of the Queens Arms appears to have held the lease in 1570 (see above). Stephen Grist, who inherited the Queens Arms from Elizabeth Mustion, also occupied this tenement immediately after her death, according to a land tax assessment (WRO G23/1/174). The Brown Street property abutting the Queens Arms on the north also belonged to the Chafyn family in 1570 and 1637 (see above), whose tenant in 1570 was presumably the currier, Nicholas Dycar. In 1637 the tenant was Margaret Lawrence, widow, who was the licensee of the important inn, the Antelope, which lay to the north-west in the centre of the chequer (Gordon n.d., 33). In 1649 the Antelope is named as the northern abuttal, and this area seems to have continued to have formed part of the Antelope well into the 18th century. A lease of 1768 (WRO 952/2) includes the Antelope Inn together with, ‘all that piece or parcel of ground on the east side of the inn and the backhouse adjoining lying in Brown Street, formerly converted into two tenements but now used as stables, and also three other stables in Brown Street part of and adjoining the Antelope Inn’. By the mid 18th century the Antelope was becoming an important coaching and post-chaise inn (Gordon, n.d., 33-6, 451), which would explain the conversion of tenements to stables. Former tenants of the Antelope, according to the 1768 lease, were William Little, Thomas Shuter, George Petty, and Widow Stephens. With so many names of occupiers, both of the Queens Arms and adjacent properties, it should be possible to tie the evidence from leases with that from topographically arranged tax lists. There survives in the St Thomas parish records a notable series of Easter offerings books, listing from c. 1573 to c. 1602 adult parishioners including wives and servants, and arranged by street or chequer. Some are too fragile to be produced, but books from 1574, 1584, 1600, c. 1600, 1602, and two undated 17th century books have been examined (WRO 1900/44; 45; 51; 52; 54- 6). Unfortunately only two, of c. 1600 and undated (WRO 1900/52; 55), appear to have any names which correspond with those in the leases; both list George Mustian at the head of the section for Blue Lion chequer, and his neighbours in each case are Robert Hatt, Thomas Soper, and Bridgett Gibbes. However, EXCAVATIONS AT IVY STREET AND BROWN STREET, SALISBURY, 1994 it is not clear whether the sequence of names is running north along Brown Street or west along Ivy Street. More promising is a list of taxpayers for a royal aid in 1667 (Nevill 1910, 427). This includes a sequence: ‘Land of Mr Chaffin, tenant Widow Durdall; land of Mr Chaffin, tenants John Taylor and John Coombes; land of Mr Doves [i.e. the Queens Arms], tenant John Gumbleton; land of Mr Chaffin, tenants widow Gower, widow Williams, John Gumbleton a stable’. A generation later, beginning in 1703, there is a series of land tax assessments for Martins ward, and these have been checked to 1717 (WRO G23/1/182). Through this period Thomas Jatt (or Iatt) was lessee of the Queens Arms until his death in 1709 (WRO Sub-Dean Wills, 1709), then his widow to 1716, and thereafter Mr Martin. On one side of him Thomas Durdall was the lessee throughout, and appears to have lived in the property himself with two sub- tenants. On the other side the land belonged to Mr Marks until 1715, whose tenant was Richard Petty; in 1716 Thomas Wigmore acquired the land, but Petty remained lessee. It is not clear which was the northern and which the western abuttal, but the reference to a George Petty in the 1768 lease (WRO 952/2: see above) as a former occupant of the Antelope militates in favour of Durdall occupying No. 7 Ivy Street, and Richard Petty, wheelwright, the Brown Street property. THE MODERN PERIOD As might be expected, sources of information about the site become more prolific and varied from the 18th century onwards, and include for the first time large-scale plans. For the recent period sources have been examined selectively. Throughout the period, and to the present day, the Queens Arms appears to have existed as an inn. The list of lessees taken from Dean and Chapter leases up to 1835 is given above. The lessees were not necessarily the occupants; a list of Queens Arms innkeepers compiled from directories and other sources (Gordon n.d., 7) offers the following: 1743, George Rattew; 1809, James Ainsworth; 1822, Aaron Vousden; 1836 and 1842, Ann Vousden; 1851, George Moore; 1867, John Hibberd. It is also - possible that the Queens Arms and the Antelope were being run together, since a 1773 ratebook (WRO 1900/200) brackets together John Wilkes and Mrs Best with a single assessment. It is known that Martha Best was landlady of the Antelope until her death in 1798 (Gordon n.d., 33), and a 1773 5) newspaper advertisement includes the instruction, “Enquire of Mr Wilks at the Queens Arms Inn’ (ibid., 6). In 1779 Martha Best paid a similar assessment alone (WRO 1900/200), suggesting that she was then responsible for both establishments. During the 19th century both the Queens Arms and No. 7 Ivy Street were held, from 1849, by a 40- year lease granted to Ann Vousden (WRO 1075/001/ 90), the landlady since at least 1836. But during the 1870s the premises were occupied (and the lease probably purchased) by Messrs. Weeks and Son, the Weyhill Brewery. In 1877 the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, as successors to the Dean and Chapter, finally sold the property, consisting of the Queens Arms itself together with No. 7 Ivy Street and a cottage fronting Brown Street which was attached to the northern range of the inn. It was described (WRO 1075/001/90) as a public house, brewhouse and tenement lately occupied by Messrs. Weeks and Son. The abuttals were a stable yard to the west (Ivy Street) and stables and stores to the north (Brown Street), all occupied by Messrs. Weeks and Son. Sale catalogues of 1879 (WRO 374/130/110) and 1888 (WRO 1075/001/90) included the same premises, and the latter described No. 7 Ivy Street as a tenement, late the Weyhill Brewery Office. In 1891, according to the census returns, Harriet Norton, a 78 year old widow, lived alone as innkeeper at the Queens Arms, and No. 7 Ivy Street was occupied by a carpenter, John Foot, and his family. The cottage forming part of the complex north of the inn was occupied by a dressmaker, Martha Maton. The sequence of occupation has been traced through Salisbury directories up to 1962. From before 1925 until after 1947 the licensee was A. Mitchell and then Mrs F. Mitchell (presumably his widow). E.L. Scammell, and from 1935 Mrs Scammell occupied No. 7 Ivy Street until after 1950. By 1953 No. 7 Ivy Street was part of the Queens Arms, but from 1959 it was used as stores for the neighbouring Farway Garage (see below). Turning now to the land west and north of the corner tenement, the best starting point is the sequence of maps, which begins in 1716. Naish’s map of that year (Figure 8) shows the Brown Street frontage entirely built up, with (north of the Queens Arms) three rectangular backlands running back to a straight rear boundary which is not, however, parallel with the street. On the Ivy Street frontage there is a considerable gap in the building line, around the mid-point, leading to an open area 56 THE WILTSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY MAGAZINE ) Vee Tif Loe Queen's Arms‘A \ / af / Queen's Arms Fig. 8. Cartographic regression analysis behind the Queens Arms. An enclosed courtyard within the inn complex is also shown. This map was revised in 1751, but the only difference in this area appears to be the addition of a watercourse along the centre of Ivy Street (perhaps accidentally omitted from the first edition). The earliest really detailed plan of the area is found on a series of maps of Salisbury drawn in 1854 in connection with the Board of Health’s enquiry into the sanitary condition of the city (WRO G23/ 701/1PC: see Figure 8). This distinguishes by colour between dwellings, other buildings and pavements, and open areas. By comparing this with the Ordnance Survey plan at 1:500 scale, surveyed in 1879 and published in 1880 (sheet Wiltshire 66.15.4: see Figure 8), it is possible to distinguish between other buildings and pavements on the Board of Health plan. Other useful 19th century cartographic sources are plans on deeds (in WRO 1075/001/90), and two undated (but c. 1870) plans of the Queens Arms (WRO CC Maps 45/11 and 45/18). Trench 1 would appear to have impinged on the rear of three cottages, subsequently numbered Nos. 1, 3, and 5 Ivy Street, together with their rear courtyards and outbuildings. The course of a prominent north-south boundary wall, presumably part of the centreline of Antelope Chequer as originally planned, runs the length of the trench, and seems to have been picked up at its southern end during the excavation. To the west of this line was open land in 1716/51, but had been largely covered by non-dwelling buildings by 1854. Little has been discovered about these cottages before the 19th century. Earlier tax lists and ratebooks give the impression that lowly-rated domestic properties extended both west and north of the Queens Arms from at least the 16th century onwards. The 1716/1751 maps suggest that there was then no passageway west of No. 7 Ivy Street, but continuous building along the frontage. If so, it may perhaps be assumed that the block of cottages which existed until the 1960s (Nos. 1-5 Ivy Street), was part of the Chafin property traced above. The undated Church Commissioners plans of c. 1870 (WRO 45/11 and 45/18) both describe the land west of No. 7 Ivy Street as Mr Weeks’s stables, but by 1880 a plan attached to a deed (WRO 1075/001/90) attributes this area, and the stables to the north, to Mr Thomas Crutcher. He in 1891 (census return) was the occupant of No. 5 Ivy Street, and described himself as a horse dealer. The cottages appear to have continued as private dwellings until the 1960s. Trench 2, which explored tenements north of the Queens Arms fronting Brown Street, appears to have impinged on the stables and courtyard which belonged to the Queens Arms and/or the Antelope. The lease of 1768 (WRO 952/2) described above seems to refer to this area as the Antelope stables, but a newspaper advertisement in 1772 (Gordon n.d., 6) mentions houses in Brown Street between the Queens Arms stables and Mr Brooks’ house. If, as suggested, the two inns were being operated EXCAVATIONS AT IVY STREET AND BROWN STREET, SALISBURY, 1994 in tandem at this period, the stables presumably served for both. The 1854 map implies that the buildings in this area were still stabling, or at least in non-domestic use, and this is confirmed by the abuttal recited on an 1877 deed (WRO 1075/001/ 90). In 1880 they were used by the horse dealer, Thomas Crutcher. During the 20th century these premises were used variously as a mineral water factory, smith’s shop and builder’s workshop (1925), a tinsmith and motor engineer (1927), a cabinet maker (1931), and a motor cycle dealer (1935). By 1959 part of the site was occupied by Farway Garage, motor car agents and dealers, who disappeared c. 1965, by when Colletts Garage had established itself along the Brown Street frontage to the north. SUMMARY The excavation site lies within one of Salisbury’s 13th century ‘chequers’ surrounding its south-eastern corner. It may be assumed to have impinged on parts of five original tenements, and the north-south rear boundary dividing them. The corner tenement occupied by an extant medieval building, known since the 17th century as the Queen Arms Inn, can be traced intermittently in documents since 1361, in particular through the leasebooks of the Dean and Chapter of Salisbury, to whom it belonged from 1410 until 1877. Although in the 14th century it was a high-status private house, it appears to have become by the 16th century an inn, which it remains. By 1570 the adjoining cottage west of the inn fronting Ivy Street (now No. 7 Ivy Street) was in the same occupancy as the inn, and later it seems to have been acquired by the Dean and Chapter. Land and buildings further west and to the north, with which the excavation was concerned, never belonged to the corner tenement, but were in the hands of wealthy Salisbury landowners, including William Warmwell in c. 1400, and the Chafyn family, c. 1550 -c.1715. Although names of occupants in the general area abound in medieval and later documents, it is rarely possible to identify their premises. No documentary evidence has been found of particular industrial buildings or high-status dwellings on the site; rather, both street frontages appear to have been lined by “cottages. The western half of the site continued to be occupied by modest dwellings and their backyards until the 20th century. An important inn, the Antelope, lay to the north-west of the site, and by the 18th century its stables extended to Brown Street. The northern half of the site became stables, a Dil. courtyard, and associated outbuildings, associated with both the Antelope and the Queens Arms Inn, and taken over by a horse dealer in the late 19th century. In the 20th century this area served various small industrial functions, including prior to its clearance a motor garage. DISCUSSION by Mick Rawlings The excavations at Ivy Street/Brown Street have produced a substantial amount of evidence concerning the nature of settlement in this part of Salisbury, particularly during the period immediately after the establishment of the new city in the first half of the 13th century. The importance of the work lies not only in the information recovered concerning the arrangement of activities within the tenements or burgages and in the details of construction of the buildings along frontages, but also in the wealth of environmental data retrieved from waterlogged deposits in the lower parts of some pits. In the decade preceding these excavations, a number of pieces of archaeological fieldwork had been undertaken within the limits of the medieval city (Figure 9). These were mainly excavations carried out by the Trust for Wessex Archaeology in association with other parties and were aimed at fulfilling the aims of a Project Research Design which had itself resulted from earlier concerns over the potential loss of archaeological deposits as a result of proposed development (cf. Borthwick and Chandler 1983). All of this work remains unpublished, except in the form of a number of very preliminary summary reports (e.g. WAM 1988, 178). However, a document presenting the outline results of the programme was produced (Hawkes n.d.) and the work at Ivy Street/Brown Street can be assessed against the information presented in this document. The pattern of excavated medieval structures in the eastern chequers was previously shown to be mainly single-roomed buildings with rear yards containing a well, and subsequent developments comprising extensions at the back. The dimensions of the rooms were in line with those recorded here in Trench 2, but in this instance the building was clearly aligned along the frontage and had at least three rooms plus an extension at the rear. The walls of this building, however, did conform to the type previously recorded, representing flint- 58 THE WILTSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY MAGAZINE defences Known line of city Blue Boar Market Place Sd BROWN STREET Rolfe’s /IVY STREET | EXCAVATIONS ei Approximate area ; WA excavations 1984-1990 ® Location Watching brief Fig. 9. Archaeological Fieldwork in Salisbury, 1984-1990 EXCAVATIONS AT IVY STREET AND BROWN STREET, SALISBURY, 1994 and-mortar dwarf walls which would have supported timber-framed buildings. The external walls were free-standing and of variable width, with greensand blocks often (but not exclusively) incorporated at corners and wall junctions. The internal partition walls were represented by narrow beam slots, whereas the previous investigations had found that this build-type was exceptional and that internal walls were more usually based on dwarf walls which were similar to, but narrower than, the external walls. Floors were previously recorded as being mostly composed of layers of compacted chalk up to 70mm thick separated by levelling layers of sand, soil or occasionally of clay. At Ivy Street/Brown Street this pattern was repeated, although the levelling material was most often clay or gravel, or a mixture of both. There was no indication that the floors had been tiled, although the possibility remains that the actual floor surface was made up of timber planking suspended above the compacted chalk. However, the presence within the floors of numerous episodes of patching, repair and replacement makes this unlikely. The backlands at Ivy Street/Brown Street showed limited evidence of pit-digging in the medieval period, with the exception of cess pits. There are several potential explanations for the almost complete absence of refuse pits, including the possibility of alternative refuse disposal systems such as collection for removal to extra-mural areas or direct disposal into the street water-courses. On the other hand, it may just have been the relatively high water table which provided the deterrent. This absence of refuse pits of medieval date was noted during the previous campaign, although the investigation of a site on the projected line of the northern city rampart revealed the presence of more than 20 pits, thus lending further credence to the suggestion that extra-mural disposal was the more favoured option (Hawkes n.d., 11). The cess pits appear to have started out in the medieval period as rounded, unlined excavations into the basal river gravels, but by the 15th century these were replaced by well-built square or rectangular pits lined with ashlar chalk blocks. It is the pits of this type investigated at Ivy Street/Brown Street which have provided the great wealth of environmental data described in this report. This represents the first time in Salisbury that such material has been recovered and examined in detail, and it has thrown up a number of points and questions around which future research aims and objectives can be set. Although the evidence recovered does not suggest that the occupants of the Ivy Street/Brown 59 Street site were of especially high social status, access to a rich and varied diet can be assumed. This may not have been a consistent phenomenon, but those cess pits which were examined revealed that the available foods included both local orchard and hedge fruits (apples, plums, sloes, strawberries, raspberries, blackberries) along with imported ones such as figs and possibly grapes. A number of types of birds were available for consumption (chickens, geese, woodcock and even finches) and these were bred or caught locally. Sheep, cattle and pigs were all found as kitchen or plate waste, and it is likely that the shellfish (oysters, scallops, whelks and mussels) were also brought to the site as comestibles. Perhaps the most informative faunal remains are the fish bones. This assemblage shows the importance of fish in the diet, both of locally caught freshwater species (eel, dace, stickleback, bullhead) and of other types imported from the coast, probably Southampton. This latter group included conger, cod, herring, flatfish and rays, mostly thornback. In the post-medieval period this list was expanded to include ling and red sea-bream. The cod and herring could have been salted and/or pickled, and the conger was split for the purpose of transport and possibly for salting. The freshwater fish were almost certainly from the local chalk streams, and the predominance of eel within the assemblage indicates that this was available in some considerable quantity. The stability of tenement layout was emphasised in the sites examined in the 1984-90 campaign, with both building plans and property boundaries being maintained right through to the 19th century, even during the wholesale replacement of timber-framed buildings with brickwork structures. This element of continuity can be seen clearly in Trench 2 at Ivy Street/Brown Street, where the tenement wall formed the boundary at the frontage until the 19th century and probably in the backlands until the same period. The lack of any structure on the frontage immediately to the north of the tenement wall suggests the presence here of an access through to the backlands. This is a common occurrence in Salisbury, where the grid street layout precludes the establishment and use of back lanes (RCHM 1980, xlii). The documentary survey which has been carried out as part of this report serves to emphasise the richness of the available material and the rewards of being able to link archaeological excavation and historical research. This union deserves to be a crucial aspect of any work undertaken in the medieval core of Salisbury. In the case of the excavations at Ivy Street/Brown Street, the availability of such a rich 60 THE WILTSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY MAGAZINE source of documentary material was offset against the necessary expedience with which the excavation was undertaken, i.e. the loss of information caused by the machine-excavation of the upper levels of the site was to a great extent compensated by that which was recovered by the documentary survey. The archive The archive has been deposited at Salisbury and South Wiltshire Museum, Salisbury, under the project code W7924. Acknowledgements The project, including the publication of this report, was commissioned and funded by Salisbury District Council, initially through the Relph Ross Partnership. Wessex Archaeology would like to thank the officers of the District Council and the staff of the Relph Ross Partnership for their assistance throughout the course of the project. The collaborative assistance of the staff of the County Archaeological Service, in particular Helena Cave- Penney, is also appreciated. The excavation was managed by Kit Watson, and was directed in the field by Mick Rawlings with the assistance of Dave Murdie and Rod Brook. Much of the initial post-excavation work was undertaken by Nicholas A. Wells, with the finds analyses co- ordinated by Lorraine Mepham and the environmental analyses by Michael J. Allen. The illustrations were prepared by Elizabeth James. Bibliography AINSWORTH, J., 1942, Index of wills proved in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury, vol. 9, 1671-5, British Record Society, Index Library, vol. 67 ALGAR, D., LIGHT, A., and TREHANE, P., 1979, The Verwood and District Potteries: a Dorset Industry. 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Medieval Finds from Excavations in London, vol. 1, HMSO MANUSCRIPT SOURCES Census Returns, Salisbury St Thomas, 1891 S[alisbury] C[athedral] A[rchives] Press 1, boxes 13-15, Sal 3/63: Deed of 1362 [catalogue only seen] SCA 11: Parliamentary survey of Salisbury church property, 1649 SCA 41-59: Chapter lease books, 1608- 19th century WRO 952/2: Lease of Antelope Inn, etc, 1768 WRO 164/1/11: Deed, Moris to Cove, 1433 WRO 1075/001/90: Deeds re Queens Arms Inn, 1757-1888 WRO 1900/44, 45, 51, 52, 54-6: St Thomas parish easter offerings books, 1574, 1584, 1600, c.1600, 1602, and undated 17th-century WRO CC Bishoprick 460: Bishop’s and Chapter leases, etc. 1533-61 WRO CC Chapter 207: Dean and Chapter leases 1563- 1608 WRO G23/1/174, 176: Martins ward land tax assessments, 1648/9, 1651 WRO G23/1/182: Martins ward land tax assessments, 1703- 52, 1797 WRO G23/1/212: Salisbury Domesday Book, vol.1 WRO G23/1/213: Salisbury Domesday Book, vol.2 WRO G23/1/214 Salisbury Domesday Book, vol.3 WRO G23/701/1PC: Board of Health Drainage Map of Salisbury, 1854 WRO Cons Sarum wills: Elizabeth Mustion, 1644 WRO Sub-Dean wills: Thomas Iatt, 1709 Wiltshire Archaeological & Natural History Magazine, vol. 93 (2000), pp. 63-70 The Great Bustard in Wiltshire: Flight into Extinction? by James Thomas Once a proud resident of Wiltshire, the Great Bustard, the largest land bird in England, was systematically eradicated by various forces and agencies. Its form and treatment between 1500 and 1850 are here subjected to analysis and comment. At first sight there would appear to be little or no connection between an Indian state, a noted English naturalist, and coats of arms for two English counties. And yet, as if by coincidence, nothing could be further from the truth. In an article published early in 1999 headed ‘Great bustard of Rajasthan is close to extinction’, the Daily Telegraph’s correspondent in New Delhi, Jan Stock, recounted how this large, cumbersome bird, frequently over four feet tall and weighing up to 40 lbs., was being slaughtered indiscriminately by poachers for its meat and preyed upon by wealthy hunters for sport. Taking a long while to be airborne, it is, in consequence, the journalist noted, an easy prey for hunters. Stock cited the national outcry in 1980 when a Middle Eastern prince planned to visit Rajasthan to hunt this seemingly inoffensive bird, an outcry which forced the potentate to abandon his trip. Stock also cited a spokesman for the Bombay Natural History Society as stating “People don’t realise how near to extinction this bird is”.! Substitute Salisbury Plain for the remote areas of Rajasthan’s Thar desert, where the Great Bustard can be found today, and there is a repetition of what took place in Wiltshire and other parts of England in the nineteenth century. Greed, farming and the desires of sportsmen spelt doom to the bird. To understand the bird’s significance in the context of Wiltshire, however, it is necessary to consider three questions. What were the bird’s prime characteristics? How did ‘it fare in early modem England? What happened to it in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries? When answers are provided to these questions it should become abundantly clear why it was so fitting that in 1937 Wiltshire should have been granted a crest described in heraldic terms as: ‘On a wreath of the colours, A Bustard, wings elevated and addorsed, proper’; and why, three decades later, a badge should have been granted: ‘On a rounded barry of eight argent and vert a Bustard, wings addorsed, proper’.’ Outs tarda, as the Great Bustard is known officially to ornithologists, belonged to the Order of Rasores (now Stuthioniformes) and to the family Struthionidae. It was the largest British land bird, and Wiltshire ‘was probably its last breeding ground in England’. Though habitually shy, it was nevertheless capable of being aggressive, as in 1856 when a wounded specimen bit a boy’s fingers. The eggs, larger than those of a swan, are usually two in number and are olive brown in colour with darker spots. Its courting habits were pronounced, if not to say extreme. The gular pouch, running down the thorax in front of the windpipe, is accentuated in males at this time. The tail is turned back revealing the white under-tail coverts, while the primaries are crossed over the back so as to hold down the inverted tail. The head is sunk on the back, plume feathers project upwards on each side, resulting in a white fluffy mass totally unlike the normal bird. Thus arrayed, the male struts before the female, producing a guttural ‘hoc, hoc, hoc’ noise, which the hen appears to take no notice of.’ In mid-January 1853 William Yarrell, Vice President of the Linnean Society’, read a paper to the Society entitled ‘On the Habits and School of Social and Historical Studies, University of Portsmouth, Mildam, Burnaby Road, Portsmouth PO1 3AS 64 THE WILTSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY MAGAZINE The Great Bustard, drawn by Joseph Reed and engraved by T. J. Smyth, published in WAM, 1856 THE GREAT BUSTARD IN WILTSHIRE: FLIGHT INTO EXTINCTION? 65 Structure of the Great Bustard. (Otis tarda of Linnaeus)’, noting early in his presentation ‘the great scarcity, or rather, the now rare occurrence of the bird in this country, affording but few opportunities for observations’. One of his correspondents noted his experiences in Spain: ‘I may add that the bustards when flushed generally fly two miles or more, sometimes at least a hundred yards high. They never try to turn;... They fly with a regular flap of the wings, and much faster than they appear to go’.’ Straight-billed with the point of the upper mandible curved, the bustard had long, strong, muscular legs and was three-toed. Its head and neck were a bluish grey, while its back and upper breast were buff orange; all of its underparts were white. The female was generally about a third of the male in terms of size. Prone to roving and being polygamous, the bustard was both wild and difficult to approach.°® In this respect it may have been seen as more of a challenge. I How did this seemingly ungainly bird fare in the early modern period? Contemporaries and historians are at one in their thinking on the subject. It was hunted, it was served up as food and, as an example of early Tudor benevolence and paternalism, it was protected by legislation. The Household book of L’Estranges of Hunstanton in Norfolk provides vivid evidence of the bustard being hunted, with the entry: “The xljst weke —Wedynsday: It[e]m, vii) malards, a bustard andj hernseme, kylled w[i]t[h] ye crosbowe’.’ An early seventeenth century manuscript account of Wiltshire life extolled the virtues of both the bustard and the hunter, the author observing: And last of all the Courser may have his belly full of rideing, as well as his doggs of running, if not at the Hares in the Hare warren about Wilton, yett at that Rare and Excellent Creature, the English Aestrich (as I call a Bustard), which the Grand-father of this present Earle of Pembroke used to catch with his Greyhounds.® Writing in the second half of the seventeenth century John Aubrey waxed lyrical about the bird, pointing out that they were to be found on Salisbury Plain ‘especially about Stonehenge’ and ‘in the fields -above Lavington’, though ‘they doe not often come to Chalke’. Later in his work, as if to emphasise the point, he noted “These plaines doe abound with hares, fallow deer, partridges, and bustards’.’ Britton, who produced an edition of Aubrey’s work, observed: ‘It was formerly very numerous on these plains, but the murdering tube of the sportsmen, and pilfering hand of the shepherd, have nearly exterminated the whole race’. Gilpin perhaps came closer to the truth when he noted ‘as he is so noble a prize, the flesh so delicate, and the quantity of it so large, he is of course frequently the object of the fowler’s stratagem’.!° It should come as no surprise, therefore, to learn of the bustard being served up at table. In 1519 bustard was served to the Lords of the Star Chamber on three occasions. In one instance 4s. was defrayed for it; on the other two days it cost 2s. 10d.'! Such prices indicate, indirectly, that it was already considered something of a delicacy. The selling price of a bustard at Salisbury’s Poultry Cross Market in 1555 was 10s. a bird and such was its prolific nature on the Plain that that community’s Mayor used to include it in the menu for his inaugural feast, certainly up to 1800.” Well before this time, however, the bustard had been protected by legislation, an early and intriguing example of concern for the environment and the wildlife it supported. By legislation enacted in 1535 the taking of the Great Bustard’s eggs was prohibited, a maximum penalty of 20d. being imposed for each egg removed.!’ As always with early Tudor legislation, however, it was one thing to pass it and another to make it work. By a proclamation of May 1544 prices ‘to sell all manner of wild foul and poultry wares’ were set, so that ‘the best crane, bustard or stork, not above the price of 4s’. Furthermore, it was ordered that ‘no foreign or foreigners sell or cause to be sold within the markets of Leaden Hall, Cheapside, and Newgate market, or any of them, or elsewhere within the... city of London and suburbs of the same .. / the mean bustard at 2s. and the best bustard at 2s. 8d.'* As a further means of protection, there is evidence to show that bustards were included in early menageries. During his visit to the Low Countries in 1641 John Evelyn (1620-1706) recounted with both relish and detail many of the sights he had encountered. In Brussels early in October he noted, having visited the riding school and gardens, with their impressive backdrop of fountains and music: There is likewise a faire Aviary; and in the Court next it are kept divers sorts of Animals, rare and exotic fowle; as Eagles, Cranes, Storkes, Bustars, Pheasants of Severall Kinds, and a Duck having 4 Wings and c: In another division of the same Close, Connys of an almost perfect yellow Colour: There was no Court now in the Palace, the Infanta Cardinal, who was the Governor of Flanders being dead but newly, and every body in deepe Mourning, which made us quitt the Towne sooner than happily we should else have don.!” 60 THE WILTSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY MAGAZINE II It was the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, however, that were to spell doom to this magnificent bird. The naturalist Gilbert White (1720-93), who saw bustards as large, somewhat ungainly creatures, also pointed to their passing in his highly detailed journals. Thus for 13 February 1770 he noted: ‘Saw bustards on Salisbury plain: they resemble fallow-deer at a distance. Partridges pair. Wild-geese in the winter do damage to the green wheat on Salisbury plain.’ Three years later, however, he noted that bustards were being bred in the Sussex parish of Findon. In November 1787, by contrast, he was able to record a conversation with a carter on Mr Treadgold’s North downs farm between Andover and Winchester. While the farm was ‘much annoyed with Norway rats’, the carter noted changes in local life. He ‘also told us that about 12 years ago he had seen a flock of 18 bustards at one time on that farm, and once since only two. This is the only habitation to be met with on these downs between Whorwel and Winchester. !° White’s correspondent Thomas Pennant felt them to be more common in Wiltshire at this time, observing that “in autumn these are generally found in large turnip fields near the downs, and in flocks of fifty or more.!’ While specimens were offered for sale, such as the “Three fine BIRDS’ put up by William Hussey at Tilshead near Market Lavington early in November 1788,'* change was under way. Towards the close of the century the bird’s eggs were systematically gathered for incubation and hatching under hens. Such was their increasing rarity value that 10s. 6d. per egg was often paid while the young, when not fully grown, frequently commanded 10-12 guineas a pair.'” Here could be seen the beginning of the end, for the greater the obtainable price the rarer the bird was likely to become, and thus a vicious downward spiral would begin to take hold. But the egg hunter and specimen collector caused only part of the problem, for the poor bustard appeared to be fighting an unwinnable war on three fronts. While the egg hunter and his associates constituted one threat danger came, too, from the advance of enclosure and of the sportsman with his ‘murdering tube’. The bird was being driven from Wiltshire and, it should be noted, from elsewhere as well, by the simple but lethal process of eradication. The late eighteenth century rise in wheat prices, succession of bad harvests and war-time restrictions on grain imports meant that the area under the plough had to be extended and the type of cultivation intensified. As a result, the bustard was driven from a large area that had once constituted its natural habitat. But it was not just a matter of the appearance of the egg collector and the relentless advance of enclosure. The rise of the sportsman also did more than a little to end the bustard’s days in Wiltshire. Game and its acquisition was an important dimension of landed society in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. As sport rose in social and economic significance so the game laws grew harsher and the poacher became ever more devious. On many a Wiltshire estate the gamekeeper, who had to be licenced, and the shepherd were viewed as the top hands. Landowners could become irate when supplies of game were not forthcoming. Salisbury solicitor John Hodding, Receiver of the Duke of Queensberry’s estates in Wiltshire, most of which were centred on Amesbury, from 1788 onwards, was moved to write to his employer as follows in mid-September 1807: I have received Mr Douglas’s Letter, with a Copy of a Letter from Mr Dubois to the Gamekeeper at Bentley; and the Gamekeeper has been with me on the Subject of it — he seems much hurt that your Grace should think he sells or gives away Game, which he declares he never did. The Season for killing game at Bentley is not yet arrived, there being no partridges or any Land there to which they resort —- And no Game but Pheasants, Hares and Woodcocks, are to be found there, and the time for shooting them, does not arrive, until the first of October; immediately after which he will supply Your Grace with all the Game he can possibly procure.”° Significantly the steward made no mention of the availability of the bustard on the ducal estate, suggesting that it had perhaps disappeared by then. By the same token, the pre-printed Game Book completed by members of the Penruddocke family between 1823 and 1848, recording shooting activity on their lands at Compton Chamberlayne and Baverstock, both to the west of Salisbury, make no mention of the bustard. Moorhens, snipe, rabbits, pheasant, rooks and other birds fell victim to their guns, but of bustard there was no mention.”! The evidence would appear to point to the bird’s disappearance from Wiltshire by this time. Indeed, a combination of written and early oral history would also appear to confirm that conclusion. Over time bustard numbers, encounters and sightings in Wiltshire were to decline considerably. In 1818 William Chafin recalled a bustard hunt on the downs near Winterslow Hut in the late 1760s. There were about 25 birds in the flock and although he took a pot shot at one, he failed to bag it. With a certain amount of prescience he observed ‘I believe such a THE GREAT BUSTARD IN WILTSHIRE: FLIGHT INTO EXTINCTION? 67 number of bustards will never again be seen together in England’.*? In c.1785 or 1786 came record of another sighting, this time of several near Chitterne Bam, while the authority, who employed the initials ‘J.S.’, noted that he had heard local farmers talking of reasons for the bird’s relative scarcity, which they attributed ‘to the heath, ..., being broken up and converted to tillage, and to the corn being weeded in the spring, whereby the birds were disturbed and prevented making their nests’. Within a year the same person saw a pair flying ‘over our heads and within gun shot, and I could distinctly see the colour of their plumage’. In c. 1792 a young bird was taken between Devizes and Salisbury and given to Mrs Steedman who kept the Red Lion in that city. She tamed it and within three months ‘it could eat off the table in the bar’. She was offered 10 guineas for the bird but declined it, only to subsequently lose it when a pointer gained entry to the parlour and slaughtered it.*? Four year later Dew, an observant and credible sportsman, saw seven or eight together on the Downs near Winterbourne Stoke but, added the author, G. Maton, ‘IT have not met with any one since who has actually seen the bustard in Wiltshire subsequently to that year’.*? John Britton took a particular interest in the birds, recording seeing a brace in the summer of 1800, feeding on a pasture track near Tilshead: ‘I felt much gratified in beholding and examining these rare and majestic birds; and having amused myself by looking at them for some time through a telescope, I approached within eighty yards, when they sprang immediately from the ground.” Even when away from his beloved Wiltshire, Britton was kept apprised of relevant information by his fellow county devotee and scholar William Cunnington. Thus late in July 1802 Cunnington wrote to him as follows: Dear Sir I was duly favored with your Book and Letter and inclosed I return you a Guinea and half for the former also all the Drawings we have left as part were returned before I purposed sending you an account of the Bustard but am disappointed in not receiving the information promised me from Tilshead — but in a fortnight I shall see the person who kept the Bird and I will then write you — I don’t see what I can write so as to be of any service to you — Camps Barrows Religious Circles and c. are so numerous that single details would be of no service to you.*° Britton’s knowledge upon this increasingly rare inhabitant of the county was considerable and he supplied Yarrell the noted ornithologist with much valuable material for his paper entitled, “On the habits and structure of the Great Bustard’. Thus he recounted the experience of the rider en route from Tinhead to Tilshead very early on a June morning in 1801. A large bird, ‘which afterwards proved to be a bustard’, landed in front of the horse and ‘indicated a disposition to attack, ...’. After an hour-long struggle the rider secured the bird, offering it to his host, J. Bartley of Tilshead. Kept in a staked cage, it soon became tame and lived on a diet of sparrows, charlock flowers, rape leaves and the odd mouse as a nutritional supplement. Some two weeks after this particular incident Farmer Grant of Tilshead, while returning from Warminster Market, was attacked in a similar fashion by, it was thought, the same bird’s mate.*’ Other reports occur of encounters with the bustard in early nineteenth-century Wiltshire, but they all predate Waterloo in 1815. In 1801, for example, Reverend Wyndham’s grandfather recorded in his game book seeing a hen bustard in flight whilst riding to Upavon. In 1803 and 1804 John Waters, renting Normanton Farm on the Salisbury side of Amesbury, killed what he maintained was the ‘last of the bustards seen about at that date’. On this count, however, he was mistaken. From Lake and from Eastcott, from West Lavington, from Broad Hinton to Langley came sightings and reports of bustards being brought down. In 1802 Montagu observed that the bustard was to be found only upon the large extensive plains and that Wiltshire was virtually its last home ‘where they had become very scarce within these few years’. Increasingly, authorities referred to the bird’s scarcity, with the ornithologist Graves explaining in 1821: the enclosing and cultivating those extensive downs and heaths in various parts of Great Britain, on which formerly this noble species was seen in large flocks, threatens within a few years to extirp ate the bustard from this country; instead of being met with in flocks of forty or fifty birds, it is a circumstance of rare occurrence that a single individual is now seen.”* Just four years later Selby maintained that the bustard was ‘extinct upon our extensive downs, of which it once formed the appropriate ornament’.”” Thereafter it was a matter of sightings and the occasional shooting or capture of visiting specimens, some of which may well have flown off course. (Examples are given in Appendix B.) Although the bustard had disappeared from its native habitat of Wiltshire, it was not forgotten. Firstly, it lingered on in local folk memory, enabling Canon Bennett, Shrewton’s incumbent, to write in 1861 “The oldest inhabitants remember the Bustards existing in flocks but “very shy” on the downs east of Shrewton’. There were very occasional sightings of the bird, such 68 THE WILTSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY MAGAZINE as that captured in the neighbourhood of Hungerford early in January 1856. One was seen at Berwick St. James in 1870, while during the following year at least seven found their way to Salisbury Plain, with sightings at Berwick St. James, Maddington, Market Lavington, and Shrewton. Accounts survive, with varying degrees of accuracy, of what fate befell them, while there are attempts at explaining why they should have arrived back in their native habitat. One theory was that they were refugees from the Franco-Prussian War, being frightened away by the roar of incessant gunfire.*” Whatever the reasons, there were a number of sightings and shootings in Wiltshire early in the 1 870s. One female specimen was shot at Maddington Manor Farm in January 1871 by a keeper named Stephen Smith, who was in the employ of Mr. E. Lywood. The bustard was shot at a range of over 100 yards and was downed with a ‘marble’. The bird, accompanied by two other specimens, suffered a broken wing before crashing to the ground, one of its two erstwhile companions wheeling round in a seemingly frantic search for it. Measuring 31 inches in the body and with a 62 inch wingspan, the bird was presented by Mr. Lywood to the Salisbury and South Wiltshire Museum. Seemingly this specimen was one of a flock of eight, at least two of which had been shot and stuffed in neighbouring Somerset. They fetched up in the hands of Reverend Murray Matthews, Vicar of Bishops Lydeard near Taunton and Mr. Cecil Smith, squire of the same parish, ‘both of whom have large and very perfect collections of our British birds’.*! This particular incident led to three developments. Firstly, Henry Blackmore, formerly of Salisbury, and A.P. Morres, who subsequently wrote a very useful article about the bustard, consumed a hearty lunch of bustard flesh. Secondly, Mr. King of Warminster, preserved and stuffed the bird for posterity and the benefit of natural historians. Morres wrote subsequently: “There are now 2 pairs of these grand birds in our Salisbury and South Wiltshire Museum, one pair coming from Yorkshire, killed in 1825, and the pair from our own plain — 1871. The third development was the sending of a letter to the local journal, entitled ‘A Plea for the Bustards’, which read as follows: Sir - may I request your valuable assistance by inserting a plea for the lives of the beautiful pair of Bustards which are still walking over the lands of this and the parishes adjoining, as doubtless they would breed, the close time being so very near, and thus pleasantly add to the unexpected novelty of their re-appearance in our generation. In the event, however, the plea was wasted for, as Morres noted, “They soon, however, disappeared’.*? And yet, although they had disappeared, there was little or no chance of them being forgotten in the county because of place and allied name evidence. Near Martin was Bustard Farm, put up for auction on 6 October 1796, with live and dead stock, four wagons, a cart, ploughs, six ‘good horses’ and ‘208 sound sheep’.*! By the side of the old road across Salisbury Plain is the area known as the Bustard. Immediately to the north of Rollestone Bake Farm was the original Rollestone Camp, while opposite the Bustard and occupying both sides of the road was Bustard Camp. Indeed, one of the results of the army’s arrival on the Plain was the decision to revive the Bustard Inn which stands on the edge of the ranges less than a mile to the north of the present-day Rollestone Camp.” In Trowbridge today can be found the Bustard Club, a social venue for county council employees. Though gone, the bustard 1s not forgotten. IV During the last thirty years there have been efforts made to return the bird to its native Wiltshire habitat. A Great Bustard Trust was established and attempts made from 1970 onwards to breed the bird on land at Porton Down, using birds and eggs imported from Germany and Russia. As the bird lays only two eggs per annum, however, numbers would be slow to recover once stocks have been allowed to fall, while the necessary habitat was no longer found to exist in Wiltshire. In the end the Trust was forced in January 1998 to admit defeat and disband itself.*° While there was a breeding programme at Whipsnade Wildlife Park in 1997 and one extant specimen called ‘Keto’, it was felt to be unlikely that ‘the magnificent great bustard will be seen roaming the Wiltshire countryside again’.*’ When, therefore, visitors to Devizes Museum stop and look at the two bustard specimens on display there, they should perhaps spare a thought or two for them. Enclosure, the seed drill, the horse hoe, predators of various sorts whether human or in the form of Vulpes Vulpes, and the wilful sportsman together made sure that England’s largest land bird was driven and eradicated from Wiltshire. And the real tragedy is that the bustard, as the great Chinese ornithologist Cheng T’so-Hsin explained, was ‘the bird most beneficial to agriculture’. Perhaps the final remarks should be the observations of that evocative observer of rural life W.H. Hudson (1862-1922), who commented in the early part of this century: THE GREAT BUSTARD IN WILTSHIRE: FLIGHT INTO EXTINCTION? 69 Wiltshire, like other places in England, has long been deprived of its most interesting birds — the species that were best worth preserving. Its great bustard, once our greatest bird — even greater than the golden and sea eagles and the ‘giant crane’ with its ‘trumpet sound’ once heard in the land — is now but a memory. Or a place name: Bustard Inn, no longer an inn, is well known to the many thousands who now go to the mimic wars on Salisbury Plain; and there is a Trappist monastery in a village on the southernmost border of the county, which was once called, and is still known to old men as, ‘Bustard Farm’. All that Caleb Bawcombe knew of this grandest bird is what his father had told him; and Isaac knew of it only from hearsay, although it was still met with in South Wilts when he was a young man.*® References 1 Daily Telegraph, 11 February 1999. 2 D. Buckeridge, Heraldry in Wiltshire, Vol.1(1995), n.p. 3 C. Straton, ‘The Great Bustard’ in The Festival Book of Salisbury 1864-]914 (Salisbury, 1914), pp. 11-13. A member of W.A.N.H.S., Straton died on 22 February 1918, aged 75: WAM 40 (1917-19), pp. 199-201. 4 Carl Linnaeus (1707-78), was a Swedish natural historian who contributed much to the concept and application of classification. He was the first to enunciate the principles for defining genera and species. 5 Yarrell’s paper was reported in The Morning Chronicle. William Yarrell (1784-1856) was a noted zoologist and bookseller based in London. A Fellow of the Linnaean Society in 1825, he served as its Treasurer between 1849 and 1856 and was an original member of the Zoological Society in 1826. His published work included History of British Fishes (1836) and History of British Birds (1843): D.N.B. 6 Rev. A.C. Smith, “The Great Bustard’, WA.M. 2 (1856), pp. 129-30. Smith was incumbent of Yatesbury, a few miles to the east of Calne. 7 H. Fraser Fortescue, ‘A Lost British Bird: the Great Bustard’, The Badminton Magazine (July 1903), p. 92. 8 H.C. Brentnall, ‘A Longford Manuscript’, WA.M. 52 (1947-8), p. 20. 9 J. Aubrey, The Natural History of Wiltshire (ed.) J. Britton (Wiltshire Topographical Society, 1847), pp. 64, 108. 10 J. Britton, The Beauties of Wiltshire, vol. 2 (1801), p.114. 11 A.L. Simon, A Concise Encyclopaedia of Gastronomy (1983 edn.), p. 515. 12 C. McKeown, ‘Gone Forever? Wiltshire’s Lost Birds’, Wiltshire Life, September 1997, p. 25; R. Whitlock, A Victorian Village (1990), p. 182; A Tryon, ‘Return of the Great Bustard’, Country Life, 26 July 1973, p. 244. 13 H. Fraser Fortescue, p. 92. 14 H.E.S. Fisher and A. R. J. Jurica (ed.) Documents in English Economic History: England from 1000 to 1760 (1984), pp. 484-5. 15 E.S. de Beer (ed), The Diary of John Evelyn (5 vols., 1955), vol. 2, p. 72. Evelyn was in error about the Cardinal Infanta’s death as Ferdinand died 31 October 1641. 16 W. Johnson (ed), Journals of Gilbert White (1982), pp. 20, 69, 280. Rattus norvegicus or Rattus decumanus, the brown rat, had probably reached England in the late 1720s aboard ships trading with Russia and had spread rapidly: Johnson, Gilbert White (1982 edn.), p. 76. 17 Quoted Rev. A. C. Smith, “The Great Bustard’, WA.M. 3 (1856), p. 132. Thomas Pennant (1726-98), traveller and naturalist, produced British Zoology (1766) and History of Quadrupeds (1781): D.N.B. 18 Salisbury and Winchester Journal, 3 November 1788. 19 H. Fraser Fortescue, pp. 95-6. 20 John Hodding to the Duke of Queensberry, 15 September 1807: WRO 377/1. Bentley Woods, located in West Dean parish, contained about 672 acres, producing in tmber and underwood felled and sold, approximately £450 per annum for the Duke. WRO 332/282, Game Book 1823-48, np. R. Whitlock, A Victorian Village (1990), p. 182. J. S., ‘The Bustard’, WA.M. 1(1854), p. 212. 4 G. Maton, “The Natural History of a Part of the County of Wiltshire’ (1843), p.5. Copy contained inW.A.N.H.S. Library, Wiltshire Tracts no. 2. 25 J. Britton, The Beauties of Wiltshire, vol. 2, (1801), p.115. 26 William Cunnington to John Britton, 21 July 1802: W.A.N.H.S. Library, MS. 2600, Cunnington MSS., Box 326, n.f. At this time Britton (1771-1857), the noted antiquary and topographer, was residing at no. 18, Wilderness Row, Goswell Street, London. 27 Rev. A. C. Smith, ‘The Great Bustard’, WAM. 3 (1856), pp. 134-5. Mr. Bartley subsequently sold his bustard to Lord Temple for 30 guineas. Temple was already in possession of one specimen. 28 A.P. Morres, ‘On the Occurrence of some of the Rarer Species of Birds in the Neighbourhood of Salisbury’, WAM. 20 (1882), p. 179. At least one downed specimen at this time was sent to the Duke of Queensberry. No acknowledgement of the gift was received. Morres was incumbent of Britford, to the south-east of Salisbury. 29 Quoted Rev. A. C. Smith, “The Great Bustard’, WAM, 3 (1856), p. 138. John Prideaux Selby (1788-1867) naturalist, was High Sheriff for Northumberland in 1823. Between 1825 and 1834 he published I//ustrations of British Ornithology. In 1842 he published British Forest Trees: D.N.B. 30 WAM 46 (1932-4), notes, p. 392; 25 (1891), p. 360; B. McGill, Village under the Plain: The Story of Market Lavington (1995), p. 121. 31 Devizes Advertiser, 2 February 1871; A.P. Morres, ‘On the Occurrence of some of the Rarer Species of Birds in the Neighbourhood of Salisbury’, WAM 20 (1882), p. 181. 32 Morres, p. 182. For a bustard recipe — Bustardu Double Beurre — see A. L. Simon, p. 515. Taxidermy, private and museum acquisitions deserve closer study in the be NS Ww bw bo Q 70 THE WILTSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY MAGAZINE county. A Great Bustard shot in Allington Mead on the banks of the Avon in early February 1891 was sent to Foot the Bath taxidermist for preservation: WAM 25 (1891), p. 361. A male Great Bustard, captured near Hungerford in January 1856, was among the articles exhibited in a temporary museum at the town hall in Warminster in August 1856. The town’s Literary and Scientific Institution also exhibited a specimen. Articles contributed to the Loan Museum in 1875 by S. A. Jeffreys of Melksham included two specimens of bustard. In 1868 William Cunnington purchased a specimen from the Warminster Institution for £15 and disposed of it to the W.A.N.H.S. Council ‘on the condition that in the event of the Society being broken up, the specimen was to be offered, at the same price, to me, or to members of my family’. By comparison £18 6s. 7d. was spent in the same year on ‘Stationery, postage, Carriage, Advertising and c.’: WAM, 3 (1857), pp. 267, 268; 15 (1875), p. 138; 12 (1870), interleaved vol., note by Cunnington. 33 Quoted A. P. Morres, p.181. 34 Salisbury and Winchester Journal, 3 October 1796. 35 N.D.G. James, Plain Soldiering: A History of the Armed Forces on Salisbury Plain (1987), p. 124. 36 S. O’Neill, ‘Time and space run out for the Great Bustard’, Daily Telegraph, 20 January 1998. 37 C. McKeown, ‘Gone Forever? Wiltshire’s Lost Birds’, Wiltshire Life, September 1997 pp. 24-5. Other sources dealing with the re-establishment programme include a pamphlet produced by the Great Bustard Trust and A. Tryon, ‘Return of the Great Bustard’, Country Life, 26 July 1973, p. 244. 38 W. H. Hudson, A Shepherd’s Life (1946 edn.), p. 84. Appendix A Ornithology and Wiltshire Inns, 1800 — 1850 Set out below are details of the Wiltshire towns containing inns with bird names. While they show a certain amount of continuity, they may also provide food for thought for other researchers. Of particular note is that 14 of the 23 establishments involved the swan, important for its regal pose and its role as a symbol of innocence. Of these, four were the White Swan suggesting, perhaps, a greater degree of innocence. The sole Black Swan, located in Devizes, may have had connections with empire. The black swan (Chenopis atrata), native to Australia, was introduced to New Zealand. Aboard the French vessel Naturaliste, held at Gosport in May 1803, were two black swans, a pair of emus and many potted plants: William Cole to Sir Joseph Banks, 31 May 1803:W.R. Dawson (ed.), The Banks Letters (1958), p. 223. BRADFORD Swan 1822 - 1838 CHIPPENHAM Cock 1822 Swan 1838 - 1848 DEVIZES Black Swan 1809 - 1844 Pelican 1830 - 1848 White Swan 1838 - 1848 HIGHWORTH Swan 1830 HINDON Swan 1830 MALMESBURY Swan 1830 MERE Swan 1830 SALISBURY Bird in Hand 1822 Chough 1822 Falcon 1838 Pheasant 1822 Spread Eagle 1822 Swan 1830 Three Swans 1830 White Swan 1822 TROWBRIDGE Swan 1830 - 1848 White Swan 1822 WARMINSTER Cock 1822 Swan 1822 White Swan 1838 - 1848 Sources: Holden’s Triennial Directory (1809); Pigot’s Directory (1822), (1830); Robson’s Commercial Directory of London and the Western Counties, vol. 2 (1838); Hunt and Co’s Directory (1848) Appendix B Sightings of the Bustard, 1877 — 1998 1877 Salisbury Plain 2 5 Dec 1879 Woodham Ferrers, Essex 1 8 Dec 1879 St. Clement, Jersey 2 Dec 1879 Romney Marsh, Kent 1 1880 Great Chard, near Ashford, Kent 1 10 Jan 1880 Cranborne Downs, Dorset 1 Jan 1880 Wye, Kent 1 6 Feb 1880 West Wickham, Cambridgeshire 1 1958 — 98 Twenty sightings 20 Nov 1998 Poole, Dorset 1 Sources: A. P. Morres, ‘On the Occurrence of some of the Rarer Species of Birds in the Neighbourhood of Salisbury’, WA.M, 20 (1882), p. 182; Daily Telegraph, 20 Jan 1998; Sunday Telegraph, 8 Nov 1998. Wiltshire Archaeological & Natural History Magazine, vol. 93 (2000), pp. 71-81 Beaker Pits at Crescent Copse, near Shrewton, Wiltshire, and the Effects of Arboreal Fungi on Archaeological Remains by Michael Heaton! and Rosamund M J Cleal’ with contributions by Peter Higgins,’ Peter Bellamy,* Sheila Hamilton-Dyer’ and John Wilson® Excavation of six pits of ‘Beaker’ date during the summer of 1997 revealed, in addition to prehistoric materials, evidence of extensive, and possibly recent, fungal activity, resulting in an almost total absence of identifiable organic remains despite the presence of large quantities of charcoal dust. Because of the small scale of the work, the resultant report does not attempt to draw wide-ranging conclusions about the topographic or temporal distribution of Beaker pits, but presents descriptions of the principal assemblages together with some observa- tions on the action of fungal mycelia on buried organic remains. Published studies on soil micro-organisms suggests that these may have spread from the adjacent conifer plantation, either as the natural result of afforesta- tion on otherwise dormant soil fungi, or as a result of fungi introduced with the pine trees. INTRODUCTION Crescent Copse is situated at the head of one of the tributary dry-valleys of the Till catchment, 3.5km WSW of the village of Shrewton, on the chalk massif of the Salisbury Plain Training Area - hereafter ‘SPTA’ (Figure 1). The adjacent section of Track 21G, one of a network of un-surfaced routes that criss-cross the SPTA, had, by winter of 1996, become sufficiently impassable to warrant upgrading. In line with the guidance of PPG16, the Defence Estates Organisation (Lands) South-West (hereafter DEO(L)SW) considered the likely archaeological impact warranted evaluation and, if necessary, mitigation. Accordingly the impact of the proposed works was evaluated by Wessex Archaeology (Wessex Archaeology 1996), leading to targeted excavation of selected features by Michael Heaton the following year. The entire project, from evaluation to publication, has been carried out under the aegis of Gifford and Partners. The excavation concentrated on two adjacent 50m and 125m stretches of the track. Topsoil stripping revealed three groups of potential archaeological features; two of which, at the northern end of the site and its centre, proved not to be anthropogenic, but included a cluster of six small pits (numbers 125-7, 131, 150 and 159) at the northern end in which sherds of prehistoric pottery were visible. One of the pits had been masked by a thick layer of vehicle-compacted chalk. There were no extensive soil or colluvial deposits. METHODOLOGY The upper profiles of all six pits (not considered to be pit fills per se) were excavated rapidly without sampling, and artefacts within them were recorded as bulk finds only. All other artefacts from the lower layers - the pit fills proper - were recorded to individual 3D 1.12 Victoria Road, Warminster, Wiltshire. BA12 SHE 2. Alexander Keiller Museum, Avebury, Wiltshire 3.Southern Archaeological Services Ltd., Unit 7 Kingsbury House, Kingsbury Road, Southampton, SO14 OJT 4.51 Fordington High Street, Dorchester, Dorset, DT 1 1LB 5.5 Suffolk Avenue, Shirley, Southampton SO15 5EF 6.5 Stuart Place, East Twerton, Bath. &, si Sea] , Fig. 1. The Site and its situation ‘ / -’ <__Rellestone Camp THE WILTSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY MAGAZINE y , iY Nor \ ie N < / Robin Hood"s "Bail \ Crescent Copse_ pig LJ ers 1 SU 45 Carkhill 1 7 re a a \. SU 10270 edges of strippe BEAKER PITS AT CRESCENT COPSE NEAR SHREWTON positions for which numeric references (2000>) were assigned. These positions were recorded on levelled 1:10 single context plans of each layer. Where groups of more than one object were superimposed or situated immediately adjacent to each other (generally <5mm apart), they were recorded as decimal subdivisions of one object position; e.g. 2012.1, 2012.2, etc. All the soil from these layers was passed through a lcm sieve on-site to remove chalk and flint lumps, and the residues retained for flotation separation of their palaeo-environmental component. RESULTS The six pits had been excavated into bedrock chalk immediately adjacent to each other within an area of approximately 5 x 5m (Figure 1). All were slightly oval, approximately 0.70m in diameter, with depths varying between 0.30m and 0.70m, and had slightly rounded bases. They shared elements of a common stratigraphic sequence, represented by Pit 127 (Figure 2): A. Compacted topsoil containing fragments of coal, and therefore of recent derivation, which had been pushed down into the tops of the pits to a depth of between 0.10-0.15m. B. Shingly ‘A/C’ horizon of patinated flint pieces, largely natural but containing some worked pieces. This layer is present at the base of the ‘natural’ soil sequence across much of the chalk downs and is considered to be a natural sorting product of pegogenesis. It filled, level, a deep depression in the surface of the underlying layer. C. Pit fills. Three recognised: an upper fill of yellowish brown silty loam, forming an inverted cone up the sides of all of the pits; a middle fill of almost black silty loam permeated by extensive fungal mycelium, in most of the pits; and a Jower fill of very powdery, ashy, grey silty dust lying across the base of one or two of the pits, also penetrated by a network of fungal 1 mycelium. Within these, however, no finer horizon boundaries were discernible, despite incipient layering/grouping being evident in the distribution of stones. >z \ Flint A Burnt flint @® Pottery — Bone Sandstone Fig. 2. Pit 127. Horizontal and vertical distribution of artefacts 0 10 20 30 40 I dis 1 0 A a MB cts Within each pit, the bulk of the artefacts and animal bone were contained within the dark ashy layer. There appears to be no other significant spatial patterning, the majority of the material being principally around the edges of each pit, sometimes with a weighting to one side, and without any apparent patterns in the vertical distribution. There were no groups of artefacts or significant single artefacts lying on the base of any of the pits. This distribution appears similar to that noted at Dean Bottom, considered there to represent incidental incorporation within the pit fills. Total artefact and animal bone quantities appear to reflect pit volume; the deepest (125 and 127) producing the largest amounts of worked flint and pottery (Table 1). Table 1. Finds totals per feature. Quantities given as number/weight (g). Burnt worked flint is counted as worked flint. FEATURE 125 126 MATERIAL Worked flint 45/975 26/225 Burnt flint 21/1340 5/192 Pottery 9/68 4/35 Animal bone 9/38 1/1 Stone 1/6 0/0 127 131 150 159 47/725 14/189 9/124 4/216 4/250 8/318 4/246 5/302 11/171 4/20 1/4 0/0 7/59 0/0 0/0 0/0 2/24 2/24 0/0 0/0 50cm 74 THE WILTSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY MAGAZINE Artefacts POTTERY (Figure 3) by Rosamund M. J. Cleal The assemblage comprises 28 sherds (weighing 291g), representing at least seven vessels. With the exception of one sherd from F127 (2030), which is perhaps intrusive, all are assignable to the Beaker tradition of the later 3rd millennium or earlier 2nd millennium cal BC. Counts, weights and ‘P’ numbers are given in Table 2, by context. ‘P’ numbers indicate identifiable separate vessels, for each of which only a few sherds have survived; not all are illustrated here. The recovered pottery has been examined by using a x10 hand lens. Fabrics were defined on the basis of the non-plastic inclusions (1.e. the non-clay materials present in the clay either as naturally occurring inclusions or added by the potter). Frequency of inclusions was estimated by eye by surface area (using comparative charts) and should be regarded as approximate. Description P1. Seven sherds of a single vessel decorated with square- tooth-comb impressions and other impressions. The fabric is soft, with a hackly fracture, containing approximately 10- 15% small to moderate bone (<4mm, most <2mm), sparse sand (mostly fine) and rare flint (<6mm) (Fabric code BS:1). The bone mainly comprises small white fragments and appears to have been well crushed into small pieces, including fragments with rounded edges as well as angular pieces. A minority of fragments are bluish-grey, at least in part. Exterior and interior sherd surfaces: medium red- brown; core dark grey. The condition is fair, with some abrasion; where the original surfaces survive they are smoothed. The decoration has been applied with two different implements, one a comb with roughly square teeth, the other perhaps a worn comb (the condition of the sherd precludes a certain identification). Six sherds were from the middle and upper fills of feature 125, and one from feature 127. Because of the soft, friable nature of this fabric it is unlikely that the sherds had been exposed for a long period before being deposited in the feature. P2. Single body sherd in a soft fabric with a smooth fracture and slightly sandy feel, containing moderate fine sand and rare coarse sand. Some fine ( seo 9 uljadid $T89700 sainieaj jeaibojoaeuaiy sauepunog pjalj sayeq sysewidoi9 OO0S9LLS 94 suggest longevity in its function as a boundary. Interpretation of pits [510], [520] and [530] is limited, although the moderate quantity of daub retrieved from the features reinforces the hypothesis of occupation within the immediate vicinity. Undated Ditches [528], [544], and [560] remain undated. Although they correlate closely with known cropmark alignments, the paucity of datable artefactual material retrieved from the features prohibits their interpretation. Finds POTTERY by Jane Timby ‘Twenty-two body/base-sherds (137g) of Iron Age date were recovered. Although the pottery was in relatively fresh condition, the lack of diagnostic sherds frustrates THE WILTSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY MAGAZINE close dating of the material which is all fossil shell and limestone-tempered. Ditch [542] produced exclusively coarse shell-tempered sherds (fabric H1) normally typical of the earlier Iron Age. Ditch [536] produced limestone and shell-tempered sherds (fabrics L3, L4), probably of early or middle Iron Age date. Sherds of Roman pottery were recovered from seven individual features with an additional 30 sherds of unstratified material. Few of the features produced chronologically viable groups, with only two pits [520] and [530] yielding in excess of ten sherds. Most of the material would appear to belong to the 2nd century AD suggesting a hiatus in activity in the later Iron Age/early Roman periods. Pit [520] is probably slightly later, extending activity into the 3rd century AD. Sherds of Oxfordshire colour-coated ware from the unstratified material would confirm use of the area in the second half of the 3rd century but there is limited evidence for the 4th century. The majority of the wares are local products from the Wiltshire industries including jars from the Savernake Forest kilns. Imports are limited to two sherds of Dorset black burnished ware and two small scraps of samian. Table 1. Pottery quantities (sherd count and weight) from Areas C and E AREA C FABRIC No % WT ( % No % WT (g) | % IRON AGE HI 9 a Bee ae 13 3 2.75 E 2.40 en Rese L4 10 9.00 4 6.15 ROMAN: native wares eI ee ee ae aan ee ee MALVLI 2 : Semis eee GROG 6 1.60 44 1.05 ROMAN: local wares SAV 13 12.00 23 28 16 4.40 1115 26.45 WMBBW 14 12.80 fe 3 fe 23 6.40 89 Dall WILOX 1 0.95 23 3.00 eerie SWOX 4 3.50 12 1.60 10.80 10.00 ROMAN: traded wares SAM 3.50 7 0.95 ll 3.00 134 3.20 BBI 2 1.80 10 1.35 35.60 | 1493 35.40 Oxce 9 8.25 87 11.60 1.40 15 0.35 SVW 3 2.75 44 5.90 3 0.85 30 0.71 MICGW 4 3.50 25 3.33 16 4.40 248 5.90 ROMAN: source unknown Rl 1 0.95 2 R2 i 6.40 20 R3 1 0.95 9 R4 l 0.95 10 R5 3 2.75 7 R6 3 2.75 24 R7 Misc. reduced 12 11.00 64 Misc. oxidised 6 5.50 13 : ‘i Total 110 100.3. | 749 100 362 99.99 [| 4213. [100 | EXCAVATIONS ALONG THE LITTLETON DREW TO CHIPPENHAM GAS PIPELINE 95 Table 2. Pottery fabrics and date Description and forms IRON AGE Handmade. Brown paste with a sparse to moderate density of | Early Iron Age Piso see eee medium-fine fossil shell and limestone ROMAN: Native Wares Ital Handmade brown or orange-brown ware with a high density | Ist to 2nd century of very fine discrete ooliths of limestone with occasional larger fragments L Brown medium-fine sandy ware with sparse fragments of fossil shell/limestone GROG Handmade grog-tempered wares. Form: jar ee eo. Sloe hae, Seer MAN: Local Wiltshire Wares SAVGT Savernake ware (Annable 1962). Form: Large storage jars WMBBW Wheel-made black burnished ware (cf Rigby 1982, 153, Cirencester TF 5). Form: Necked jars a Q 5 2 ; to ; 5 44 Ky > s hy SA i ~ : Haw ee es Ye tod bd Uh sepa rtts Ts Suadlaty, STUPET py PR eVdVTEP trees aN aeesdaseray . wwe?! PVE Pes are 3 ety 200m Fig. 2. Wiltshire ringworks with multiple baileys 110 Malmesbury veer per hy ernng,, Piotr ol ees tae ways. ‘er Downton book Jah Bo, $e ZA.) BRU eth ite eee OY YS Te Fig. 3. West Dean Wiltshire ringworks THE WILTSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY MAGAZINE Wi WNrettaus’, - ea Vunusitangon ee ts, ass as ry IS ie Soe Casolen aegyy tr, ene Aas Pre tess <> 3a pier ee 4 Ota ate”) nt. “4 . va ean as ry ose ame =: mS os . -:: - “NA ee, ale ~ Pre Reo) ts. -%, » tar Nie Ae) ~ vA Canin, oY - bi a Tes Leet ae Uiyaay ae Nansen aA Caer 5 Aldbourne Chasc Od “erie, S a NG . . Paar we Sas, a ’ aa Ry Whe . Sak Jegte is San Ce ht Beis Fs : Pa A ; a . ~~ = ’ - Be, ~ = > 2 = °, =: Membury « ry} se tay) : Ashton Keynes ae 7 CEA a sas . = R ey ae as ) ¥ OPP i = type gaunt ty? - ane , we oa iE gag rceayet % =3 if te ifs a : 53 = =i “ . S ms atrttiry, z << ‘ NS é ee bane an ¥ SS + x AN) : ei Sit, t> ‘ . yo? \y sv Ae rrr iene Sey WW y asad atte a8 Tory ss ee ae Sues tee Teed he SAN MIN ks ee yt ag A eS Lepr ee, Nise Sree Cee A PLAN U ada tal aaa! igs um ~ or = ati Rees BR le ~ oN ey oN Be SS a iers eee ey a oie ey one ae *, a7 6 Ls oN Sign, aa a ~*~, os Pan “4 PI fon ‘4, ee 47 a eS ar vis a pe try Pers 7. ar . ? ax Scie ees: =< 5 re ‘ 7 ‘se we = . = ~ vor a Reis es % = - ~ a ~> 7 FN a = ae Si ae = See ~ Y mee ~ = . ~ a Cy Gr «a ig ry = ye aypeyy era es . 2 ayy ‘ a i. Pay serttad pa way cos Ludgershall ’ vig - a Ok pes rea yys a Thyyyat® 0 200m EARLY CASTLES INTHE MEDIEVAL LANDSCAPE OF WILTSHIRE 1g The ringwork at Stapleford (SU 069379) is horseshoe-shaped in plan, due to its setting adjacent to the River Till, which deviates to skirt the west of the earthwork and feed its moated defences. Within the interior of the ringwork a series of indistinct scarps doubtless represent the vestiges of internal masonry structures, although they form no coherent plan (Offer and Hoare 1825, 22).The large right-angled earthwork enclosure appending to the north and west of the ringwork, enclosing an area of floodplain in excess of 2.5 hectares, appears too weak and extensive to represent a bailey enclosure with military or defensive functions. In terms of construction, this enclosure appears a secondary addition to the powerfully- defended ringwork. For instance, the western bank of the rectangular fishpond set within the east side of the enclosure continues to run along the northern counterscarp bank of the ringwork, implying that it is either contemporary with, or later than, the ringwork. The earthworks at Stapleford thus illustrate that a well- sited, lowland earthwork castle with room for expansion could continue to operate in a manorial capacity long after military needs had declined, hence the addition of the fishpond and suite of paddocks. The earthwork known as Hall’s Close, Ashton Keynes (SU 049945) comprises an irregular embanked platform suggestive of a ringwork, adjoined by a single sub-rectangular bailey. Although the earthworks presently appear rather weak, the opening of a trial trench in 1959 revealed a substantial wall that surmounted the ringwork, and demonstrated the surrounding spring-fed ditch to be revetted with timber and lined with puddled clay (Knocker 1958- 60, 241-42; Wilson and Hurst 1960, 156). The material assemblage from the excavation included floor tiles, and both glazed and unglazed pottery of early-twelfth through to thirteenth-century date (Wilts. Arch. and Nat. Hist. Soc. 1974, 187; 1975- 76, 137).To the south of the ringwork can be identified the vestiges of linear earthworks that are suggestive of a series of former adjoining closes, thus adding to the impression that the site represents an intermediate stage between a ringwork and bailey and a moated - manor. None of this evidence contradicts the hypothesis that the Hall’s Close earthwork (also known locally as ‘The Battlefield’) is the site of the castle captured by King Stephen in 1139, said to be at South Cerney (Potter 1955, 62; Renn 1968, 314). Indeed, the form of the earthworks and excavated evidence are entirely consistent with a short-term fortification that was subsequently adapted as a manorial residence of the de Keynes household (Knocker 1958-60, 242). An earthwork at West Dean (SU 257275), whilst undoubtedly originating as a medieval fortified site, has been modified radically as an ornamental feature within a formal garden setting. The present field monument comprises a circular entrenchment of c. 60m diameter with an interior raised little more than c. 2.5m. Given the large diameter of the earthwork, which argues against it originating as a motte, the most likely scenario is that the rampart of a ringwork has been flattened in the post- medieval period to form the raised bowling green recorded early in the nineteenth century (Master 1855, 242). The artificial reduction of a former rampart also seems likely given the dimensions of the surrounding ditch (c. 1.2m deep yet over 12m wide), which appears to have been substantially filled in. Immediately to the west, the flanks of the gentle ridge that the earthwork surmounts have been modified through the creation of a series of successive garden terraces. In part, these earthworks are almost certainly on the site of a bailey enclosure that formerly enclosed the parish church of St Mary’s (RCHM 1987, 119-210), thus demonstrating the juxtaposition of a seat of secular power with a private ecclesiastical foundation. Norwood Castle, Oaksey (ST 985944), represents what has often been accepted as the ‘classic’ form of a motte and bailey, yet on a tiny scale (Wilts. Arch. and Nat. Hist. Soc. 1952, 227). The motte, little more than c. 1.5m in elevation, is adjoined to the north- west by a single bean-shaped bailey. This site is not to be confused with the earthworks south of the churchyard in Oaksey village (ST 992934) that indicate the former position of the defended manor of the Duke of Lancaster described by Aubrey in 1670 as ruinous (Jackson 1867, 298-99). The motte and bailey at Castle Orchard, Stourton (ST 769319) is adapted from a natural promontory. A circular motte, supporting the base of a small keep, is isolated from an oval bailey by a rock-cut ditch; a subsidiary enclosure on lower ground to the north is defined by a linear rampart and ditch and a natural scarp running along the west bank of the upper Stour (VCH Som. II 1911, 517-18). Twice in the late nineteenth century, areas of the earthwork were sampled archaeologically during investigations into the origins of the ‘Pen Pits’ (see Lane-Fox 1879; Pitt- Rivers 1884; Winwood 1884). The excavations confirmed that a number of the pits were the by- product of quarrying for mill-stone, yet also sectioned the rampart at the extreme west end of the bailey, which was demonstrated to overlie such a pit (Lane- Fox 1879, 11), and showed the motte ditch to contain greensand rubble and to have silted to a depth of c. 4ft (c. 1.2m) (Winwood 1884, 150-51). ge THE WILTSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY MAGAZINE The Castle Orchard motte and bailey must, however, be understood as one of a group of three closely-spaced early castles, two of which lie within Somerset. A complex earthwork castle at Cockroad Wood, Charlton Musgrove (ST 746323), and another known as Balland’s Castle, Penselwood (ST 753311), are, in association with the Castle Orchard site, disposed around Penselwood village in a triangle with sides of c. 1.7km, 1.2km and 2.1km. King (1983, xxix- xxx) has defined three potential reasons for the existence of multiple castles in a restricted area: the successive occupation of sites; the raising of a siege castle against another; or the sites having separate administrative histories.’To this model may be added the scenario of two or more sites existing contemporaneously within a unified strategy (Lewis 1989, 167). In the absence of any supporting documentation, or any archaeological dating of the sites, their interrelationship remains a matter for speculation. Topographically, however, the manner in which the sites are deployed, almost in mutual support, would favour the hypothesis that, at some stage, they formed elements within a coherent and unified programme of castle building. In seeking a possible historical context for these fortifications, it may be significant that a cluster of Domesday manors in the Penselwood-Bruton area of eastern Somerset show a marked reduction in value during the period 1066-86, presumably as a result of Norman subjugation in the wake of the 1069 rising against Montacute (Welldon Finn 1971, 289-90). Although the origins of these early castles may well owe to these events, they appear not to have been short-term fortifications: Balland’s Castle may have been associated with a small deserted medieval settlement and church; the Cockroad earthwork indicates the addition of a motte and bailey to a primary ringwork; and the Castle Orchard site was fortified with a buttressed rectangular keep (VCH Som. IT 1911, 513- 17; Aston 1982, 125). Aspects of Pre-Castle Occupation (Figures 2-4) The notion that a castle mound lies between Bishopstrow Farm and Bishopstrow House at ST 898443 (Cunnington 1949, 155; VCH Wilts. I(i) 1957, 160) is undoubtedly mistaken, and apparently based on confusion between the tradition of a castle in the village and the mis-identification of a mutilated round barrow. The identification of a complex of earthworks immediately east of Bishopstrow Farm (ST 901440) as a motte and bailey seems, however, correct.’ Although the earthworks, lying in an area known locally as ‘motte field’, are now almost totally mutilated by agriculture and partly obscured by buildings, aerial photographs reveal an enditched mound of c. 17m diameter at the centre of two successively larger enclosures. Limited excavation in 1981 has given further credence to the notion that the earthworks may represent, in part, a medieval fortified site, as a small trial pit in the north-west sector of the ‘motte’ ditch recovered two sherds of glazed pottery of probable twelfth-century date from the upper fill.t The wealth of residual iron age pottery scattered throughout the sub-soil in this test pit, combined with the excavation of a pit cluster of similar date immediately south of the mound? suggests, however, that the motte may be a short-term fortification sited within the extant earthworks of an iron age domestic complex (Scott and McOmish 1989, 103). The suggestion that Si/bury Hill (SU 100685) is a Norman motte, erected de novo, has occasionally been made (e.g. Downman and Goddard 1919, 352). Whilst this is patently mistaken, excavation has provided tantalising evidence that the mound was modified as a defensible feature at an indeterminate date. The evidence centres on two enigmatic terraces at the summit of the mound: an upper terrace surrounding the summit entirely, and a lower, discontinuous, feature. It is unclear whether either or both terraces were topographical features in the Neolithic period or originated as the result of subsequent modification. The terraces were, however, vertically revetted with timber secured with iron nails at some stage; both were associated with Saxo- Norman wares, and a single coin of Ethelred IIT (AD 1009-16) was recovered in close association (Atkinson 1970, 314; 1978, 170; see also Whittle 1997, 22). The excavator was keen to interpret this evidence as a defensive feature raised against a Viking threat, yet the motte-like aspect of the defences cannot be denied. Indeed, subject to detailed re-interpretation of the ceramic evidence, there is no compelling reason to discount the possibility of Norman re-occupation of Silbury Hill as an expedient fortification or sentinel post overlooking the Roman road. Excavation of the elliptical motte known as “The Mount’, Great Somerford (ST 963831), whilst limited and poorly recorded, has afforded remarkable insight into antecedent occupation on the site. In 1811, and again in 1910, the mound was opened, revealing substantial masonry remains at its core; these comprised a length of walling pierced by a doorway, and two windows of Romanesque form (Goddard 1930, 88-89). EARLY CASTLES IN THE MEDIEVAL LANDSCAPE OF WILTSHIRE \We Ve. , S '- NM > Ay Sa \e ny aA 7 Vie Great Somerford Ogbourne St Andrew — Hartham Park Littleton Pannell Ze Lyneh : Stourto : ea yneham s E = ao Pe z ee Ss a . rai “4 vaca aN x witteaart yyy, rn AN) + ae oe ay Ml Lhe WE : (oe, oy s \ HWM, SSW oe Aura ws ~ Sy 7) I “s =) all . os Hasty , > = =: re ay sy" SS : rif aS S a : pyrtoyst a 7} 4 2) Aye : ESI ini S4 7I\\\ “Fang gqaee’ aa AE eG SO NL AeA . Sous Q 7+ Ni Wit on SUL SSC Bishopstrow Farm 4 ve " ny vis ~ Pyenet® “ye an We = NS < , Bream aan a ‘ , n . COD eT es ce eye a i: Y4, SS eee ee A Son . a reecrrened ne << & S Zi Z, Z Bs ee Broad Hinton 200m Fig. 4. Wiltshire mottes ls} 114 THE WILTSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY MAGAZINE This evidence could be interpreted in one of a number of ways. Given the dimensions of the motte, the possibility that the earthwork is the product of rubble derived from the masonry structure consolidating and grassing over (cf. Middleton Stoney, Oxon.: Rahtz and Rowley 1984, 61), seems unlikely. Equally, the earthwork is of sufficient magnitude not to have constituted an earthwork abutment to a small keep (cf. Ascot Doilly, Oxon.: Jope and Threlfall 1959). Whilst feasible that the masonry remains indicate a manorial precursor to the castle site after the manner of Sulgrave, Northants. (Higham and Barker 1989, 50-51), the available evidence favours the notion that the motte has been imposed over a church site in order to overlook a ford over the Avon that lies immediately to the north. A church at Great Somerford is documented from the late twelfth century (VCH Wilts. XIV 1991, 202), and the present parish church of St Peter and St Paul, lying adjacent to the motte, in all probability represents a re- foundation. Although the date of the motte’s construction remains a matter for speculation, given the feature’s topographical position, it is entirely possible that it is one of the three siege works erected rapidly against Malmesbury Castle by Robert, Earl of Gloucester in 1144 in response to raids by the garrison (Potter 1955, 113). A number of other castle sites imposed upon and displacing parish churches appear to have origins as Anarchy-period fortifications, as at Eaton Socon, Beds. (Lethbridge and Tebbutt 1952), while the castle at Malmesbury itself encroached upon the abbey cemetery (Haslam 1976, 35). Although the castle earthwork at Castle Combe (ST 839779) is listed occasionally as a motte and bailey (e.g. Palmes 1967, 24), in reality the site comprises an irregular ringwork containing the base of a small square keep, associated with a minimum of five bailey enclosures. The exceptional size of the site can likely be attributed to the re-use of prehistoric defences (VCH Wilts. IG) 1957, 264). Although this cannot be confirmed, the format of the perimeter defences is certainly consistent with a late prehistoric promontory fort that has been reconditioned and remodelled in the Norman period through the insertion of the ringwork, and sub-divided through the addition of a series of transverse earthworks. Recent survey of the castle has shown the outer banks of these internal earthworks to be stone-revetted and confirmed the existence of building foundations within the two inner baileys (Wilts. Arch. and Nat. Hist. Soc. 1992, 158; 1993, 159). The large outer enclosure appears to have remained free of structures and may have been dedicated to manorial functions from an early date; the earthworks of two pillow mounds can also be recognised here. Although, somewhat puzzlingly, the castle has no conventional documentation, there is little doubt that it served as the caput of Castle Combe barony, most probably when the fee was consolidated by the de Dunstanvilles during the reign of Henry I, although an initial Anarchy-period fortification on the site cannot be discounted (see Scrope 1855, 134-36; Sanders 1960, 28). Castles and Domesday (Figure 4) No castles are mentioned in the Wiltshire Domesday: they were sources of expenditure as opposed to taxable assets and thus beyond the concerns of the commissioners. Domesday is, however, a much under- used resource for understanding many early castles in their appropriate context as seats of Norman administration in the immediate post-Conquest period (Pounds 1990, 10).The interpretation of land- holding patterns at Domesday can be problematic due to the difficulties of equating Domesday manors with present parishes/townships, and where a single settlement within the present landscape is subdivided manorially in 1086. Nonetheless, the Wiltshire Domesday suggests a circumstantial link between the pattern of land-holding in 1086 and the respective locations of early castles at Sherrington (ST 960392) and Bicknoll Castle, Broad Hinton (SU 108793). The motte at Sherrington lay centrally within a compact block of estates in the hands of the Norman magnate Osbern Giffard, comprising nine manors in Heytesbury, Branch and Dole hundreds.° The fact that Giffard held little land outside Wiltshire (aside minor holdings in Berkshire and Dorset), combined with an exceptionally low level of subinfeudation (of Osbern’s twelve Wiltshire manors only two were in the hands of sub-tenants, and neither lay within the compact estate), increases the confidence with which the motte at Sherrington can be identified as the caput of a small eleventh-century honour. The motte, artificially elevated c. 6m and with an embanked summit c. 28m in diameter, is of considerable size relative to other rural Wiltshire mottes, yet evidence of a related bailey is ephemeral. An archaeological evaluation commissioned during drainage operations has sectioned a substantial ditch, c. 25ft (7.6m) across, c. 110m north-west of the motte, which seems likely to represent the northern arm of the bailey defences (Wilts. Arch. and Nat. Hist. Soc. 1973, 137-38). In addition, the Sherrington enclosure map’ depicts that the pattern of roads to the south of the motte form a EARLY CASTLES INTHE MEDIEVAL LANDSCAPE OF WILTSHIRE 115 conspicuous D-shape that embraces the parish church of St Cosmos and St Damian. This feature seems likely to fossilise the perimeter of a second bailey, or feasibly indicate the limits of a large single enclosure whose moated defences were doubtless fed by a diversion of the Wylye. Both the proximity of the manorial mill to the motte (a mill at Sherrington is recorded from Domesday), and the likely origins of the parish church as a castle chapel (a priest at Sherrington is recorded from 1130), indicate the status of the castle as a tool of Norman lordship and an expression of seigneurial power (VCH Wilts. XV 1995, 237-40). The relationship between Gilbert of Breteuil’s manors at Bicknoll and his other estates within the shire indicates a similar pattern of teneurial geography. The core of Gilbert’s Wiltshire holdings comprised five apparently contiguous manors at Bicknoll, [Broad] Hinton and Clyffe [Pypard], all of which were held in chief.* Significantly, of Gilbert’s four other outlying Wiltshire manors (Beckhampton, Chisbury, Moredon and Stanmore), all but one were subinfeuded. Bicknoll Castle thus lay at the centre of the most concentrated and valuable block of Gilbert’s manors, which lay mostly, although not exclusively, within the shire. The physical development of Bicknoll Castle is related strongly to its topographical setting on a narrow chalk spur projecting north from the watershed between the Kennet and the Bristol Avon. A motte, c. 3m in elevation and much depleted by chalk quarrying, occupies the apex of the tongue of land, isolated from a trapezoidal bailey by a crescentic ditch. The bailey is defined by a curving embankment and ditch constructed transversely across the neck of the steep-sided promontory, and the merest vestiges survive of a second outwork that formerly defined an outer bailey (Goddard 1913-14, 213). Despite its present isolated status in the landscape, the castle formerly lay within the separate township of Bicknoll, where taxpayers and a chapel are recorded from the thirteenth century, and may have been associated with a small village or hamlet (VCH Wilts. XII 1983, 108, 114-15). The remains of a deserted settlement are visible as earthworks on the slopes immediately north - of the castle in Bicknoll Dip,’ whilst comparable earthworks, in association with medieval pottery, have been identified within the bailey enclosures.'° The compact nature of these small fees is especially striking when viewed within the context of the large number of Saxon landholders from whose confiscated estates they were formed: Osbern’s twelve manors were in the hands of eight antecessors and Gilbert’s nine manors were previously held by seven separate Saxon landholders. These statistics create the impression of élite strongholds imposed at the core of newly created blocks of estates. Further work elsewhere within England is revealing interesting patterns of regional variation in this respect; in certain areas Norman castles tended to establish new centres of seigneurial authority, yet elsewhere the trend was towards the perpetuation of late Saxon administrative arrangements (Higham 1999-2000, 7). Yet by no means all compact 1086 estates in Wiltshire contained castles. The powerful magnate Ralph of Mortimer, for instance, held six apparently contiguous manors in the Grittleton-Hullavington area,'! yet his estates did not contain a castle. Here, the absence of a castle may be explained by the fact that he held considerable estates in eleven other shires. Conversely, not all early castles were related spatially to compact 1086 estates; Stapleford, for example, was the only Wiltshire manor held by Svein, one of the King’s thanes,'? whilst Stourton was one of two manors held by Walscin of Douai, subinfeuded to Ralf.'? The distinct possibility exists that such castles were constructed under the orders of sub-tenants as opposed to being temporary fortifications, especially as their size and complexity argues against the thesis that they are purely Anarchy-period foundations. Possible Early Castle Sites (Figures 3 and 4) A further issue in the field archaeology of early castles is the differentiation of isolated mottes bereft of bailey enclosures from earthworks of similar form yet different origin, such as barrows, windmill mounds and prospect mounds. Particular difficulties emerge, however, as the expedient nature of castle building ensured that earlier features could be adapted as the sites for castles, whilst the location of mottes and ringworks near settlements meant that many were often modified continuously after their military functions had expired. Earthworks at Hartham Park (ST 858724) and Littleton Pannell (ST 999540) exemplify the problem of distinguishing genuine medieval mottes from post- medieval garden features. Both features are relatively tall (c. 3.5m and 4.5m high respectively), of conical appearance with very small flat tops, and have been identified as mottes or possible mottes (Rahtz et al. 1969, 17; King 1983, 502). However, the setting of these features within the immediate vicinity of post- medieval mansions, combined with the lack of a bailey in both instances, raises the distinct possibility that either or both may have originated as gazebos or viewing platforms erected in conjunction with schemes of formal garden creation. 116 THE WILTSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY MAGAZINE The earthwork known as Clack Mount, Bradenstoke (ST 997793), may be a further example of a garden feature listed erroneously as a motte. The site has been described as a motte with an angular ward (King 1983, 499), yet the present field monument does not have the appearance of a fortified site. The mount, little more than c. 1.5m in height and c. 12m in diameter, is not circumvallated and lies entirely within a double-banked trapezoidal enclosure, with signs of a second enclosure to the south. The earthworks, previously described as the ‘site of a pleasaunce and a fishpond’ (Cong. Brit. Arch. Assoc. 1881, 146-47), are thus more consistent with a formal garden feature erected in the environs of Bradenstoke Abbey than a fortified site. However, the local place- name ‘Barrow End’ and derivation of the name ‘Lousy Clack’ (derived from the Old English hlaew: burial mound), raises the possibility that the mount is itself a modified barrow (VCH Wilts [IX 1970, 91; Lewis 1995, 190). The identification of a low earthen mound within the churchyard of St Andrew’s, Ogbourne St. Andrew (SU 189723), as a motte, albeit a weak or mutilated example (King 1983, 500), seems equally specious. Excavation of the mound in the nineteenth century revealed a series of central cremations with intrusive Saxon and medieval inhumations (Cunnington 1885, 345-48). In addition, documentary evidence suggests that the feature served as a windmill mound in the post-medieval period (VCH Wilts. XII 1983, 147).A close spatial relationship between motte and parish church is a recurrent feature within the lowland zone of medieval Britain (Creighton 1997, 30-31), whilst the coincidence of barrow and church is not unknown (Morris 1989, 40-41, 255-58). Here, however, the insufficient magnitude of the mound (it is elevated little more than c. 1.5m) and lack of a bailey, combined with clear evidence of burials within the mound, confirm its origins as a round barrow and recommend strongly against the thesis that it was adapted as a motte. The identification of the enigmatic earthwork south of Hillocks Wood, Lyneham (SU 026804) as a motte and bailey (VCH Wilts. IG) 1957, 267; [IX 1970, 91) can be rejected outright. Only vestiges of the earthwork survive, comprising two linear depressions meeting at right angles at the crest of a gentle north- facing ridge; these are almost certainly hollow-ways converging upon former farm buildings at the hill top, where a brick barn survives." To this list of extremely doubtful castle sites we may add the sub-rectangular univallate earthwork immediately south of the Iron Age hillfort at Membury (SU 305745). Excavated c. 1941, a structure interpreted as a twelfth-century rectangular keep was revealed, overlain by a thirteenth-century house with a chapel (O’Niel 1948, 33). Although the earthen defences, now entirely denuded by arable cultivation, were supplemented with a single round tower, the setting of the site on a plateau with no natural defence is more consistent with a fortified manorial site as opposed to a twelfth- century castle. CONCLUSIONS This review of the evidence for Norman castle sites in Wiltshire has highlighted some of the problems involved in their study and indicated some potential avenues for future research. It has been demonstrated that castle earthworks can be complex and multi-phase field monuments. The earthworks of an early castle site can potentially shroud antecedent phases of domestic, military or ecclesiastical occupation. Equally, however, a motte or ringwork could itself be adapted and remodelled in post-military phases. This study has also identified a number of earthworks that, despite traditional identification as early castle sites, may have alternative origins as post-medieval garden features. The previous mis-identification of such earthworks as mottes may well be a reflection of the period-based biases of archaeological fieldworkers, both past and present. Indeed, it is only relatively recently that modern archaeological survey has emphasised the ubiquity of formal garden earthworks (Everson and Williamson 1998, 139). Nonetheless, considerable difficulties exist in differentiating isolated mottes from post-medieval prospect mounds, as both classes of field monument tend to occupy similar topographical positions and are often found in the vicinity of medieval/post- medieval manor houses and halls. Other regional surveys have demonstrated the shortcomings of a rigid classificatory approach to castle earthworks (Baker 1982, 38-39; Welfare et al. 1999, 60), and this study is not an exception. The reasons for differences in the form of castle earthworks are complex and interrelated and owe as much to post- abandonment sequences as to the original intentions of the castle builders. This study accepts tentatively, however, that the “human variable” may be the key determinant factor that explains the respective distribution of mottes and ringworks (King and Alcock 1966, 103). Whilst the decision to raise a motte as opposed to a ringwork, or vice versa, is ultimately a matter of seigneurial preference, the evidence from EARLY CASTLES IN THE MEDIEVAL LANDSCAPE OF WILTSHIRE 117 Wiltshire highlights three important factors that also merit consideration. First, as a form of construction, the ringwork is more appropriate for the enclosure of extant structures or buildings, either in a time of crisis, or as a deliberate domination of an extant manorial centre as an act of usurpation and conquest. Second, the aggregation of ringworks and mottes in respective groups (e.g. the cluster of ringworks in the south- east of the county: Figure 1) may indicate the diffusion of a concept of fortification through competitive seigneurial emulation or unity of patronage. Third, the manner in which ringworks may have been economic fortifications in terms of time and labour points towards their employment as rapid and expedient forms of fortification (e.g. siege castles such as Cam/’s Hill, Malmesbury), especially where local geological conditions were less favourable for motte construction, as demonstrated in a recent study of early castles in Glamorgan (RCAHMW 1991, 34-36). It remains essential, however, to acknowledge that the classification of castle earthworks in this manner should be seen as an inherently limited tool of analysis that can only provide a platform for further detailed study. Indeed, one may question whether terms such as ‘ringwork’, ‘motte’ or ‘ringmotte’ would have had any real meaning in medieval terms; to contemporary observers, the visually striking aspect of these sites would surely have been their timber superstructures as opposed to the ground plans of their associated earthworks. This study has also stressed the importance of integrating early castle sites within contemporary medieval landscapes. Unambiguously, the early castle was also an icon of seigneurial power. In an “imitative age” (Lewis et al. 1997, 231), when lordship was reinforced by mechanisms of patronage and display, even the most humble of earth and timber castles was a symbol of conspicuous seigneurial consumption as much as a military strongpoint. The particular functions of an early castle could vary, from garrison block (Cam’s Hill, Malmesbury) to quasi-palatial residence (Old Sarum); what is consistent is that the castle always represented the administrative, economic and coercive apparatus of land management and/or territorial control (see Creighton 1998). In particular, mottes or ringworks that were physically associated with parish churches or mills (e.g. Old Somerford; Sherrington; West Dean) emphasise that early castles were often integral components within the machinery of Norman lordship; these sites were hubs of manorial administration and ecclesiastical provision as well as centres of military power. Acknowledgements The author wishes to thank Dr N Christie (School of Archaeological Studies, University of Leicester) for his supervision of the MA and PhD theses from which this research is derived, and Dr Robert Higham (Department of Archaeology, University of Exeter) for his comments on an earlier draft of this paper. In addition, the staff at the Wiltshire and Swindon Record Office, and the Wiltshire County Sites and Monuments Record, Trowbridge, are thanked fer their assistance. Notes 1 The Downman Collection, Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Society Library, Devizes Museum Wilts. and Swindon Record Office: Marlborough Tithe Award and Map, 1843 English Heritage Scheduled Ancient Monument No. 10211 Fieldwork Notebook 2 (29.1.1981): Wilts. SMR No. ST94SW464 Wilts. SMR Nos. ST94SW201/202 Domesday i, 72d Wilts. and Swindon Record Office: EA/41 Domesday i, 71b-71c Wilts. SMR No. SU17NW454 10 OS Record Card No. SUI7NW2 11 Domesday i, 72b-72c 12 Domesday 1, 74b 13 Domesday 1, 72a 14 OS Record Card No. SU 08 SW 5 Q bo aS woomonNnta uv Bibliography ADDYMAN, P.V., 1969, ‘Excavations at Ludgershall Castle, Wiltshire’, Chateau Gaillard IV, 9-12 ADDYMAN, P.V., 1973, ‘Excavations at Ludgershall Castle, Wiltshire, England (1964-1972)’, Chateau GaillardVI, 7-13 ASTON, M., 1982, ‘The medieval pattern 1000-1500AD’, in M. Aston and I. Burrow (eds), The Archaeology of Somerset. 123-33.Taunton: Somerset County Council ATKINSON, R.J.C., 1970, ‘Silbury Hill 1969-70’, Antiquity 44, 313-314 ATKINSON, R.J.C., 1978, ‘Silbury Hill’, in R. Sutcliffe (ed.), Chronicle: Essays from Ten Years of Television Archaeology. London: BBC, 159-173 BAKER, D., 1982, ‘Mottes, moats and ringworks in Bedfordshire: Beauchamp Wadmore revisited’, Chateau Gaillard 9-10, 35-54 BERESFORD, G., 1987, Goltho: The Development of an Early Medieval Manor c. 850-1150. 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WAM 85, 1992, 156-162 WANHS 1993: Excavation and Fieldwork in Wiltshire, 1991. WAM 86, 1992, 158-164 WINWOOD, H.H. 1884. ‘The result of further excavations at Pen Pits’, Proceedings of the Somersetshire Archaeological and Natural History Society 30, 149-153 Wiltshire Archaeological & Natural History Magazine, vol. 93 (2000), pp. 120-30 Looking for Dr Ingen Housz The evidence for the site and nature of the burial, in Calne, of the famous Dutch physician and scientist of the eighteenth century by Norman and Elaine Beale Dr Jan Ingen Housz, the famous physician and scientist whose experiments, in 1779, revealed the mysteries of photosynthesis, spent his final days in Wiltshire. He died during the early hours of 7 September 1799, at Bowood House. His funeral was organised by his long-standing friend and final host, the First Marquis of Lansdowne (who was 1n residence at Bowood House when the doctor died) and took place on 9 September 1799. That Dr. Ingen Housz was buried 1n Calne 1s confirmed by the parish register. It has long been assumed that he was buried in Calne St. Mary’s churchyard and that the site of the grave and its markings have been lost. Evidence Is presented here that his remains were deposited, within a lead coffin, 1n a vault under the church. The burial vault must have been already in existence and was owned by the Marquis of Lansdowne. We suggest that the relevant vault was that which ‘belonged’ to Castle House, Calne and discuss the evidence. The ‘Castle House vault’ was almost certainly under the chancel, probably to the north side but the vaults, crypts, and graves under the chancel of St. Mary’s Church, Calne appear to have been filled in during the mid-Victorian re-ordering of the building. Complete re-flooring of the Chancel destroyed all the ledger stones and vault entrance traps. It 1s suggested, however, that the coffins beneath the chancel were left in situ during such backfilling and that the mortal remains of Dr. Ingen Housz still lie under the chancel of St. Mary’s Church, Calne. This conclusion could only be verified by a formal archaeological exploration if the opportunity ever arose. INTRODUCTION BRIEF BIOGRAPHY OF DR. INGEN HOUSZ Where notable people were buried is sometimes unknown. There is, for instance, no means of locating, Jan Ingen Housz was born on 8th December 1730 exactly, the site of the grave of Mozart. On the other in the small town of Breda, south Holland. The hand there are many, many sepulchral monuments, second son of a leather merchant and apothecary, often imposing and exuding self-importance, that he showed an outstanding talent for the classical mark the graves of people about whom nothing is languages at school. He trained to be a doctor at the known. Then, for some people, we have lost both their University of Louvain, graduating MD in July 1753.! personal heritage and their grave. Such a case is Jan His unusually varied postgraduate training in Ingen Housz, an important eighteenth century figure Leyden, Paris and Edinburgh was fostered and who deserves to be better-known and remembered. encouraged by Sir John Pringle, the famous Scottish Evidence is assembled in this paper, most of it physician’ who happened to be a friend of the Ingen previously unpublished, for the nature and location Housz family. of the final resting place of Ingen Housz. The Ingen Housz established a medical practice in conclusions will contradict the popular notion that Breda while keeping up his interest in chemistry and he was buried in the churchyard of Calne and that physics, especially in static electricity. After his father the markings of the grave have been lost, like those of died in 1764 he joined Pringle in London where his so many souls over the centuries. host and mentor introduced him to many of the 3, Main Road, Cherhill, Calne, Wilts SN11 8UX LOOKING FOR DR INGEN HOUSZ leading literary, scientific and political figures of the day. Important friendships developed — with Doctors William and John Hunter, with Joseph Priestley,’ and especially with Benjamin Franklin and the second Lord Shelburne. It was from Dr William Watson that Ingen Housz learned the technique of inoculation against smallpox,’ proving to be an outstandingly safe exponent. He was asked to go to Vienna to inoculate those Habsburgs who had not succumbed to the 1767 smallpox epidemic. The Empress, Maria Theresa, was so grateful that the devastation of her family was curtailed that she gave the young doctor a substantial pension for life and made him one of her personal physicians. Financially secure, Ingen Housz was able to spend much of the rest of his life performing scientific experiments, and in travelling around Europe visiting other scientists. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1769? and was later to serve on its Council. He married the sister of Nikolaus Jacquin, Professor of Botany at Vienna, but the marriage was late in both their lives and not emotionally successful.° In England in 1779 Ingen Housz ensconced himself in a country house near London and began a marathon of over 500 experiments by which he unravelled the processes involved in what is now known as photosynthesis. He was the first to demonstrate that it is the green parts of plants that absorb carbon dioxide in sunlight and produce, at the same time, our oxygen; and that the carbon element becomes, eventually, more plant matter and ultimately our food.’ In later years he also proved that different metals conduct heat at different rates, developed the oxygen mask for clinical use, and invented the cover slip for microscope slides. When the French Revolution broke out in 1789 he was in Paris. Joint experiments with Lavoisier had to be forgone. As doctor to the Queen’s brother,* Ingen Housz had to flee. He travelled north to safety in England, but also into exile. THE DEATH OF INGEN HOUSZ - Ingen Housz never returned to Vienna. Although he recovered from the gall stones and kidney stones that had been troubling him on arrival in England in late 1789° he lost his appetite for travel and the spread of republicanism and successive wars on the continent put him, officially a Royal Courtier, in personal danger in several countries.'° His long-standing friendship with Lord Shelburne! was re-kindled and Ingen Housz spent long and happy periods, during the 1790s, at Bowood House as a guest.'? The Bowood ‘laboratory’ Figure 1. Ingen Housz in 1769 (Cunego, Rome, by courtesy of the Trustees of the Bowood Collection) developed by Priestley in the 1770s and in which oxygen had been discovered, saw a new lease of life. Ingen Housz was at Bowood in early Spring 1799, anxious that he could have a new and potentially fatal illness. He travelled to Bath to consult his friend, the physician Dr. William Falconer’? who must have confirmed Ingen Housz’ worst fears for, on returning to Bowood, the Dutch physician announced that he had no intention of becoming a nursing burden to the household and proposed to return to London. The Marquis persuaded him to stay ‘...at Bowood, surrounded by people he knew and where he was sure to find friendly care and sincere concern ...’' rather than suffer a lonely demise in rented rooms in London. So Ingen Housz and his manservant of 30 years — Dominique Tede!’ — spent what was to be their last summer together, at Bowood. By June 1799 Ingen Housz knew that he was dying. He wrote a last letter to Vienna'® in which he expressed his desire that his wife could be with him to help to nurse him, although they had now been apart for over 11 years. Despite deteriorating physically and having a very troublesome dryness of the mouth and throat!’ 122 THE WILTSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY MAGAZINE Ingen Housz still socialised and ate with the Marquis, his family and guests. As popular as ever with the ‘Bowood company’, Ingen Housz continued" to demonstrate his experiments.!’ Less happily, he also discussed with Lord Lansdowne, seemingly quite frankly and in some detail, his wishes for his funeral, future arrangements for Dominique, and the settlement of his other affairs.*° On Wednesday 4 September 1799 he dined at table for the last time.*! During the next day he became too weak to leave his room on the first floor of Bowood House and on the 6thhe lapsed into a coma. He died, without regaining consciousness, at 3.30 a.m. on 7 September 1799.** THE FUNERAL OF INGEN HOUSZ The Marquis of Lansdowne organised the funeral of his friend ‘...quietly ... as he had wished ...’”’ for Monday 9 September 1799. His Lordship wrote to Ingen Housz’ widow, Agatha (née Jacquin), and his nephew, Josef Jacquin, both at Vienna. He also dictated a letter to the nephews at Breda,” enclosing it in a further letter that he sent to Ingen Housz’ bankers in London — Drummonds of Charing Cross.” The bank relayed the sad news, by means of letter and enclosures, to the family at Breda, informing them also of the will in their possession and of its attached instructions. It is from this, the ‘Drummond’ letter,”° that the details of the funeral emerge. The burial register for Calne*’ records that Ingen Housz was buried on 9 September 1799.** The entry is corroborated by a certificate of burial’? signed by Thomas Greenwood, Vicar of the parish, and by Samuel Viveash and William Savory, Guild Stewards of the Borough of Calne.*° This was issued on 14 November 1799, its signing witnessed by Henry Maundrell, a local attorney at law, who took it to London and swore an affadavit to its veracity in the presence of Counsel.*! The ‘Drummond’ letter’’ reveals that the mourners present at the funeral were few but mostly important. They were: Lord Henry Petty representing his father the Marquis of Lansdowne who was ‘...not well enough to go himself...’; The Reverend Mr. Dumont; the Guild Stewards of Calne; ‘...the medical people who attended him...’ and his manservant Dominique Tede. But the letter also contains information on the site and nature of the burial of Ingen Housz for it reads ‘...that he was interred in the Church of Calne ...’. [authors’ italics]. 32 Figure 2. The First Marquis of Lansdowne (1737-1805). (E. Bartolozzi after Gainsborough, by courtesy of the Trustees of the Bowood Collection). EVIDENCE THAT INGEN HOUSZWAS LAID IN A VAULT IN ST. MARY’S CHURCH, CALNE Besides the explicit statement in the ‘Drummond’ letter, there is other evidence, both factual and circumstantial, that Ingen Housz was placed in a vault®? underneath St. Mary’s Church, Calne. The pointers are as follows. Firstly, in the will made by Ingen Housz in London in 1796, is the following phrase: ‘...I desire to be Buried in the Church of the Parish in which I will die...’. Ingen Housz obviously felt that he was an important enough person to merit burial within the walls of any church rather than in the churchyard even if he was not a resident parishioner and contemporary burial practices in Vienna, where he had lived for some years, would have reinforced this view.*! Secondly, the 1799 burials list for Calne shows, specifically, for September, the entry: Dr Jno Ingenhousz. The prefix ‘Dr’ is an important piece of evidence — only notable members of communities were customarily recorded with such titles by the clergy of the late eighteenth century. LOOKING FOR DR INGEN HOUSZ Concomitant with this entry format signifying high social rank would be the permission for burial inside the church. As Litten states, ‘... The use of a prefix in a burial register is of importance. In the majority of instances those afforded a prefix were considered as of gentle birth and merited burial/deposit within the building. The normal rule-of-thumb is “prefix equals preferred burial”...’*°. Thirdly, there is the fact that the bank ledgers recording Ingen Housz’ account at Drummonds have survived and those for 1799 show an entry, on 24th September, for funeral expenses, of £25 2s. 8d. This figure is corroborated, apart from a minor discrepancy of 4d., by an entry, on the same day, in the Day Book of Mr. Cross, Bowood Agent of the First Marquis, of ‘...Bills for Dr. Ingenhouz’s funeral £25. 2s. 4d...’.*° This is asum of money which is significantly larger than the known costs of an average funeral in the late-eighteenth and early- nineteenth centuries. Litten, records*’ that as late as 1838, a finished elm coffin with inscription plate, handles, lining and pillow cost only 17 shillings. On the other hand: ‘...an Elm shell, covered with 4lb lead, lined, ruffled, and pillow...for the grandest vault.:.would have been sold to the client for about £25 ...’° It may be concluded therefore, that Ingen Housz, normally a very thrifty man but yet more so in the last decade of his life when his pension was not regularly paid and he was heavily taxed, spent such a large sum of money only as necessary. There is no evidence of £25 being spent on an extravagent wake and we know from his will it is evident that he wanted his “...ffunerals ...to be simple and of little expense...’ Therefore Ingen Housz was almost certainly buried in a lead coffin — at an expense that could only be justified if his destiny was deposition in a vault rather than interment in a burial ground.’ Fourthly, the Drummond letter provides clinching evidence that Ingen Housz’ coffin was placed in a vault inside St. Mary’s Calne, since it continues: ‘...that he was interred in the Church of Calne in a Vault of his Lordship’s...’. {authors’ italics]. Vault burial in England in the eighteenth century and the location of a vault owned by the Marquis of Lansdowne under St. Mary’s - Church, Calne are obviously the next discussion points. The exact wording of the letter — ‘... a Vault of his Lordship’s ...’is a highly pertinent clue to locating it. VAULT BURIAL WITHIN ENGLISH CHURCHES, 1650 — 1850 The peak time for constructing family vaults for burial under churches in Britain was from about 1650 until legal strictures ended the practice soon after 1850. In 123 fact the earliest recorded burial within St. Mary’s Church, Calne is 1598.*° During the next two and a half centuries few churches were not undermined to meet the wishes of ‘important’ parishioners who desired burial places ‘worthy’ of their status. Recent demolition and archaeological investigations of some inner city churches, where the parishes were very densely populated, have provided dramatic views of the subterranean overcrowding of such buildings. But even churches in smaller, market towns such as Calne contained, by 1800, many vaulted chambers under their floors as well as intramural graves as so many church wall monuments evince with the words . In a vault near this place...’. In some churches the wardens kept good records of the positions, dimensions, ownership and occupancy of vaults and intramural graves and in some instances these have survived.?! From the monumental inscriptions surviving in Calne church as at 1898*" we know that there must have been at least 77 vaults and graves within the building and its porches but there seems to be no surviving map locating them. In fact, ownership of burial vaults became linked, like that of the pews above, to the substantial houses of a parish. Just as families of consequence bought and sold estates with the advowson and the named box pews where they would worship, so they sometimes bought rights to burial in particular vaults underneath the church.” The quid pro quo of vault deposition was, as discussed above, that the corpse would be encased in a ‘triple’ coffin. Various designs for the inner lead shells were in vogue in different localities and at different times. By the second quarter of the eighteenth century the typical coffin, shell and case provided for vault deposition comprised an inner coffin of wood encased within a lead shell. This in turn was usually placed into an outer wooden case, often upholstered with velvet, and on to which was affixed the metal coffin furniture. Outside the metropolis, and certainly in places like Calne, the local plumber would usually be engaged to provide and fashion the sheet lead and to seal the plumeous layer hermetically with lead solder. Such additional and bespoke preparations for burial were time-consuming, expensive and made the coffins very heavy. Access to vaults was usually via a stone slab, possibly an inscribed ledger stone. Manoeuvring a four to five hundredweight coffin into a dark confined space was a challenge for the undertakers; subterranean reordering and relocation within the vault were not uncommon practices in order to accommodate the latest occupant. Triple coffins can, though, survive intact for a very long time and some 124 THE WILTSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY MAGAZINE have been found to be in excellent condition as much as 200 years later. Although they may become dislodged, depositum plates (lead, brass, stamped iron, tin, or pewter) recording identification marks and dates (usually) of the occupant are often perfectly legible. Alternatively, identification and other details chased into outer lead casings themselves can also be well preserved. IDENTITY OF THE VAULT, IN ST. MARY’S CHURCH, CALNE, OWNED BY THE MARQUIS OF LANSDOWNE. Surprising though it may appear, the location of the vault or vaults owned by the First Marquis of Lansdowne within St. Mary’s, Calne is not known. The lapse of only two days between the death of Ingen Housz and his funeral must mean that there was a pre-existing vault. But hunting for the ‘Bowood’ or ‘Lansdowne’ vault is fallacious; there never was one. At least, there is no evidence that any of the Shelburne/ Lansdowne family have ever been buried at St. Mary’s, Calne. The widow of John, the first Earl, built a family mausoleum on high ground above Bowood House where she and her husband are entombed." Other family members were either laid there; in the dynastic vault under the Church at High Wycombe, where the family also lived; at Bremhill; or, later, at Christ Church, Derry Hill, consecrated in 1840. Lateral thinking implies that the burial place of Ingen Housz must have been a vault in St. Mary’s Church that happened to be, in 1799, in the ownership of his friend, the First Marquis of Lansdowne, perhaps simply by chance. What we should be looking for is *...a Vault of his Lordship’s...’ and not ‘his Lordship’s vault’ i.e. vault of the Lansdowne family. Figure 3. Interior of St. Mary’s Church, Calne, 1846, seen from the Chancel. (Courtesy of Mr Ray Downham MBE.) LOOKING FOR DR INGEN HOUSZ The purchase of Bowood Park by John, the First Earl of Shelburne was completed on 1 January 1754.” The previous owners — the Bridgeman family — had been assigned a mortgage on the property in February 1722. There is no evidence that the Bridgemans ever acquired property in Calne itself but they must have worshipped at St. Mary’s Church for, on 21 January 1754, the following entry appears in the Churchwardens’ Minutes: ‘...At a vestry held in the Parish Church of Calne it is unanimously agreed ...that the Seats and Gallery...which formerly belonged to Sr. Orlando Bridgeman Bart. dec’ed be forthwith granted to the Right Hon’ble John Earle of Shelbourn and his Successors for ever Owners of Bowood House... in consideration of twenty Guineas...’.*° There are, however, no references to an advowson related to Bowood ownership, no references to a burial vault, and no Bridgeman memorials in the church.*”” After the first Earl of Shelburne died in 1761, Bowood was inherited by his son, William, the second Earl. He continued the improvements and extensions of Bowood House and Park, retiring from politics temporarily between 1763 and 1765" in order to have the time to supervise the works (and similar activities at his High Wycombe and London properties). During the next forty years he also acquired substantial tracts of property in Calne and it is possible to show that he thereby acquired a superfluous burial vault in St. Mary’s Church. It is equally possible to identify this vault and its likely location within the building. In the will of Richard Stokes, ‘Gentleman’ of Calne, written in 1723 is the following instruction to executors: ‘...my body to be buryed ...in a private and decent manner and to be laid as close to my Late Dear Wife as possible it can be in the vault in Calne Church which belongs to my Dwelling house...’. Moreover, in 1713, the churchwardens of St. Mary’s had issued a demand for a fee to be paid to them, by Mr. Stokes for ‘...opening of the vault...’. Stokes had, apparently ‘...lately had occasion to lay a child init...’. But the demand for payment begins with a useful and pertinent description of the vault itself: ‘... To the - house in which he lives, belongs a vault which was made by Mary Norborne widdow decs. (upon the death of her husband Walter Norborne Esq.) between 50 and 60 years ago, ... in which vault there now lies the body of the said Walter Norborne, and one of his daughters...’.?” In other words it would appear that Richard Stokes acquired a burial vault that had been constructed by Mary Norborne to receive the remains of her husband. The demand for payment by the Churchwardens 1125, clearly implies that the vault was considered to be part of the domestic property then owned, in Calne, by Richard Stokes and that he was in the habit of placing deceased relatives within. On 20th April 1650 Walter Norborne had agreed and signed, with the widowed daughter of a Temys Jordan of Calne, a ‘...Feoffment of 2 messuages , one called the Castle in Castle Street, Calne ...’.°° Walter Norborne died in 1659 and it is not clear what then happened to his properties but on 23 and 24 June, 1708 Richard Stokes bought, from the Viscountess of Hereford, a‘... messuage called the Castle, in Castle Street, Calne (Part of the same property as in a Feoffment of 1650, April 20th)...’.?! It is clear, therefore, that the ownership of Castle House (as it is now known) passed to Richard Stokes, who was actually the grandson of Mary Norborne, and that this must be the *...house in which he lives...’ and to which ‘...belongs a vault...’ as referred to by the St. Mary’s Churchwardens in their demand for payment.” Richard Stokes, shortly before his death, disinherited his elder son for disobeying his bar on marrying a cousin. The son joined a regiment of the East India Company’s army” and left England for the orient. Judith Stokes, the widowed second wife, appears also to have left Calne and leased Castle House to John Bull, Gentleman,” an important Calne citizen serving as Guild Steward in 1735.” During the 1750s and 1760s he acted as Steward to the Duckett family” and helped Thomas Duckett sell, in 1764, the manor of Calne and Calstone to the Second Lord Shelburne for £27,000.’ The Bull family, presumably now owners of the property, remained at Castle House until 1792 when it was bought by the Fripp family.** Then, for 1798, ‘The Calne Churchwardens and Vestry Book, 1795-1824’ clearly shows that Castle House had been bought by the First Marquis of Lansdowne and that Sir Geo. Colnbrook was occupying the house, stables and gardens as his Lordship’s tenant. But the same Vestry Book also shows that on 15 March 1799 the Marquis of Lansdowne was both the owner of Castle House and also the ‘...occupier...’. There was now no tenant and since the Marquis himself lived at Bowood House it may be assumed that, except for servants keeping the property aired and secure, the house was empty. This remained the situation until a tenant was listed in 1806.°° What is particularly important is that the First Marquis of Lansdowne had acquired Castle House and that it was in his ownership in 1799 when Ingen Housz died. He must also have acquired what might be called the ‘Castle House vault’ in St. Mary’s 126 THE WILTSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY MAGAZINE Church. This had been built by Mary Norborne in about 1660, and contained only, as far as we know, the remains of Walter Norborne and his daughter; Eleanor Stokes, a Stokes child, and Richard Stokes, the Bulls and Fripps having their own vaults/graves in the nave of St. Mary’s.°! Thus when Ingen Housz was buried in 1799 the Castle House vault in St. Mary’s Church, Calne appears to have been redundant for many decades. It is suggested that this vault was the one in which the remains of Dr. Ingen Housz were deposited on 9 September 1799. Admittedly the evidence is circumstantial but the contention can be supported by negative evidence. All of the 23 other houses and cottages in Calne owned by Lord Lansdowne in 1799 were occupied by named tenants. Castle House appears to have been, in 1799, the only Calne property both endowed with a burial vault and for which burial rights were then at the disposal of Lord Lansdowne himself. Responding to the wishes of his deceased friend by placing his coffin in this vault did not mean, for the Marquis, that he must embarrass the sepulchral privacy of his own or any other family and, presumably, there must have been remaining space within the chamber for at least one more coffin. POSSIBLE LOCATION OF THE BURIAL VAULT CONTAINING INGEN HOUSZ WITHIN ST. MARY’S CHURCH, CALNE The next question must be the location of the vault. Here there is no decisive evidence. The obvious expected marker — a ledger stone or memorial tablet to Ingen Housz on the church floor or wall respectively and near to the putative vault — was either erected and later removed or was never realised. There are several reasons to suspect the latter. Although the Marquis of Lansdowne wrote, on 9 September 1799, in his letter to the family in Holland that ‘*... I reserve the right to erect a simple monument on his grave...’ it is more than possible that circumstances led to its never being commissioned. Firstly, Lord Lansdowne was ill. Unable to attend the Ingen Housz funeral himself, he had, within a few weeks, rented a house in Bath, ‘taking the waters’ in an attempt to restore his vigour.’’ Unfortunately his health declined further and in a letter to his ‘sisters’ [sic] at Bowood (Caroline Fox and Elizabeth Vernon) in May 1800 he made clear reference to having lost the function of a hand.°’ Clearly his illness had prevented him being in London for the winter ‘season’ of 1799— 1800 and he was therefore unable to meet the two Ingen Housz nephews from Breda who came over to the capital in late November 1799 to prove their uncle’s will. Lansdowne did write to them, however, inviting them to use, if necessary, the services of his personal solicitor, Mr. Smith of Drapers’ Hall, but made no mention of any memorial. The nephews returned directly to Holland, having had difficulty obtaining passports in any case.°! Perhaps it is not surprising that Lansdowne, confronted by illness and by growing financial problems,” lost the impetus to erect a memorial to his friend. In any case he was, by this time in his life, not a supporter of sepulchral ostentation. In a letter to the editor of The Gentleman’s Magazine, published in May 1791°° Lord Lansdowne had decried the adulteration of many English churches by excessive and unnecessary monuments to the dead. His ‘Enlightened’ perspective in this respect was likely to have been discussed with Ingen Housz to whom it was certainly nothing new. The physician’s close friendship with his patient, Emperor Joseph II, would have exposed him, fifteen years earlier, to similar beliefs. In Emperor Joseph’s view ‘...it was wrong to glorify a dead man’s corpse, the empty husk of the spirit...’.°’ But consensual or not, it is certainly the case that Lansdowne now held intellectual reservations about sepulchral monuments that would have presaged the practical difficulties when it came to establishing a memorial to his friend. Direct evidence for the location of the Castle House vault may be missing but there are three clues in the guise of other surviving monumental inscriptions. Firstly, the memorial tablet for Eleanor Stokes, the first wife of Richard Stokes, who died of smallpox in October 1705 is a very large monument inscribed in Latin. It is high on the east wall® of the north chapel of the Chancel (see ‘S’ on the pre-1864 floor plan of St. Mary’s Church, Figure 4) and is currently obscured by the organ.°’ The Latin text is headed ‘HI S Q’ -hic 1acet sepultus quidam — here lies buried a certain. . .. However, this is not the only inscribed reference, within St. Mary’s Church, to the Castle House vault. There is, secondly, a memorial tablet to Walter Norborne high on the west wall” of the entrance to the North Transept (see ‘N’ on Figure 4). This is also in Latin, an epitaph written by his friend Dr. Pierce, then President of Magdalen College, Oxford.’! It makes no specific reference to its geographical association to the, then, Norborne vault and is some distance from the Stokes monument at ‘S’. Perhaps Castle House vault was located LOOKING FOR DR INGEN HOUSZ 127 Figure 4. Sketch plan of east end of St Mary’s Church, based on pre-1864 floor plan, showing possible locations of the Castle House vault somewhere along the axis ‘S-N’ (see Figure 4). A third piece of evidence introduces other possibilities, although still pointing to the Chancel. On the east wall of the south chapel of the Chancel are two modest tablets referring to William Powell Bendry and his wife, Mary (see point ‘B’ on Figure 4). The Bendrys were tenants of the Third Marquis of Lansdowne, Henry Petty, at Castle House between 1815 and their respective deaths in 1816 and 1835. The tablet to William Bendry ‘... of Castle House in this Parish Esq.re ...’ as he is described in his widow’s tablet, is in Latin and begins ...Juxta conduntur reliquiae ... - “Nearby were placed the remains of ...’. But the tablet to Mary Bendry, his widow, is in English and states, - unequivocally, that she was buried ‘...in a vault adjoining ...’. The word ‘adjoining’ is difficult to interpret per se but must surely mean somewhere in the overall area of the Chancel other than immediately below the tablets. In essence, then, the internal evidence for the possible location of the Castle House vault points to the Chancel and the best of that evidence, assuming the oldest and most imposing tablets to be located, still, in their original positions, to the north side of the Chancel. It is suggested, therefore, that the remains of Dr. Ingen Housz were deposited, on 9 September 1799, in the Castle House vault which was most likely situated between points ‘S’ and ‘N’ in the north chapel (aisle) of the Chancel of St. Mary’s Church, Calne. These tentative conclusions for the final chapter of the story of Dr. Ingen Housz may be permissible but there is still no information, from any era, on the structure of any such vault, its dimensions, design, capacity, cost, state of repair, or construction materials. HOW THE VAULT CONTAINING DR. INGEN HOUSZ WAS LOST AND HOW IT MIGHT BE FOUND The Chancel in St. Mary’s church, Calne has undergone considerable changes. In 1863 William Slater, the famous London ecclesiastical architect, was commissioned to draw up specifications for a major refurbishment of the building that would incorporate changes dictated by Victorian ideas of a ‘modern’ church. The resulting faculty directed that, after removal of the box pews and galleries, the floor of the 128 THE WILTSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY MAGAZINE church was to be lifted, wooden and stone parts alike, including the ‘...(uneven) stone pavement of the passages and of the chancel...’ [authors’ italics]. Then the ‘Digger’ was told to ‘...clear out the soil from the whole of the internal area of the Church to an average depth of at least one foot below the level of the underside of posts of seating...’ Later the contractor was told to make a new ‘...Chancel pavement ...of Mintons 4/2 red buff and black encaustic tiles ... in patterns ...’.’”” Any pointers to the sites of vaults or their entrances on the floor of the chancel will obviously have been destroyed. That even some might have survived seems naive especially when a later faculty in 1934” gave permission for removal of the Chancel floor tiles and for their replacement by new stone flags. There is, however, one helpful clue in the succession of faculties that have sanctioned the numerous changes, installations and adjustments to the eastern part of St. Mary’s church during the last two centuries. The document permitting installation of the present organ was authorised in 1908. The musical instrument itself is acknowledged as unique and valuable. It is also considerable in size and occupies virtually the whole of the north chapel of the Chancel, the very part of the church on which the search for the burial place of Ingen Housz has come to focus. Bulk and weight were obviously major considerations when structural problems were discussed by the organ installers, for the authors of the faculty felt it necessary to state, categorically, ‘...that remains and deposits need not be disturbed...’. In other words, they knew that they were to be working above vaults or graves and that these were still occupied. Moreover, in the locked archives still held at St. Mary’s church, there is a copy of an Act of Parliament of 1852” explicitly banning any further burials in the churchyard. This was twelve years before any of the major structural changes instigated by the Slater proposals and it is difficult to conceive that builders would have attempted to lift old, fragile, and very heavy lead coffins from vaults that they were obliged to breach if re-interment involved (as it would have done after 1857) a journey to the new burial grounds at Holy Trinity, Quemerford. It seems more likely that contractors, being only human, would have filled in such vaults, leaving the occupants ‘in situ’. Since the pointers to the whereabouts of the Castle House vault on the walls of St. Mary’s are somewhat ambiguous and since clues such as worn or chipped stones on the floor of the building that might have admitted to steps to vaults have been obliterated, deeper, subterranean explorations under the Church would be needed to obtain any further information in the hunt for Dr. Ingen Housz. A destructive assault on the building would obviously be illicit. It would also be impractical other than as a tangential exercise to essential refurbishments. These are, though, the kind of activities which have sometimes given archaeologists opportunistic access to ‘lost’ vaults in other churches. It is just possible that such exploration might reveal the existence of a subterranean cavity, probably scalped and back-filled in 1864, that was once the vaulted burial chamber commissioned, by his widow, to receive the remains of Walter Norborne in 1660 and which, 140 years later was utilised as the resting place of a man who wished to be *...buried in the church of the Parish in which I shall die...’, a certain Dr. Jan Ingen Housz. Acknowledgements We owe thanks to very many people, especially the following: the Marquis of Lansdowne, Bowood; Dr. Kate Fielden, Bowood; the Reverend Robert Kenway, Vicar of Calne and Blacklands, Barbara Gleed, senior Churchwarden, the parish of Calne and Blacklands; the Venerable John Smith, Archdeacon of Wiltshire (now retired); Julian Litten FSA; Professor Don Emblen; Philip Winterbottom, Archives of the Royal Bank of Scotland; Eric Boore; Robin Holley; Peter van der Pas; Jonathon Forsyth; Duncan Coe. The staff at the following institutions have all been extremely helpful ~The British Library (Manuscripts);The Royal Society Library; Wiltshire and Swindon Record Office; Devizes Museum; Gemeentearchief (Municipal Archive), Breda; Vienna Town Hall; the Library of the American Philosophical Society, Philadelphia. Julian Litten, Eric Boore, and Kate Fielden all helped us with the script and we express particular gratitude to them. Bibliography and Notes 1. P. van der Pas, Dictionary of Scientific Biography. (Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York 1981); H. Reed, ‘Jan Ingenhousz, plant physiologist. With a history of the discovery of photosynthesis’. Chronica Botanica, 11 (1949) pp. 285 — 396; J.Wiesner, Jan Ingen-Housz. Sein Leben und sein Wirken als Naturforscher und Artz. (Verlagsbuchhandlung Carl Konegen, Wien 1905); N and E Beale, Who was Ingen Housz, anyway? (Calne Town Council, Calne 1999). 2. ‘Trained in Leyden under Boerhaave, Pringle (1708 — 1782) rose from army doctor to President of the Royal LOOKING FOR DR INGEN HOUSZ Society and physician to George II. He wrote a seminal book on diseases of the army and coined the words ‘septic’ and ‘antiseptic’. 3. Priestley (1733 — 1810) had also been introduced to Lord Shelburne, probably by Benjamin Franklin, and in 1773 took up the position of librarian at Bowood House, Calne. He established a laboratory at the house and it was here, on 1 August 1774, that he discovered oxygen. Live smallpox serum was scratched into the skin of the recipient in the hope of provoking a mild attack of the disease to ensure later protection. Jenner later used the same clinical technique but with (much safer) cowpox serum. 5. Ingen Housz was elected Fellow of the Royal Society on 25 May 1769 having been proposed on 15 February and balloted at 11 subsequent meetings. His sponsors were W. Watson, W. Huck, M. Blair, G. Baker, Sir John Pringle, W. Watson junior, W. Heberden, B. Franklin, Gowin Knight, James Parsons and M. Maty. Royal Society: Certificates of Election III, 69. 6. Reference is made, in correspondence after Ingen Housz ~) had died, to the ‘coolness’ of the marriage: Marquess of Lansdowne to Caroline Fox and Elizabeth Vernon, 9 January 1800: Shelburne MSS. 6; ff 95 — 6. . J. Ingen-Housz, Experiments upon vegetables, discovering their great power of purifying the common air in the sunshine, and of injuring it in the shade and at night. (Elmsly and Payne, London 1779). . Marie Antoinette (1755 — 1793) was the 15th child of Empress Maria Theresa and younger sister of Emperor Joseph II. 9. W. Falconer, Letter from Ingen Housz to the author in: 10. Wil We 13: An account of the efficacy of the Aqua Mephitical Alkalina. (Cadell, London 1792). A letter from Ingen Housz to the British Inland Revenue, 1798 or 1799, explaining why he was stranded in England, that he was not earning fees as a physician but was being taxed on his pension from Vienna is contained in Breda Gemeentearchief IV, 16A — 13. Lord Shelburne had been made First Marquis of Lansdowne by George III after serving as Prime Minister between July 1782 and April 1783, a brief but active spell in office during which the American War of Independence was concluded. Widowed for the second time in 1789 and retired from politics, Lansdowne spent long sojourns at Bowood among a revolving circle of family members, friends, and distinguished visitors. Ingen Housz was one of the most regular guests and was even left ‘in charge’ at times - Caroline Fox, London to Ingen Housz at Bowood, 2 November 1795: Breda Gemeentearchief IV, 16A — 13; Ingen Housz to First Marquess of Lansdowne, 29 July 1797: BL. Add. MS. 51821, ff 61 — 62. Dr. William Falconer MD (1744 — 1824), was, at this time, the physician in charge of the Bath General Hospital in Upper Borough Walls (now the Royal National Hospital for Rheumatic Diseases) and had an extensive private practice in Bath, a mecca for the infirm. Ingen Housz had known him for some years. 14. SY 16. Lie 18. Ws j=) bt be — wo N bw Be WO Lo 26. 2s . At that time the only legal burials permitted were in Bie 32; 33. 129 First Marquess of Lansdowne to the oldest nephew of Ingen Housz in Breda, 9 September 1799: Breda Gemeentearchief IV, 16A — 13. Caroline Fox to her brother, Third Lord Holland, 16 September 1799: BL. Add. MS. 51735, ff. 140 — 1. Published in Fremden-Blatt (Foreigners’ Newspaper) Issue 164, pp 15 - 16, Vienna, 16 June 1905. Ingen Housz to Dr. William Falconer, 24 August 1799: Breda Gemeentearchief IV — 16A — 13. Breda Gemeentearchief IV — 16A — 13. See note 14. Ingen Housz appears to have developed a repertoire of simple experiments that required little apparatus and with which he could entertain in company. One of these was the burning of a length of iron wire in pure oxygen, a phenomenon that gives a spectacular light. . Breda Gemeentearchief IV — 16A — 13, see note 14. . Caroline Fox to Third Lady Holland, 8 September 1799 BL. Add. MS. 51744 ff. 115. = Ibid: . Breda Gemeentearchief, IV, 16A — 13, see note 14. . From handwriting comparisons it is apparent that the letters, though dictated by the Marquis, were actually written by the Reverend Etienne Dumont. Dumont (1759 — 1829) was secretary and close friend to the Marquis: Jefferson P. Selth, Firm Heart and Capacious Mind: the Life and Friends of Etienne Dumont. (University Press of America 1997), passim; Breda Gemeentearchief IV, 16A — 13. Ingen Housz had always remained close to his older brother, Ludovic (1729 — 1788), who carried on the family business in Breda and who had a large family. After Ludovic died following a carriage accident, Ingen Housz showed much care and concern for his Breda nephews and nieces. . Riksarchief in Noord-Brabant: catalogue Family van Lanschot, 1262. A copy of the letter of condolence that Ludovic Ingen Housz’ widow sent to her bereaved sister- in-law in Vienna relates the exact postal arrangements made. Breda Gemeentearchief IV, 16A - 13. see 18 WRO 2083/20 Calne Burial Register, 1792 — 1812. Anglican churches and churchyards and since St. Mary’s was then the only church in Calne identity and location are unambiguous. . Breda Gemeentearchief IV, 16A — 13. 30. Guild Stewards were, effectively, joint Mayors, serving for a year. Calne elected Mayors only after the passing of the Municipal Corporations Act of 1835. The procedure required at that time, we assume, in order that a will held in a country other than where the death took place could be proved. Ingen Housz had a substaatial will in Vienna: Landes- & Stadts-archiv, Vienna, 1799, 2318. Breda Gemeentearchief IV, 16A — 13. For the purpose of definition ‘...a burial vault is a subterranean chamber of stone or brick capable of housing a minimum of two coffins, side by side, and with an internal height of not less than 1.74 metres ... a 130 34. 3D) 30. 40. 41. 42. 43. 44, 45. 46. 47. 48. 49. 50: i, 52. 53): THE WILTSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY MAGAZINE vault need not necessarily have access steps and neither was there any compunction for its presence ... to be identified...’. J. Litten, The English way of death. The common funeral since 1450. (Robert Hale, London 1991) p. 207. Breda Gemeentearchief IV — 16B — 18b, The will, in England, of Ingen Housz; V. Braunberens, Mozart in Vienna. (English Translation) (Andre Deutsch, London 1990), p. 414. Personal communication, J. Litten. The ledgers of Drummonds Bank, now the Royal Bank of Scotland, for 1799: Archives of Bowood House: General Daybook Accounts 1797 — 99, manuscripts Lansdown to Mr. Broad (agent). . J. Litten in Grave Concerns. Death and burial in England 1700 — 1850. (CBA Research Report 113. Council for British Archaeology, York, 1998) p.9. . Litten, Joc. cit. . “...lead coffins ... are almost invariably associated with vaults...”: W. Rodwell, Church Archaeology. (Batsford, for English Heritage, London, 1998), p. 166. A. Schomberg. “The monumental inscriptions of Calne church, Co. Wilts’. The Genealogist, New Series, Volume 14, (1898), pp 37 — 44, 90 — 94. This is the case for Trowbridge church for which there is a detailed floor (and under-floor) plan, as at 1816, recording the location of some 100 sites of deposition. WRO 206/37 Schomberg, loc. cit. Rodwell, p. 158. The memorials to the Lansdowne family are mostly in the north transept/tower area of St Mary’s Church, Calne, but none relates to actual burials. They are almost certainly in this part of the church only because the family pews were here. Earl of Kerry, ‘King’s Bowood Park (no. 2). WAM, vol. 41, (1920 -1922), pp. 502 — 521 Ibid. WRO 212B, 1220; WRO 2176/2. Schomberg, loc. cit. Lord Edmond Fitzmaurice, Life of William, Earl of Shelburne. (Macmillan, London, 1875), vol.1, pp. 307-8 WRO 212B, 1237. WRO 212 B, 1008. A feoffment was a conveyance evidenced by a fee. WRO 212B, 1142. WRO 212B,1237. A. and H. Stokes, Stokes Records. Notes regarding the ancestry and lives of ... (privately printed, New York 1910). 54. 55 63. 64. 65. 60. 67. 68. 69. 70. TA U2: US. 74. A. and H. Stokes, Joc. cit. . A. Marsh, A history of the borough and town of Calne. (Heath, Calne 1903). G. Duckett, Historical and genealogical memoirs of the family of Duket from the Norman conquest to the present time. (J. Russell Smith, London 1874), p. 66. . Duckett was in debt to precisely this amount. . WRO 2167/2. . WRO 2167/3. . By this time Castle House was owned by Lord Henry Petty, second son of the first Marquis. . Schomberg, loc. cit. . Lord Lansdowne, Bowood to the Ingen Housz nephews in London 28 November 1799: Gemeentearchief Breda IV, 16A — 13 Letter of 5 May 1800: Shelburne MSS.,2. It is unclear whether the loss was attributable to gout or a stroke. Ingen Housz nephews at Breda to their cousin, Josef Jacquin, Vienna, 5 October 1799: Gemeentearchief IV 16A, 13. Earl of Kerry. ‘King’s Bowood Park [No.3]’. WAM, vol. 42, (1923), pp.18 — 38. Gentleman’s Magazine, vol. 61, part 2, pp.395 — 396. 23 May 1791. E. Crankshaw, Maria Theresa (Constable, London 1983) p. 310; The Marquis certainly practised what he ‘preached later in his life. Although he, too, was buried in a vault (under the Chancel of All Saint’s Church, High Wycombe with other members of his family) he forbade the erection of any monument. The only notification of his burial place is a modern window marking his association with Benjamin Franklin and the settlement of the American War of Independence. The east wall was constructed in the 13" century: Harold Brakespeare FSA, ‘Notes on the architecture of Calne Church’ in A. Marsh, A history of the Borough and Town of Calne. (Heath, Calne 1903), pp. 150 - 167. The organ was installed in 1908: WRO 2586/50, Faculty of 12 December 1907. The wall was reconstructed by 1650 after the fall of the central spire/tower in 1638: A. Marsh, A history of the Borough and Town of Calne. (Heath, Calne 1903), p. 153. ibid. p. 188. WRO D1/61/15/14, Faculty of 1863. WRO 2586/50. ‘An Order in Council closing Calne Parish Churchyard, 11 August 1854’. Wiltshire Archaeological & Natural History Magazine, vol. 93 (2000), pp. 131-180 Neolithic activity and occupation outside Windmill Hill causewayed enclosure, Wiltshire: survey and excavation 1992-93 by Alasdair Whittle,' Jessica J. Davies,” Ian Dennis,' Andrew S. Fairbairn’ and Michael A. Hamilton,’ with a contribution by Joshua Pollard * As part of a regional programme of research into the Neolithic of the area, which included excavations at the Windmill Hill causewayed enclosure in 1988, fieldwalking, test pitting, geophysical survey and limited excavation of selected areas and features were carried out on the southern slope of the hill below the enclosure in 1992-93. Rich collections of worked flint from this location were formed from the end of the last century. The activity of Kendall and Keiller from 1904 to 1929 was especially important. Surface lithic survey and test pitting showed some variation in lithic densities, which were however surprisingly low; it 1s likely that nearly a century of flint collecting has almost picked out the lithic scatter. There is probably much more Later Neolithic material in the Kendall-Keiller collection than Earlier Neolithic. Geophysical survey indicated few subsoil features. Excavation in selected areas showed one small concentration of Earlier Neolithic pits, and one small concentration of Later Neolithic pits. The pits were mostly unweathered and backfilled, and contained deposits of artefacts and animal bone. Both sets contained the remains of wild and domesticated resources, though the earlier pits had more cereal remains, perhaps the result of deliberate burning. The relationship of the earlier pits to the enclosure Is not known, though the activity in them bears resemblances to that seen in the enclosure ditches. How the activity of both phases relates to wider patterns in the area remains unclear, though the evidence recovered does not support a model of fully sedentary existence in either phase. Both earlier and later pits contain the remains of domestic activity, including flintworking and the processing of meat and plant foods. The later pits and the bulk of the lithic scatter may also mark the continuation of a tradition of special visits to a special place. the physical environment; the further hope was to gain new insights into the circumstances in which INTRODUCTION by Alasdair Whittle The research context and aims From 1987 to 1993 a field research project was carried out to investigate the Neolithic of the Avebury area. Its primary aims were to refine our knowledge of the Neolithic sequence in the area by obtaining more radiocarbon dates, and to extend our understanding of spatial and temporal variation and development of monuments and other sites were created, used and abandoned (Whittle 1993). Sites investigated were Easton Down long barrow (Whittle et al. 1993), Millbarrow chambered tomb (Whittle 1994), Windmill Hill causewayed enclosure (Whittle et al. 1999;Whittle and Pollard 1998), and the West Kennet palisade enclosures (Whittle 1997a). The earlier excavations at Silbury Hill were also published in full (Whittle 1997a), as well as those from slightly further afield at Wayland’s Smithy (Whittle 1991); 1. School of History and Archaeology, PO Box 909, Cardiff University, Cardiff CFl 3XU_ 2. School of Archaeological Sciences, University of Bradford, Bradford BD7 1DP_ 3. Institute of Archaeology, University College London, 31-34 Gordon Square, LondonWC1H OPY 4, Department of Humanities and Science, University of Wales College, Newport, Caerleon Campus, PO Box 179, Newport NP18 3YG 132 THE WILTSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY MAGAZINE radiocarbon dates were also obtained from Avebury (Pitts and Whittle 1992), and the Sanctuary was re- assessed (Pollard 1992). While enormously productive of new data and a fruitful source of new interpretations, the project had largely concentrated on the monuments themselves. Though that did not exclude direct evidence for activity and occupation, for example from pre- monument contexts at Windmill Hill and Easton Down, it was certainly a skewed approach (Edmonds 1999), which has yet to be corrected in the Avebury area. We know of lithic scatters (Holgate 1987; 1988a) and small foci of occupation, variously preserved in the area (Summarised in Thomas 1991;Whittle 1993; cf. Evans and Smith 1983). There has still not been systematic survey of the kind carried out in the Stonehenge area (Richards 1990), or to more limited extents in Cranborne Chase (Barrett et al. 1991), or in the eastern area of the Dorset Ridgeway (Woodward 1991). In an attempt to redress the balance of research, and to assess the potential for future such investigations, the area of the large, well known lithic collection on the southern slope of Windmill Hill was selected for more detailed investigation. It was recognised that it is very likely that this was not a typical situation, since the collection was large (I. Smith 1965, 18, note 1) and close to the causewayed enclosure, but the link with research already carried out at the enclosure was compelling within the terms of the project as a whole. The setting The physical setting of Windmill is well known (I. Smith 1965; Whittle et al. 1999) and needs little rehearsal (fig. 1). An outlier of Middle Chalk, with Lower Chalk around its base, the hill stands out in the local landscape. Investigation so far has produced very little sign of Mesolithic activity on the hill, and the place seems to have become significant in a landscape in which looking out and looking at were important. Nonetheless, there are significant differences in aspect. The causewayed enclosure, from the detail of its layout on the hill (especially of inner and outer circuits), can be seen as looking largely north and north-west (Bradley 1998, 122), while the lithic scatter is on the long southern slope, with a direct view to and from a much wider sweep of landscape. It is of course possible that the southern slope was selected for some quite different reason, for example sunshine or warmth. Previous research: Kendall and Keiller The story of the investigation of the causewayed enclosure from the 1920s onward is well known (Crawford 1953; 1955; 1. Smith 1965; Malone 1989; Whittle et al. 1999; Barber et al. 1999). Its first investigator, the Rev. H.G.O. Kendall, rector of Winterbourne Bassett (soon to be helped by O.G:S. Crawford, who in due course guided Alexander Keiller to the site), was by then already responsible in large measure for the formation of a very large flint collection from the slopes around Windmill Hill. In his book on the area published in 1885, the Rev. A.C. Smith had judged of the Windmill Hill enclosure that ‘in all probability this was a British camp’, speculatively of Neolithic age (A. Smith 1885). Ordnance Survey maps record worked flints as having been found on Windmill Hill since 1888. The only north Wiltshire material illustrated by John Evans in his Ancient Stone Implements (1872) was from barrow excavations, but it is clear (Martyn Barber, pers. comm.) that collecting had gone on since the latter part of the nineteenth century. In the 1930s, Cunnington and Goddard (1934, 6) noted that the largest lithic collection from a single site held by Devizes Museum came from Windmill Hill, ‘many the gift of the late Wm Browne, of Avebury’, and Keiller (1934, 138) referred toWindmill Hill as having been ‘famous for decades...as a paradise of the surface flint hunters’. In discussion following Kendall’s 1914 paper, a Mr Dale refers to a visit he made in 1882 to ‘Mr John Brown at Avebury, who first discovered the site on Windmill Hill and had a good collection, but its fate was unknown’ (Kendall 1914). Perhaps either the Brown(e)s were related or were the same man. Kendall also quotes a Dr Blackamore who ‘remarks that, in a collection formed many years ago, ‘fabricators’ were specially numerous’ (Kendall 1914, 74). The subsequent credit for the early exploration of the site must go to Kendall. He came to north Wiltshire in 1904 after several other posts, and stayed there till 1924. His notebooks hint at a lively, energetic and involved man, with a weak heart and prone to indigestion and overwork on behalf of his parishioners. He was already an enthusiastic student of flints and a believer in eoliths; his first paper, “Eoliths and pseudo- eoliths’ was published in Manin 1905. Earlier papers were concerned with Grime’s Graves and with ‘Palaeolithic’ and ‘Eolithic’ industries from Hackpen Hill on the Marlborough Downs and Knowle Farm 133 NEOLITHIC ACTIVITY AND OCCUPATION OUTSIDE WINDMILL HILL CAUSEWAYED ENCLOSURE UOMESISIAUI JO BAIL DY JO UL[Y ‘[ AINSI] OSrl oor ose: ooel osol 0001 osé ° Jayowoipeiy ---- sajjow OOS Ayyiqudaosns osjeaubeyy —— seaiy payeaeoxy P/aly YON AINGSAJEA plaid sqqid WNINHD J3]NO THIH THWAONIM e {HH 1HWpUlAy 134 THE WILTSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY MAGAZINE in Savernake Forest near Marlborough. Kendall was elected FSA in 1913, and was a president of the Prehistoric Society of East Anglia, to which he lectured during the war. Already by 1910 he had a substantial collection of flints because a group from the Wiltshire Archaeological Society visited the rectory in that year to see it; Palaeolithic and Eolithic specimens were displayed in the study, and Neolithic finds in the drawing room. The Wiltshire Archaeological Magazine also records the first donations by Kendall of axe fragments from Windmill Hill in 1910 (vol. 36, 358 and 508). Notes and papers referring to the site appeared from 1912 onwards. Searches were carried out ‘many times a year’ (Kendall 1916, 232). In Kendall’s day, the upper part of the hill would have been parcelled up into a number of fields, most of them under cultivation. ‘An immense number of chipped flints have been found there [on Windmill Hill]...including leaf-shaped implements, celts of a certain kind, and so on. Arrowheads of every variety have been found in large numbers, and immense quantities of scrapers’ (Kendall 1916, 230). Among the arrowheads, chisel- ended types were prominent (Kendall 1916, 234; 1922, 522). Cruder as well as well finished tools were also found, but Kendall argued that the assemblage must be treated as of essentially one date, Neolithic or later. ‘One cannot search such a site as Windmill Hill, as it has been the writer’s good fortune to do, many times a year, for a period of twelve years, without being convinced that the chipped flints on the hill...all belong to the same industry, or two industries’ (Kendall 1916, 232). In 1924 Kendall moved to a living near Salisbury, and sold much of his Windmill Hill collection to Alexander Keiller, in two lots. In 1924, ‘perhaps over a thousand’, ‘thinned out of my cabinets’ (Kendall letters in Avebury Museum) were sold, and in 1925 some 1,819 specimens changed hands. There was a great variety of implements, including 428 scrapers, 554 ‘knives, scrapers and rechipped celts’ and 163 arrowheads (‘a good many are chisel-ended, and many others are broken, chiefly in ancient time’). Some struck flakes were included. In his letter to Keiller of 16 November 1925, Kendall wrote that ‘I have assigned to you a little under half of the arrowheads, and favouring myself somewhat, tho not altogether, in quality. On the other hand, I have only burdened you with a smallish quantity of flakes (not but what they have their importance). I have retained only a small representative lot of scrapers; and have also given you the majority of knives, cores, fabricators etc’. The remark about flakes should imply that he had collected many more. In a slightly earlier letter (6 October) Keiller had written, “Yes I should like cores included. I am becoming increasingly keen on cores’. Keiller appears to have paid Kendall £30 for the 1924 sale and £25 for the 1925 purchase. Kendall fell ill in 1927 with a nervous breakdown. During a fieldtrip to Windmill Hill in 1979, I heard R.J.C. Atkinson recount the tale that in his last days Kendall suffered delusions that he was a flint, but the rather cruel story may be apocryphal. Kendall certainly suffered more illness and died in April 1928, aged 62. Keiller bought the rest of the collection from his widow, paying her this time £100. Keiller continued to build up his collection for the area as a whole, by purchase from the local farm workers. Receipt books record acquisitions from 1925-1929, when he was at work on the enclosure. Keiller was not always satisfied. Of the collection from Yatesbury Field of A.G. Rogers, he recorded (6 May 1927): ‘I have never had a rottener lot than this submitted to me, here or anywhere else. It is not worth my while to give the time required to examine such stuff. In future nothing will be paid for Yatesbury Field stuff unless of real merit’. One wonders whether this kind of attitude could have distorted the provenances of other flints offered to Keiller. Nothing was paid for worked flakes, but there were set prices for other categories. Scrapers dominate the finds. Provenance by field was recorded for 1928-29, when most of the material came from Windmill Hill and North Field, but other details are frustratingly absent. An annotated map in Avebury Museum notes many cores from what is now the top north-east part of North Field. Some collections were also made by A.D. Passmore (Holgate 1988a, 286), although much of his collecting was on Hackpen Hill, and by others. Holgate (1988a, table 4, 242) has listed a total (from the Avebury, Devizes, Swindon and Ashmolean museums) of 13,000 worked flints from the Windmill Hill surface site, including nearly 1300 flakes, over 700 cores, over 7000 scrapers and about 380 leaf arrowheads and nearly 1000 Later Neolithic arrowheads. Other specimens are known to exist in the Knowles collection, now in Ireland, and the local tradition of flinting by farm workers has continued to the present day. It is likely therefore that the original scatter was indeed prolific, with apparently at least 10,000 implements of all kinds. The original density of flakes is uncertain, though cores were definitely present. The proportion of the total collection which was formed by Keiller is not clear, though it may have been at least half, and it could be that Keiller’s purchasing policy led to more flints being ascribed to NEOLITHIC ACTIVITY AND OCCUPATION OUTSIDE WINDMILL HILL CAUSEWAYED ENCLOSURE 135 Figure 2. Distribution of worked flint found in the field walking survey in North Field 136 AH-Arrowhead AZ-Adze B-Blade/bladelet J-Rejuvination flake N-Notched flake P-Piercer K-Knife Se-Serrate C-Core F-Fabricator H-Hammerstone R-Retouched flake S-Scraper U-Utilised flake Ax-Axe THE WILTSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY MAGAZINE Figure 3. Distribution of artefacts found in the field walking survey in North Field NEOLITHIC ACTIVITY AND OCCUPATION OUTSIDE WINDMILL HILL CAUSEWAYED ENCLOSURE 137 or claimed from Windmill Hill than was actually the case. In any event, this was clearly a major assemblage, one of the largest recorded in southern England (Holgate 1988a). FIELD SURVEY by Ian Dennis The field on the south slope of Windmill Hill known as North Field was selected for a systematic field- walking survey conducted during the autumn of 1992 (Figs 1-2). The field-walking collection pattern used in the survey was aligned on the national grid. This system was compatible with other field collection surveys, used in other projects within the Avebury location (Holgate 1987) and neighbouring regions (Holgate 1988a; Richards 1990; Schofield 1991). A grid was laid over the field and divided into 19 transects 50m apart aligned with grid north; these were further divided into metre-wide 50m long sections forming the basic collection unit. The transects were then walked from south to north and all material along each 50m strip was bagged as a discrete collection unit. There were in total 284 collection units covering the 19 transects. The numbers of units varied with the total length of each north-south transect. The material collected may represent approximately 5% of the total available material on the ground at any one time. Distribution maps showing overall density (Fig. 2) and diagnostic flints were plotted (Fig. 3). Only data from whole collection units were used to maintain statistical coherence. Artefact visibility during the field survey was very good. The field had been ploughed and exposed to weathering for at least a month, effectively washing the surface soil off the flint, allowing the white patinated flint to show against the dark soil background, considerably facilitating its retrieval. TEST PIT SURVEY by Ian Dennis - A test pit survey was conducted together with excavations during the summer of 1993 further to investigate the nature and extent of the flint scatter. A grid was constructed using 19 transects aligned with grid north, spaced at 50m intervals. Each transect was further divided into 50m sections and 1 by 1m test pits were dug at these points. The test pit grid was positioned so as to bisect the transects of the field- walking grid. Soil from all the test pits was sieved using lcm meshes. Results from the test pits were plotted on to distribution maps showing overall worked flint density (Fig. 4) and artefact location (Fig. 5). A total of 156 pits were excavated across the north part of North Field, along with 16 test pits dug in Gibbs Field, 8 around Horslip longbarrow and 12 down the centre transect towards the southern end of North Field. These 12 test pits were dug to investigate whether colluvial deposits are masking surface data at the base of the hill. Sieving was considerably more difficult owing to the larger proportion of clay within the matrix, making this particularly dense and compact. Colluvial build-up is apparent, but results indicate that this does not appear to mask significant finds. Only two test pits produced any subsoil features. Test pit 700-650 contained a single stakehole, 5cm in diameter at the top and 10.5cm deep, while Test pit 600-750 contained a single posthole, 28cm in diameter and 20cm in depth. However, neither of these features can be dated and are presumed to be modern. GEOPHYSICAL SURVEY by Michael A. Hamilton Geophysical surveys were initiated and supervised by the author, with the further contribution of Amanda Banham. The main technique employed was a fluxgate gradiometer survey. Four main areas were surveyed (Fig. 1). In addition, the centre-north part of North Field was also subject to a magnetic susceptibility survey. Seven and half 100 by 100m grids were undertaken (7.5ha); three 100 by 100m grids were also surveyed in the north-west of North Field (3ha). A limited amount of resistivity was conducted. This involved seven 20 by 20m grids to the centre-north of North Field (0.28ha) and one grid in the north- west of North Field (0.04ha). Survey organisation The gradiometer survey was based on 20 by 20m grids, named after eight-figure national grid co- ordinates. Equipment A Geoscan FM36 fluxgate gradiometer was used with a sensitivity of 0.1nT. Readings were taken with a transverse interval of one metre and a sampling interval of 0.5m, making 800 readings for every 20 138 THE WILTSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY MAGAZINE Figure 4. Distribution of worked flint found in the test pit survey in North Field NEOLITHIC ACTIVITY AND OCCUPATION OUTSIDE WINDMILL HILL CAUSEWAYED ENCLOSURE 139 by 20m grid. A Bartington magnetic susceptibility meter was used. 100 by 100 m grids were surveyed. Three or four readings were taken every 5m and a single average reading recorded by hand. Each grid consisted of 400 recorded readings and these were then entered manually into the Geoplot 1.2 programme. A Geoscan RM4 resistivity meter and DL10 datalogger were used. These were recorded in 20 by 20m grids with a sampling and transverse interval of 1m, making 400 readings per grid. The data were initially processed using Geoscan Geoplot 1.2 and 2 programmes but were completed using Geoplot 2 and 3. Results Centre-north of North Field (Fig. 6) Linear features Ll. On both the gradiometer and magnetic susceptibility printouts was a strong feature, running NNW to SSE, which continued the modern fence that forms the eastern side of the salient of preserved grassland which extends into North Field. This feature AH-Arrowhead C-Core AZ-Adze F-Fabricator B-Blade/biadelet H-Hammerstone P-Piercer extends for 200m on the magnetic susceptibility survey, and probably reflects a vanished field boundary. The feature on the magnetic susceptibility was very broad, perhaps reflecting relatively recent destruction. L2. A similar feature, but more north-south in orientation, is recorded some 185m to the east of the modern fence mentioned above. Only the magnetic susceptibility covered this area. This feature runs for 300m. In orientation it conforms to the modern eastern boundary of North Field and again could be a vanished field boundary. L3. Between A and B was a less distinct feature on the same orientation as A. L4.A NW-SE linear feature which does not appear on the magnetic susceptibility survey. This feature may terminate on L5. L5. An east-west feature, absent from the magnetic susceptibility survey. Lo. A north-south feature, absent from the magnetic susceptibility survey. L7.A feature on the magnetic susceptibility survey. L8.A feature on the magnetic susceptibility survey, parallel with L7. J-Rejuvination flake | R-Retouched flake N-Notched flake S-Scraper U-Utilised flake Figure 5. Distribution of artefacts found in the test pit survey in North Field 140 THE WILTSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY MAGAZINE Limit of gradiometer survey r ny SoS NaS Ae aS Figure 6. Outlines of possible features found by gradiometer survey 1n the north part of North Field (for details see text) L9. A vague curving feature on the magnetic susceptibility survey, with no real support on the gradiometer survey. Other features I. Avebury G46a (Grinsell 1957, 154) shows up very clearly on the gradiometer survey, as does a possible grave/disturbance at its centre. There are also signs that either the barrow was incorporated into a later enclosure to the north, or it was built to the south of an existing feature. The magnetic susceptibility shows a much wider (at least 70m across) irregular area of higher readings, suggesting either the spread of material from the mound, or perhaps that the barrow was the centre for later activity, or sited on earlier material. There is no rea! confirmation for this feature in the testpit survey. II. Avebury G48b (Grinsell 1957, 155). Again this is clear on the gradiometer survey. The high readings in the magnetic susceptibility survey are limited to the area within the ditch. II. An area of high readings to the NW of the surveyed area. This shows up especially well in the magnetic susceptibility survey and corresponds to Area D which produced a series of Earlier Neolithic pits (see below). The feature is not as well defined in the gradiometer survey, but there is a very subtle area of higher readings (+ 0.5 nT); yet it was from the gradiometer surveying that this feature was identified. This does raise the question whether similar subtle variations in the gradiometer and magnetic susceptibility surveys could have a similar interpretation. At least one similar anomaly was tested (excavation Area E) at the top of North Field and appeared to be little more than an effect of ploughing. However, this feature was less prominent in the magnetic susceptibility survey. IV. The magnetic survey suggests a vague large circular feature, c. 80m diameter. It is difficult to interpret. It is possible that this is the barrow identified by Grinsell (G48a) from a St Joseph aerial photograph (Grinsell 1957, 155). This feature could not be located on oblique aerial photographs held by the RCHME in Swindon. V. A vague suggestion of a rectilinear enclosure in the magnetic susceptibility survey. VI. An area of very low readings 1n the magnetic susceptibility survey. There were also numerous iron spikes. Many were test-excavated and produced only modern iron objects. North-west of North Field This showed a series of linear features orientated NNW-SSE and spaced 25m apart, possibly ridge and furrow, or strip division of the field. There is one other rather irregular linear feature which runs SW to NW. The magnetic susceptibility survey suggested more activity over a 90m area around SU086711. This is supported by the gradiometer survey which has more readings + InT in that area; however, there is no coherent pattern. The area excavated as Area M (see below) is not particularly striking on the gradiometer or magnetic susceptibility survey. Attention was drawn to this area by the discovery of a stone axe fragment in a routine test pit, which coincided with an area of higher flint density recorded by the field survey. The test pit was then extended, and a resistivity survey and a closer- NEOLITHIC ACTIVITY AND OCCUPATION OUTSIDE WINDMILL HILL CAUSEWAYED ENCLOSURE 141 spaced gradiometer survey revealed features subsequently identified as Later Neolithic pits (212 and 202). North of Gibbs Field Only vague suggestions of features. Centre of Horslip Field No features. Discussion Overall the results were disappointing. Two pit clusters were located but only with great difficulty. It is impossible reliably to extrapolate from those tested by excavation to suggest others. More trial excavation might provide the data for a predictive methodology, though this is not certain. The only clear features were a series of ring ditches and a number of linear features, presumably Later Bronze Age and later. With the exception of the ring ditches most features in the surveyed areas produced very little response, and this is not dissimilar to the pattern found around the enclosure (David 1999). None of the magnetic susceptibility anomalies seem to correspond to any high densities of flint from the testpit survey. It is notable that the Earlier Neolithic pits in Area D corresponded to a small magnetic susceptibility anomaly whilst not showing up in the testpit lithic survey. SAMPLE EXCAVATION by Alasdair Whittle Several promising magnetic anomalies were investigated, in 18 different locations, in the hope that they would prove to be subsoil features (Fig. 1). With the exception of Area D, all proved to be iron in the topsoil. The circumstances in which the features in _Area M were found have already been described above. Area D (Fig. 1; Fig. 7) An area 4 by 4m was progressively opened, to reveal a small concentration of intercutting pits of Earlier Neolithic date. The earliest feature was a chalk-filled pit, 324, sterile and probably backfilled directly after being dug. This was cut by other pits, 308 and 323, and 325 was close by. These three contained humic basal fills, with Earlier Neolithic sherds, bone, antler, sarsen and flint. 324. Oval in plan; 2.4m maximum diameter, up to 47cm deep, with steep to near-vertical sides and a more or less flat base. Its edges were rather disturbed, by animal burrowing, and by cutting of 308 and 323. Its fill was largely fresh chalk pieces, with some grey- brown soil in the upper part; the chalk fragments were up to 15-20cm long. There were no finds. This had clearly been deliberately backfilled very soon after being dug. 308. Irregularly sub-circular; when excavated it gave the appearance of two intercutting features, but no relationship or difference in fill could be seen. The main part of the feature comprised an oval pit 1.6 by 1m, whose lower sides were steep, upper sides shallower and very weathered, and base slightly rounded. On the west side a semi-circular bay c.60-80cm in diameter might be another feature; this was also steep-sided and its base was at the same level as the main part. The thin basal fill (312) consisted of large fresh chalk pieces. Directly above this was a thicker layer of dark grey- brown soil, with some small chalk pieces (310 and 311). This contained Earlier Neolithic sherds, animal bone and antler, as well as a large sarsen quern. Above this were two layers of dark brown soil with small chalk fragments (309 and 307). 312 and 310/311 appear to be deliberate deposits, along with possibly deliberately placed finds; 307 looks to be ploughsoil, and 309 could be similar or a slower secondary weathering product. 323. Oval-circular; c.90cm diameter, 45cm deep; steep sides and dished base. Its more or less uniform fill (22) was a dark brown soil with plenty of small chalk pieces, becoming slightly greyer towards the base and in central parts less chalky. This contained Earlier Neolithic sherds, flints and sarsen, but not in evident groupings or placings. The pit appears to have been backfilled in one go. 325. Circular; c.90cm diameter; steep sides at top, with under-cutting lower; slightly dished base. Its lower fill was a very dark grey-brown soil, with small pieces of chalk, and some flecks of charcoal towards the base. This contained animal bone, Earlier Neolithic sherds and flints, and two sarsen rubbing stones placed against the south wall. The upper fill (326) was a dark brown soil with some small chalk pieces. This pit also appears to have been backfilled in one go. Features 315 and 328, to the north of 324, are part of a complex of animal burrows. THE WILTSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY MAGAZINE 142 308 Figure 7. Area D: plan and sections of pits 143 NEOLITHIC ACTIVITY AND OCCUPATION OUTSIDE WINDMILL HILL CAUSEWAYED ENCLOSURE 50cm Figure 8. Area M: plan and sections of pits 144 THE WILTSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY MAGAZINE Area M (Fig. 8) Three adjacent areas, over c.15 by 10m in total, were progressively opened, to reveal three dispersed features, two certainly of Later Neolithic date. There were a deep pit (202); a substantial pit with internal chalk walling and abundant animal bones (212); and a shallow pit or posthole (207). 202. Circular; 85cm diameter, 75cm deep; steep sides, undercut towards the base; slightly dished base. The basal fill was a dark grey-brown soil with a little wood ash and chalk silt. This contained animal bone and pieces of sarsen. The main fill was dark grey- brown soil with large angular chalk pieces (206, 210, 211). The upper part of this was a little less chalky. Animal bone was found in this fill (214) (Fig. 9), and there were a few Grooved Ware sherds. The upper fill consisted of a thin very dark grey-brown soil across the whole feature, possibly a remnant soil formation (204). Above this was dark brown soil with small rounded chalk pieces (203), presumably a plough deposit. The possibility of a central postpipe was considered during excavation but discounted. This appears to be another pit deliberately backfilled before it had time to weather naturally. 212. Circular; maximum diameters 1.9 by 1.7m, and 94cm deep; steep sides, occasionally undercut, more sloping lower down, to form dished base. The basal fill was compact chalk rubble (225) and a mixture of chalk blocks and loose grey soil (224). Above this was found a penannular ring of compacted chalk (217), seeming to form an internal wall a few centimetres out from the chalk edges of the pit. This could be seen from an early stage in the excavation of the pit (Fig. 8). Between it and the true walls of the pit was compacted chalky silt, with occasional chalk blocks and patches of charcoal-rich soil (220 and 221). There were animal bones and other finds in the lower fill. In the main part of the pit, the fill was a dark brown soil with some angular chalk pieces (222, with 219 above). This contained abundant deposits (218) of animal bone (Fig. 9), and also Grooved Ware sherds. The upper fill was also dark brown soil with abundant chalk inclusions (216, 215, 213). The pit appears to have been largely unweathered, and its fill was artificial. Animal bone and other finds were deliberately deposited with the main fill, but whether just dumped or otherwise more carefully placed is hard to say. 207. Irregularly circular; 1m diameter, maximum 35cm deep; sloping, irregular sides and small base. The lower fill (209) consisted of light grey silt with angular pieces of chalk, with above this brown soil and chalk (208). There were no finds. FINDS Pottery by Michael A. Hamilton The extensive test pitting and excavations conducted in 1993 did not produce much ceramic material. Even Romano-British material was less abundant than that obtained from the upper layers of many of the enclosure ditches. This may be explained by the long history of ploughing of the hill. All the pottery was examined by a x20 magnifier, though only the fabric descriptions for the Neolithic material are included in the text. Earlier Neolithic (Table 1) Eight Earlier Neolithic fabrics were identified: EN 1: Inclusions of: c.5% small iron oxides and some fine sand; grog (amount uncertain) up to 3 mm diameter; and long thin organic material. Soapy feel. EN 2: Inclusions of: c.15% small sand: c.5% flint (up 3 mm in length, but mostly around 1 mm). Gritty feel. EN 3: Inclusions of: c.3% small iron oxide and some fine sand; there are some larger sand particles (just visible with the naked eye); c.3% fossil shell; and probably c.10% grog. EN 4: Inclusions of: c.20% shell; and some sand. EN 5: Inclusions of: c.5% sand and iron oxide; and occasional tiny fragments of flint. Very well fired pottery with possible burnished exterior. EN 6: Inclusions of: ?c.5% sand and iron oxide; and c.8% shell, including pieces greater than 3 mm in length, but mostly fine. Very parched appearance to interior surface. Exterior has a series of pop marks (c.4 mm in diameter), possibly as result of defects during firing, though they could be deliberate. EN 7: Inclusions of: 10% flint (up to 4 mm). EN 8: Inclusions of: 10% sand; and 10% flint (mostly below 1 mm). In addition there was one possible Earlier Neolithic fabric: UN 1: Inclusions of ¢.5% sand, occasional large white flint (up to 4mm), and probably much grog (up to 6 mm). Largely on the basis of fabric it is possible to identify a minimum of eight vessels amongst the 22 sherds. Four of the vessels are identified by single rim NEOLITHIC ACTIVITY AND OCCUPATION OUTSIDE WINDMILL HILL CAUSEWAYED ENCLOSURE 145 Pit 212 Bone deposit 218 ie) 50cm 1m feel [ass a a) Pit 202 Bone deposit 214 Figure 9. Bone deposits in Area M, pits 212 and 202 146 THE WILTSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY MAGAZINE Table 1. Pottery from Areas D and M Area D EN Prehistoric? LBA RB Post-Medieval Brick/tile Pit 308 307 - ? 1 6 307/309 - - - 1 309/310 1 310 4 Pit 323 322 2471 3'+ 71 Pit 325 326 - - 3 2 330 14 = Area M GW Prehistoric? RB Medieval Post-Medieval Notes Pit 202 203 - - 4 - - slag 206 - 223 4 to Pit 212 213 215 - - ?1 216 2 216/217 - - - 1 217 1 to rw sherds. In terms of fabric, they do not significantly differ from the enclosure assemblage, though grog inclusions seem better represented. In terms of form, probably all the rims are rolled (I. Smith 1965, 45, form B), though perhaps with a little expansion in two badly preserved examples. Only one of the rims is well preserved (Fig. 10, 2) and this is also the only decorated sherd. It has radial lines on the rim top and oblique shallow grooving on the interior. Decorated simple rims are less common (Zienkiewicz 1999). This decorative scheme seems more common with closed or neutral vessels (I. Smith 1965, figs 24-26). In terms of chronology there are clearly decorated sherds from the primary use of the enclosures ditches (especially in the outer ditch) as well as sealed below the outer bank (Zienkiewicz 1999). However, decorated pottery seems to become more common in the higher levels of the inner ditches, which might suggest that the pits reported here are more likely to be contemporary with the outer ditch than the inner ditches. Alternatively, decorated pottery might have been largely restricted initially to the outer ditch and beyond, including the pit complex in Area D. Most of the Earlier Neolithic pottery is remarkably fresh in appearance, suggesting no prolonged exposure before burial. Very few sherds conjoin and eight vessels are represented by only 22 sherds, suggesting that this collection is only a fragment of a much larger assemblage. There is no clear patterning to suggest deliberate selection of specific sherds. Later Neolithic (Table 1) Three Later Neolithic fabrics were identified: LN 1: Inclusions of c.15% shell, varying in size from 5mm in size down to barely visible fragments. Very fragile and crumbly. LN 2: Inclusions of up to c.5% tiny sand and iron oxide. Probably ¢.5% grog (around 1 mm). Occasional shell. LN 3: Inclusions of ¢.5% tiny sand and iron oxide. Probably c.5% shell. Occasional grog. Very soft and largely dissolves on gentle washing. As is typical for Grooved Ware from north Wiltshire, this material is very poorly fired and fragile, actually more fragile than the dried soil adhering to many sherds. The assemblage here lacks the better made material which forms a minority of Grooved Ware assemblages (Hamilton 1997, 115). Fabric LN 1 could represent three vessels or more as there is considerable variation in sherd thickness and decoration. Most of the sherds appear to be plain. A small number of sherds have grooves and pushed up cordons but are otherwise plain. Only sherd Fig. 10, 5 has more decoration. This kind of decoration has considerable local parallels (Burderop Down, Cleal 1991, fig. 49.14; Windmill Hill, Hamilton and Whittle 1999, fig. 4.5.34; West Kennet Avenue, I. Smith 1965, fig. 79, 366, and other sites). I have argued elsewhere (Hamilton and Whittle 1999) that this material, with the emphasis on the horizontal, may reflect an earlier phase of Grooved Ware development, pre-dating an emphasis on the vertical and on panel decoration. Fabrics LN 2 and LN 3 came from the bases of two small cups. Only one out of five sherds was not from the base-angle. This seems a high proportion and deliberate selection of sherds may have occurred. Small bowls are a regular feature of Grooved Ware pits, usually in the form of Woodlands-style Grooved Ware (Wainwright and Longworth 1971, 238), though these are generally larger than the cups reported here. Sherds of fabric LN 1 occurred in pit 202 and 212. It is not possible to say if sherds from the same vessel occurred in both pits. This material is so fragile that it is unlikely to have been exposed for very long. Parts of the same fragile vessel from pit 212 were distributed in different layers (221 and 216), perhaps suggesting that these reflect tip layers in backfilling. Grooved Ware seems more common from cuttings across the enclosure to the west and south and less NEOLITHIC ACTIVITY AND OCCUPATION OUTSIDE WINDMILL HILL CAUSEWAYED ENCLOSURE 1 Figure 10. Pottery (see text for detail) common to the north-east (Hamilton 1999). This notion is supported by the existence of the pits described here. Later Bronze Age/prehistoric Fabric UN 1 may belong to a LBA vessel (Fig. 10, 10). There were other possible LBA or prehistoric sherds, largely identified on the resemblance to fabrics found in the enclosure (Hamilton 1999). This material occurred in the upper fill of the Area D pits suggesting LBA activity on the hilltop, as indeed do some of the cuttings across the enclosure (Hamilton 1999). Romano-British Small assemblages were recovered from both the test pits and excavations. Three bead-rims of Iron Age -appearance were recovered, though similar material was identified by Annable (1965, 173) as coming from local Savernake Romano-British kilns. Nothing in the assemblage was diagnostically Later Roman or imported from outside Wiltshire. There was a concentration of Romano-British material from the north end of Gibbs Field. In North Field the pottery was concentrated around 0950/1050 and extended in a SSE line towards 1150/0750, with very little material elsewhere. Sem Medieval Only six possible sherds of medieval pottery were recovered, including a well preserved rim and decorated body sherd. Post-medieval The small post-medieval assemblage, and to a lesser extent the tile/brick, showed a bias for the middle part of North Field, between 0750/0700 and 1200/0850, in marked contrast to the Romano-British finds. It is possible that part of the tile/brick is Romano-British. Illustrated sherds (Fig. 10) 1. 308/310 3003. Earlier Neolithic rim. Fabric 2EN 3. Dark throughout. 2. 308/310 3056. Earlier Neolithic rim. Fabric EN 2. Dark throughout. Oblique grooves on interior. Radical grooves on rim-top. Slightly burnished appearance to exterior. 3. 323/322 3333. Earlier Neolithic rim. Fabric EN 8. Dark throughout with a possible burnished exterior. 4. 325/330 3349. Earlier Neolithic rim. Fabric EN 1. Badly damaged during excavation and showing signs of animal damage. Brown exterior and dark core and interior. Thin organic impressions on interior surface. 148 ‘Table 2. Details of struck flints from the field and test pit surveys Flakes Chips = Scrapers Axe Blades Cores Awss frag Field Survey 710 60 42 2 17 28 2 Test Pit Survey 541 238 13 - 4 6 cy Total 1251 298 55 2 21 Sa) 5 5. 212/221 2250. Decorated Grooved Ware sherd. Fabric LN 1. Mixture of dark grey, brown and orange in colour. Decorated with two grooves either side of a pressed up cordon. It has a stroke across this, probably fingernail. At right angles to the cordon is a line of short vertical strokes. 6. 212/221 2263. Grooved Ware base-angle. Fabric LN 2. Buff exterior, buff/brown interior and grey core. Small vessel of 5cm diameter. This is not the same vessel as 2522. Possible seed impression on base. 12 ,212/221 2522: (joins 251 1\ and! 2410). Probable Grooved Ware base-angle sherd, represented by 50% of circumference (but only 2522 illustrated). Fabric LN 2. Dark patches (possible later localised heating) but otherwise orange/brown throughout. Most of the sherds are not evidently decorated, and originally over a quarter of the circumference was probably left plain. 2522 is decorated with three intermittent horizontal grooves. Several depressions (including one on 2522) may be firing defects or fingernail impressions. This is a tiny cup of 6cm diameter. 8. 212/221/222 2423. Grooved Ware rim sherd recovered during wet sieving of environmental samples. Fabric LN 1.Yellow/orange interior and dark exterior and core. A tiny impression below the rim could be the end of a finger-nail impression. 9. 212/221/224 2505. Decorated Grooved Ware sherd. Fabric LN 1. Dark brown throughout. One of three sherds under this finds number which was decorated, probably originally all one sherd. Decorated with irregular grooves, combined with pushed up cordons. Across the cordon is a possible fingernail impression. The sherds are so uneven it is not clear if the lines are horizontal, vertical or diagonal. The illustrated sherd may also have the edge of a boss or other raised feature, though the irregular shape of the sherds makes confirmation difficult. 10. 322 3102 Rim. Fabric UN 1. Brown exterior and interior and dark core. Signs of organic material burnt off the surface. The form of this rim could be Earlier Neolithic, but the flint is rather larger and coarser than normally used. This seems to be the same vessel as sherd 3107, which has a rounded shoulder. This vessel may be akin to the LBA sherds from THE WILTSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY MAGAZINE Arrow- Saw Notched Re- Untlised Rejyuv. Knife Hammer Bumt = Fabnc Other heads touched flake stone ator 7 1 2 12 8 13 4 1 181 1 2 1 Il 6 1 334 1 9 1 3 20 14 14 4 2 515 1 1 Burderop Down (e.g. Gingell 1991, fig. 75.1) which feature everted rims and rounded shoulders. Flint by Ian Dennis Local raw materials The Middle Chalk has no flint nodules. Nodular flint from elsewhere in the area appears to be the main raw material for lithic production on the hill. All the lithic artefacts recovered were patinated white or light blue to white. Surface and test pit survey lithic assemblage analysis Classifications have been adopted from previous studies carried out within the Avebury area and elsewhere (Holgate 1988a; Clark 1934; 1960). The results from the field survey and the test pits can be seen in Table 2. These figures do not include the results from the excavated areas, or test pit extensions. Some further analysis was made of the implements, the most reliable indicator of the chronology of the scatter (Table 2). Because of the mixed nature of the assemblage, no systematic analysis was made of the core reduction process, but details of cores are noted. Cores. The total number of cores from both surveys is 44. The cores from these samples have been analysed according to the system adopted in the Hurst Fen report (Clark 1960, 216). They consist of: two Al single platform cores flaked all round, five A2 single platform cores with flakes removed part of the way round, three B2 cores with double platforms at oblique angles to each other, eight B3 cores with double platforms at right angles, 20 C cores with three or more platforms, one D keeled core with flakes struck from two directions and one E keeled core. Four burnt cores were unclassifiable. NEOLITHIC ACTIVITY AND OCCUPATION OUTSIDE WINDMILL HILL CAUSEWAYED ENCLOSURE 149 The Windmill Hill industry single platform A cores from Keiller’s excavations (I. Smith 1965, 87) account for 40% of the total, but this type of core accounts for only 16% of the total from both surveys. B cores with two platforms account for a further 31% of Keiller’s total, compared with 25% from the two surveys. The most dominant core type present from the field surveys is the C class, with 46% of the total, compared to less than 9% from Keiller’s excavations. From the cores found by Keiller in the primary levels the A type appears to be of an Earlier Neolithic date, while the C cores from secondary levels would appear to be of a Later Neolithic origin. From this it may be implied that there was later occupation across the southern slope of Windmill Hill. Rejuvenation flakes. Fifteen rejuvenation flakes were recovered during the field surveys. Scrapers. There are 55 scrapers from both surveys, of which 43 are flake scrapers. These have been classified using the system from Hurst Fen (Clark 1960, 217) and Windmill Hill (I. Smith 1965, 95). Of the flake scrapers recovered there are: five Al long end scrapers, 14 A2 short end scrapers, seven C disc scrapers, one D1 long side scraper, six D2 short side scrapers, five E scrapers with the bulbar end removed and one unclassifiable. These may be of Earlier Neolithic date because of parallels from sealed excavated contexts. There are 13 small scale-flaked scrapers, probably Later Neolithic to Earlier Bronze Age in date (Clark 1933, 271). These have been classified as six Au short end scrapers, six Aiii round end scrapers, and one B side scraper (Fig 11, 1-8). Axes. Two axe fragments were found in the field survey. One is of a flaked unpolished flint axe broken in half with the butt end missing (Fig. 11, 9). It has straight sides with a broad gently curved edge, which has a clear junction with the sides and a medium to thick profile. Adkins and Jackson (1978, 28) classify this form as type H and this example is very similar to their illustration no. 122 from the London area. The second axe consists of a small polished blade fragment of unidentified stone (Fig. 11, 10). Awils and piercers. Five awls or piercers were recovered, including both short points with minimal retouch as well as long carefully worked points. Arrowheads. The field surveys produced six arrowheads of various types (Fig. 11, 11-16). There were two leaf-shaped points, one class A with bifacial retouch and shallow pressure flaking over the whole of both faces, and one class B with retouch confined to its extreme edges (Clark 1960, 220). Four transverse and petit tranchet derivative arrowheads (Clark 1934) were recovered, which included two class Cl, 1 class C2, and one class H arrowhead. The class C examples have also been classified as chisel arrowheads by Green (1980). The distribution of arrowheads is again in contrast to the 1920s excavation (I. Smith 1965), which produced far more leaf-shaped arrowheads than the later transverse type. Serrated flakes. These flakes have been provided with minute denticulations along part or the whole of one or both edges. They have been identified with Earlier Neolithic technologies at Windmill Hill (. Smith 1965, 91). The field surveys only produced one example of this artefact type. Notched flakes. Four notched flakes were recovered by the field survey. All have a single notch. Smith (1965, 239) suggests that these artefacts were used as small hollow scrapers, and that they may be of Later Neolithic date due to the number recovered from the West Kennet Avenue. Utilised flakes. The surveys recovered 14 examples. Two types of utilisation can be distinguished: class A in which the edges and occasionally the distal ends of the flakes have been blunted by the removal of fine regular spalls at a steep angle, and class B, in which the long edges exhibit irregular chipping as a result of use for cutting or sawing resistant substances (Clark 1934, 121). Out of the 14 examples recovered all but one belonged to the class A category. This is consistent with the results from Keiller’s excavations. Miscellaneous retouched flakes. Twenty-three pieces were recovered by the field survey. Knives. Four knives were located by the surveys. Three are blunted-back knives displaying characteristic steep retouch on the opposite edge to the blade. The other piece, a plano-convex knife (Fig. 11, 17), shows small scale-flaking confined to one side, and is similar to 150 Figure 11. Worked flint (see text for details) THE WILTSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY MAGAZINE NEOLITHIC ACTIVITY AND OCCUPATION OUTSIDE WINDMILL HILL CAUSEWAYED ENCLOSURE 151 the Beaker knives from the excavations by Keiller (I. Smith 1965, 109). Hammerstones. Four hammerstones were found in the field survey. Fabricators. Two fabricators were recovered by the field surveys. Both are square in section, showing signs of slight wear and retouch at the proximal end. Discussion Overall there was generally a good correspondence between the results of the surface survey and the test pit survey in the distribution density of the lithic debitage. 5% of the test pits had more than 15 worked pieces of flint in total. Cores and implements were moderately represented in their distribution across the survey, with 4% of the test pit assemblage consisting of implements compared with 13% from the surface survey. The large difference in the number of chips between the two collections can be attributed to the use of 1 cm sieving during the test pit excavations. It was possible to see variations in the density and limits of the scatter to the east, south and west (Fig. 4). Some high concentrations of flint appear to be focused in close proximity to Bronze Age round barrows (Fig. 2). The main area of the scatter seems to be some 300 m by 300m, centred in North Field to the south-east of the causewayed enclosure; the lower density in Gibbs Field to the west may represent the outer limits of the scatter. Within the main area, there were zones of slightly higher density; none was observed immediately adjacent to the enclosure. Variation in flint density may indicate a series of knapping episodes over various areas of Windmill Hill rather than one continuous accumulation of flint working. Core and tool types may suggest that much of the assemblage is of Later Neolithic and Earlier Bronze Age origin. Although Bronze Age material can be shown to concentrate around the barrows, the other periods represented have no discrete locales and are uniformly spread throughout the scatter, with the density of finds increasing towards the enclosure. A preliminary model is of activity during the Earlier Neolithic concentrating on or near the causewayed enclosure. Sporadic activity followed on the hill, increasing in the Later Neolithic. This activity may have concentrated in the northern part of the field, but away from the enclosure. This was followed by further activity during the Earlier Bronze Age, with flint working concentrated around the round barrows built during this period. Such activity may have been intensive for short periods, but does not necessarily signify occupation over a large area at any one time or for a prolonged period of time. It may suggest repeated visits to the hill rather than permanent settlement. Even at the low densities surviving, over a main area of 300 by 300m there could be some 100,000 or more flints in the plough soil. The original figure is likely to have been higher. In 1928 and 1929 Keiller acquired some 3900 and 2000 worked flints from the hill. If approximately 5% of an assemblage is visible on the surface at any one time and taking the 1928 figure, an original total of around 80,000 implements is indicated. There is of course no certainty that what was sold to Keiller was collected in one year, nor that it was all collected from Windmill Hill. We also have no information on how much of the hill was searched, nor how much was in cultivation in one season. These uncertainties may tend to support an originally higher total. The Neolithic pits The pits were tentatively located by geophysical survey and plough soil excavations were conducted within the vicinity to locate them precisely. All flints were recorded in 1 by 1m collection units. Sixty-four 1 by 1m squares were excavated in area D and 61 in area M. Area D: ploughsoil 511 pieces of worked flint were recovered from Area D which was located above the Earlier Neolithic pits. These included narrow unretouched blades, miscellaneous retouched flakes and flakes showing signs of utilisation. There were also six cores (one C with the rest unclassifiable due to post-depositional damage) and a rejuvenation flake. Six scrapers were recovered, one A2, one B2, three small scale-flaked of type Aii and one unclassifiable. The surface excavations also produced one flaked stone axe, whose source has not yet been determined by petrology. Area D: features (Table 3) Pit 308. There were 95 pieces of worked flint, with 17 implements. Only 18 pieces, including three implements, came from the primary layer (310), and the rest came from the secondary and tertiary layers 152 THE WILTSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY MAGAZINE Table 3. Worked flint from Area D features Flakes Chips Blades Cores Arrow- heads Pit 308 306 8 - 1 - - 307 33 3) 2 4 2 309 4 6 1 - - 310 6 - - - - 316 2 - 1 - - Total Be} Di 4 2 Pit 323 B22 29 2 1 z) - 326 25 5 2 - - Total 54 7 3g 3 - Pit 325 330 20 5 1 1 - (306, 307, 309). 310 produced rejuvenation flakes and a knife. The knife was made from a secondary core preparation flake. The proximal end forms the back of the knife, while the distal end is retouched as the cutting edge. The blank for this tool was produced by hard- hammer technique, and the bulb of percussion shows signs of trimming and reduction (Fig. 11, 18). The implements from the upper fills included narrow blades, a utilised flake, cores (one B3, one C and two unclassifiable) and rejuvenation flakes. 307 also contained another smaller knife and two arrowheads: a class D PTD, and a barbed and tanged similar to F177 in Smith (1965, 109) (Fig. 11, 19). The barbed and tanged arrowhead was stratigraphically higher than the PTD, possibly suggesting that the pit was only partially backfilled then left to silt up over a period of time. Pir323. There were 57 worked flint pieces, which included nine implements. These included a narrow blade, cores (A2, B2 and C), rejuvenation flakes and a pointed flake with some signs of serration along both edges. The main finds from the pit were two burnt knives, one broken and the other complete with a conjoining thermal fractured flake (Fig. 12, 1). The broken knife shows minimal reworking on the ventral surface, while the dorsal surface shows abrupt retouch along the back of the knife and the remaining distal end has invasive retouch. The other knife has minimal retouch on the ventral surface, while the working across the dorsal surface could have produced a double-edged implement. There were 15 other pieces of fire-cracked flint. Saw Utilised Rejuv. Knife Burnt Other flake z iT = = Le - 1 1 6 - 1 : 3 - - 2 1 9 - = 1 = = = 1 D) 2 18 - - 2 2 15 3 1 : 3 5 é I 2 2 20 3) - 2, - 24 1 Pit 324. There were two flakes from the uppermost fill (327). Pit 325. There were 93 pieces of flint, including blades, a utilised flake, a serrated flake , an A2 core and rejuvenation flakes. There were also 29 burnt pieces. The serrated flake, worn and of hard-hammer technique, is from the top of the upper fill (326). Posthole 315. There are two flakes, one blade and a rejuvenation flake, all from the upper context 316. Area M: ploughsoil A total of 442 pieces of worked flint were recovered from the ploughsoil in Area M. There were a narrow unretouched blade, three miscellaneous retouched flakes and three utilised flakes. There were three cores (A2, B3 and C ) and two rejuvenation flakes. Four scrapers were also recovered (2 A2, 1 D2, and 1 unclassifiable), along with four awls. Area M: features (Table 4) Pit 202. There were 201 worked flints, including narrow blades, retouched and utilised flakes, three cores (one B3 and two C), a rejuvenation flake and a hammerstone. There were also 15 burnt pieces. The majority of the waste flakes were hard-hammer struck. NEOLITHIC ACTIVITY AND OCCUPATION OUTSIDE WINDMILL HILL CAUSEWAYED ENCLOSURE 53) Pit212. There were 404 worked flints. Included in this total are blades, utilised flakes, serrated (Fig. 12, 2-4) and retouched flakes. There were seven cores (three A2, two C and two unidentifiable), rejuvenation flakes and a hammerstone. There was also a flaked flint axe and an adze (Fig. 12, 5), both broken and with signs of heavy burning. Three knives (two blunted-back knives and a sickle knife similar to F57 in I. Smith 1965, 97) (Fig. 12, 6-7) and seven scrapers (three A2, two C, one D2 and one unidentifiable) were also present. Most flakes show signs of hard-hammer technique. Discussion The flint from all primary pit contexts was in mint condition though with a light grey patina. Material from the upper pit fills was generally worn with a heavy white patina. Patches of calcium carbonate concretion from groundwater leaching through the soils were deposited on flint from all contexts; this was particularly heavy on those pieces from primary layers. Similar effects were also noticed on artefacts recovered from Robin Hood’s Ball near Stonehenge (Harding 1990). The presence of cores, rejuvenation flakes and small pieces of debitage suggests that flint knapping was carried out over the site as a whole. All pits except pit 324 contain evidence of core reduction, although very few conjoins could be recognised. Some conjoins were found within discrete contexts, but none between contexts within individual pits. However, find no. 2384, a broken flint flake from the middle fill 219 in pit 212 conjoins with find no. 2781, a broken retouched flake from the lowest fill 223 in pit 202, and together these may form a scraper or a small knife. Pit 323 shows signs of ash in the lower fill (322), and it has been suggested that this was due to deliberate burning of cereals as a part of ceremonial consumption, and placed with other symbols and Figure 12. Worked flint(see text for details) 154 Table 4. Worked flint from Area M features Flakes Chips Scrapers Axe Blades Cores frag Pit 202. 203 20 15 - - 3 204 15 3 - - 1 - 204/206 1 - - - - 1 206 49 27 - - 3 1 210 1 1 211 3 es 223 22 3 1 1 233 2 - Total 113 49 8 3 PrzgiZ 213 39 22 - - 2 215 17 10 4 1 216 44 26 - 1 5 1 216/217 1 - 217 14 d 1 1 219 17 4 1 2 220 6 5 - - 221 49 22 2 3 2 222 20 6 - 3 224 7 4 - - Total 214 103 7 1 14 7 Arrow heads THE WILTSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY MAGAZINE Saw Re- Utilised Rejuv. Knife Hammer- Burnt Adze touched flake stone 1 1 1 - 7 3 2 1 5 3 1 1 1 2 7 4 1 1 1 15 4 1 8 1 - 1 1 2 - 3} 2 1 1 1 2 1 2 1 5} to ey ee & i) S Gy = nN oS nN residues of consumption, such as quern stones and animal bones. The burnt flint implements deposited in the pit, as tools associated with harvesting of grain and butchery of livestock, could themselves be further symbols of such consumption events. Acknowledgements Thanks are due to David Gilbert and Howard Mason for invaluable help with both finds and text, and to Lisa for support. Worked sarsen by Joshua Pollard Area D pits Three substantial pieces of worked sarsen were recovered from the Earlier Neolithic pits: a quern fragment from pit 308 (context 310) and two intact rubbing stones from pit 325 (context 330) (Fig. 13). The quern fragment comprises a roughly flaked block with one, slightly concave, surface exhibiting extensive pecking and use-related smoothing. Clearly a substantial fragment of saddle-quern, the implement is similar to Earlier Neolithic examples from the enclosure (I. Smith 1965, 121-23;Whittle er a/. 1999, chapter 15). The two rubbing stones were found placed together in pit 325. Both appear to have been produced on large sarsen flakes. Minimal trimming through secondary flaking is evident on the dorsal sides of both, whilst the convex ventral (working) surfaces show extensive pecking and abrasion. The smaller of the two (3309) could have been worked easily with one hand, whereas the larger (3308) would have required both hands to operate. Comparable examples are again known from the enclosure. Area M pits From pit 212 (context 221), there is an intact hammerstone, nearly spherical and with extensive signs of use, and a fragmentary example. There were also quantities of unworked sarsen. Much of the material from the Grooved Ware pits in Area M is highly fragmentary and burnt, perhaps being used as hearthstone. Test pits A single hammerstone on a small sarsen lump came from 1400/750. THE ANIMAL BONES by Jessica J. Davies In Area D, three of the four Earlier Neolithic pits contained animal bone. The assemblage derived from 308, 323 and 325, whilst the larger pit, 324, yielded no animal bone. In Area M both of the Later Neolithic NEOLITHIC ACTIVITY AND OCCUPATION OUTSIDE WINDMILL HILL CAUSEWAYED ENCLOSURE 155 Figure 13. Quern (centre) and rubbing stones from the Earlier Neolithic pits pits excavated contained bone in their fills. All the animal bone material was retrieved by hand during excavation. Methodology The bones from each context were separated into identifiable and non-identifiable specimens. The identifiable specimens were those which possessed diagnostic characteristics allowing them to be identified to body part and species. Some bones could not be assigned to a single species, and grouped categories of similar species were also used, such as cow/horse. Non-identifiable specimens were those fragments that were too badly preserved, or lacking diagnostic characteristics to be able to ascertain body part and/or species. These were not recorded or quantified. Identifications were made with reference to comparative modern and archaeological examples at the Department of Archaeology and Prehistory, University of Sheffield (details held in archive). No bones of goat were identified, but where possible sheep were distinguished from the sheep/goat grouping. This was accomplished with the use of Boessneck (1969) and Prummel and Frisch (1986), as well as of comparative skeletal elements. Wear patterns of mandibular teeth were recorded: for pig, after Grant (1982) and Halstead (1992), and for cattle Grant (1982). Few teeth that could be recorded in this way were present, with no sheep/goat teeth being found. Thus this data will provide an idea of the age of some of the animals present, but will not be used to produce mortality profiles. Fusion stages were recorded following Silver (1969), and will also be used to look at the age of the main domesticates. Pig canines and/or their sockets were used for sexing mandibles. Although anatomical features can be used to determine the sex of other species, the appropriate characteristics were not present on any of the diagnostic zones. All dental, cranial and post cranial fragments identified were recorded as minimum number of anatomical units (MNAU), where proximal and distal halves serve as separate anatomical zones. The effectiveness and reliability of other methods of quantification have often been debated. Various authors such as Grayson (1978), Klein and Cruz- Uribe (1984), Lyman (1992), O’Connor (1985), Payne (1972) and Ringrose (1993) have scrutinised methods such as MNI, NISP, bone and meat weights, and so on. With regard to this assemblage, bone and meat weights would be unrepresentative, 156 THE WILTSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY MAGAZINE being affected by the small number of fragments. NISP has too many inherent problems (described by Ringrose 1993, 125-26) to be of use here. MNI is favoured by many archaeozoologists. However, at the present time this would not be a suitable method to use in quantifying the remains from each pit. It is possible that the deposition of the bones of animals was not exclusive to one pit, with body parts being divided between them. Thus in calculating the MNI for each pit, numbers of animals present could have been over-estimated. MNAU was considered the best method to quantify the assemblages from the Earlier and Later Neolithic pits. Over-representation is avoided with this method, as well as any possibility of the proportion of any one species being exaggerated. State of fusion and the side of the bone were recorded. Fragmentation was recorded indicating the prevalence of old and new breakage. Gnawing, burning and butchery provide additional information about the use and treatment of the bones before deposition. Binford (1981) was used as a standard for the description and position of different types of butchery marks. All measurements taken follow von den Dreisch (1976). Few bones were complete enough for measurements to be taken. Much of the bone was weathered and thus not in a particularly good state of preservation, but measurements were taken of as many bones as possible. The measurements displayed in bold type in Table 8 were analogous with those taken and recorded by Grigson (1965) on material from Windmill Hill causewayed enclosure. Species utilised will be considered and, whilst there may not be enough suitable remains to reconstruct the subsistence strategies employed, the deposition of the assemblage will be discussed. It already seems evident that, during the Later Neolithic period, more wild species were being utilised than before. This seems to be a common trend, seen also in the analysis of the plant remains (below). Results Earlier Neolithic Few bones were present within the contexts from pits 308, 323 and 325 (Tables 5-6). As the assemblages from these pits are so small they are considered collectively. Domestic species predominated, particularly cattle, with red deer being represented by a single antler fragment in 308. The body part representation suggests predominance of particularly lower limb bones in 323, head and more extreme limb bones in 325, with odd fragments in 308 (Table 5 and Fig. 14). This may indicate that the deposited bone was predominantly the product of the secondary stage of carcass reduction. There seems to have been no deliberate or ritualistic selection of particular body Table 5. Assemblages from the Earlier Neolithic pits Pit 308 Cattle Pit 323 Red deer Cattle DMt - - Ph 1 - - - Antler /H - 1 - Occip C - - - MdH - - - Md - - - MdT 1 - 1 MxT - - - Pit 325 Pig Sheep/ Cattle Pig Sheep / Goat/Roe Goat l . “ é 3 2 s 1 2 1 2 1 S l = E cs 1 = Z i 1 z = hs 1 1 ZS Cattle Hors¢ NEOLITHIC ACTIVITY AND OCCUPATION OUTSIDE WINDMILL HILL CAUSEWAYED ENCLOSURE NB}/ Table 6. Total assemblage from the Earlier Neolithic pits Cattle Pig Sheep/ Cattle/ Sheep/Goat Red deer Goat Horse Roe deer Total number 13 3 2 1 1 1 of fragments Total% 61.9 14.3 9.52 4.76 4.76 4.76 parts or bones. The bones may have been deliberately placed or disposed waste fragments. Eight of the ten bones recorded from pit 325 were from the left-hand side of the animals; the other two were of indeterminate side. All the bones present were older than new born (Table 9). One cattle proximal tibia suggested an age at death of less than 30-42 months. The fusion data for pigs and sheep/goat were indeterminate. No tooth wear data could be recorded for any of the species. One possible female pig was noted from 325. No butchery marks or gnawing were evident on the Earlier Neolithic material. Much of the bone that could be identified was weathered. This may have masked or destroyed any cut or gnaw marks, particularly the latter. Whilst weathering may have occurred in the deposits, the fact that not all the bone was weathered suggests that there was either a variation in the burial environment or that some bones may not have been buried immediately and exposed to the elements before deposition. Burning was recorded on four bones from 325; one of cattle, three of pig. This may have been the result of cooking or disposal of the bone. Both old and new breaks were recorded. No whole long bones were seen, indicating that bones may have been broken as part of their disposal, or to remove marrow and fat deposits. New breaks can be attributed to excavation and storage of the assemblage. Only one measurement could be taken. The distal breadth of the metacarpal (Table 5) is compatible with the range previously recorded for domestic cattle from the Windmill Hill enclosure (Grigson 1965). ea ae ae naa etn se pease Se Same cn eecl et cee eeacss-ca sete csees° — —= — — — —= == = = > = = < = — = = = = = = = = —| = = = 1 tex 5 : os Sy 50) oy RS xs Be NY Xo S is) ix? NY Bo NS +, ae ry ty Ss oc) S [Xo Sf Ss ae S eet S et N Se) (xX? SN <3 KS) N +e tat ae S cx> J ve NY eee Lx cH S KH 2) KS SN LA 0 Co tS (Ye oO DR PMc DMc PF i Red deer £9 Cattle / Horse A Sheep / Goat / Roe | E] Sheep / Goat | { B Pig | | i Cattle = ti ag ae ae ue ae ae aa ae on as os oe =n on Lis ae as ae ae oe on as Lil oe ae ue as =S S$.2 2s © $2 * § 2 Be Ot g = fs 2 3 = 3 2 A te eS) 5 <£o4 << Sanice 5 os he = Saws" Cmca 3 2a 8 oO a fo) 4 2 5 Oo Body Part Figure 14. Body part representation for the whole Earlier Neolithic assemblage (pits 308, 323 and 325) 158 THE WILTSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY MAGAZINE Table 7. The animal bone assemblage from the Later Neolithic pits Pit 202 Cattle Pig Sheep Sheep Dog Cattle Sheep /Goat /Goat /Red deer /Roe 2 =] wre PF DF 3 = E PT 2 : 3 DI 2 : 3 PM 3 DM U = PMp : \ DMp e 1 ¢ a ~ A Phil 1 Phil 1 - - Ph UI 3 1 1 Nav Cub 1 Carpal 1 Tarsal 1 Patella - 1 Ses 1 - At 1 1 Ax Cervical vert Rub - - 1 Antler/H B = 1 Scaph 2 Oceip C 1 MdH - - Md - 2 - - = Mx rl = - 2 1 Md T 6 2! - - 1 Mx T 2 6 = : 1 Column total 62 18 3 Column % wr oo x Later Neolithic Pit 202. The assemblage from this pit is dominated by domesticated species, principally cattle, followed by pig (Table 7). Even when sheep/goat and sheep categories are combined they are still less prevalent than pig remains. This is the only pit in which the remains of dog were encountered. Most body parts of domestic cattle are represented, suggesting the presence of fore and hind limbs, ankle, wrist and foot bones, as well as areas of the skull around the teeth and vertebrae closely associated with the head (Fig. 15). This may indicate that cattle carcasses were being reduced at, or very close to the site of the pits. Main limb bones, which bear the most meat, were also present, suggesting the material deposited was not purely waste from butchery of carcasses. Bones of the head and other areas, such as ribs and vertebrae, were limited in number, suggesting they may have been deposited elsewhere or not utilised. The presence of loose teeth, for this and other species, indicates that there must have been a considerable loss of bone at some point in the history of the material. This bone loss may have occurred prior to deposition, through butchery or the extraction of marrow in the mandible, or during deposition, particularly if the bone had been churned Pit 212 Cattle Cate ‘Aurocl Catue Red deer Pig Sheep Wild Goat pig Sheep Goat/Roe - > - : 2 1 2 1 1 = : 1 1 2 : : = 1 bee ere tre 1 15 2 2 2 30 21 4 3 4 3 26.0 18.3 3.5 2.6 BIS) 2.6 3.5 va ete At Oe eo) a eee Cea Dod) det teen atthe cto Th aiegh Ay Hieeirenbaie 1 Q and mixed in redeposition from middens. Alternatively bone loss may have occurred as a result of the material becoming friable whilst buried, with subsequent excavation adding to the loss. Similar loss of bone was reported from Cherhill (Grigson 1983, 71). For domestic pig, only two counts of a main limb bone were recorded, which may have been from a single animal. The body part representation for this species indicates the presence of bones predominantly from the extremities; these may be associated with butchery waste of animals that may have been used for ceremonial feasting elsewhere (Fig. 16). However, they could alternatively represent parts of animals consumed close to the point of deposition. Fig. 17 shows the body part representation for sheep/goat. The primary meat-bearing limb bones were present, with fewer bones from the extremities. This suggests that this material was the possible refuse from consumption. The bones from other species were limited in number and little can be interpreted from these (Table 7). It is possible that these bones may be butchery waste, or equally the result of accidental deposition. These are also plausible suggestions for the presence of the bones of dog. Over half of the post cranial cattle bones were from new born animals (Table 9). About one quarter of the combined sheep/goat and sheep bones were NEOLITHIC ACTIVITY AND OCCUPATION OUTSIDE WINDMILL HILL CAUSEWAYED ENCLOSURE 159 = MNAU 0 : ee ee ee Seg) psa aoe eet 14 DOR UE PE SE CS Sages eet ae ee ea ae a eet 3 23 8 = = = 2, 5 < ° 5 =) Body Part Figure 15. Domestic cattle body part representation (pit 202) MNAU a t as a 2 Oo - Shey Ce Caer RL San Epes) eS ise re Ee ee DORR ES che ie eds melee IS 4 Se Sa ie BiG ee beaeoo oe eens gosads: SE ey oe ~ a A = 8 ors) 3 a8 8 tS s= a a oO Ss fo) cs = < 38 Body Part Figure 16. Domestic pig body part representation (pit 202) 160 neonatal. The post cranial bones of the other species were all older. The fusion and tooth wear data add further information to this. The tooth wear patterns for cattle indicate that at least one individual died between 18 and 30 months, whilst another was over 36 months. For pig, one individual was less than 6 months old at death, and another individual was possibly only weeks old. This was indicated by the presence of a deciduous fourth premolar, which had not fully erupted. The eruption time for this tooth in pigs is between 1 and 7 weeks. This individual may well have been a neonate at death. The fusion data indicate the pattern set out in Table 11. Whilst more bones were from the left-hand side, an emphasis on the deposition of bones from one side only does not seem to have prevailed in this pit. No data regarding the sex of individuals were present. Only one bone displayed a cut mark. This was on a cattle proximal radius from context 206. One bone fragment showed signs of gnawing, but again the weathered nature of much of the bone material would have made gnawing and cut marks difficult to distinguish if present. These marks may have been eroded during weathering also. Two identifiable bone fragments were burnt, suggesting that methods of MNAU Ber 22 Ars vhs a. a Figure 17. Sheep/goat body part representation (pit 202) THE WILTSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY MAGAZINE disposal or cooking that may result in burning were not common practice. Whilst only one long bone was recorded as being whole, the majority of small bones remained intact. More old breaks were seen on the long bones, suggesting breakage for marrow/fat removal, or as part of the deposition process. New breakage is again attributable to excavation and storage and more small bones had new breaks than old. As Table 8 shows, for each element the majority of measurements taken were from one bone. Thus ranges of measurements could not be produced, nor statistical methods used to examine the data. In general all the bones fit within the ranges given by Grigson (1965).The size of the pig atlas was compared with measurements from West Kennet (Edwards and Horne 1997, 123). The measurements of the specimen from pit 202 were smaller (4.1mm (height (H)) and 2.1mm (greatest breadth of the facies articularis cranialis (BFCR)). Pit 212. Again domesticates dominate the assemblage from this pit. Cattle were predominant, though less prevalent than in 202, with pig and sheep/goat Lote Peto eer ar eH ameter la prin oP tp ey deste mc Ved 1d aie Big 2 G8 eee 9S ye ee Fe fel ee see > > 56 & 5 Bice ena z e g & Body Part NEOLITHIC ACTIVITY AND OCCUPATION OUTSIDE WINDMILL HILL CAUSEWAYED ENCLOSURE 161 Table 8. Measurements from Earlier and Later Neolithic bones. Measurements in bold type are analogous with those taken from Windmill Hill, reported in Grigson 1965. EARLIER NEOLITHIC: Pit 325: GATTLE Metacarpal BP BD GL SD = 513: - = LATER NEOLITHIC: Pit 202: CATTLE Metatarsal BP BD GL SD = 528 - & Ulna DPA SDO LO - 619 Calcanea - - GL GB = = 1290 430 = - 1380 440 Phalanx I BP BD GL SD 280 253 629 - Phalanx III LD MBS DLS - 529 207 706 - 518 208 - - Atlas LAD H GL BFCR = - = 1033 SHEEP / GOAT Humerus BP BD GL Bis = 271 - 266 Radius BP BD GL SD 286 270 1550 150 Tibia BP BD GL SD - 244 - 139 PIG Atlas LAD H GL BFCR 170 410 - 532 Pit 212: CATTLE Metatarsal BP BD GL SD = = - 210 Phalanx I BP BD GL SD 286 276 579 250 Phalanx II BP BD GL SD 289 - 414 221 * = 2 04 B.p. 407 57 3 B.p. 405 345 570 308 Axis BFCD H LCDE BFCR 437 - - 887 Horn core - GB GL - - 574 1700 - * Possible Bos prinigenius specimens. 162 THE WILTSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY MAGAZINE Table 9. Proportions of Neonatal and Older Bones (Later Neolithic pit 202) Domestic Domestic Sheep/ Cattle/ Sheep/Goav Row Total Cattle Pig Goat Red deer Roe New-born 27 - 4 : - 31 50.9% 25.0% 38.8% Older 26 th 12 3) I 49 49.1% 100.0% 75.0% 100.0% 100.0% 61.3% Column Total 53 fi 16 3 1 80 66.3% 8.8% 20.0% 3.8% 1.3% 100.0% following. These were proportionately greater than in 202. More wild species were identified from this pit than from any other contexts. Thus the diversity of species present is also greater (Table 7). For domestic cattle, the main limb bones present were those that bear the most meat. Some bones of the feet, neck and head were also identified. Elements such as cervical vertebrae, rib, horn core and mandible, which were not present in pit 202, were identified. As only one of each of these elements was present, deposition of these parts into one pit rather than the other cannot be claimed. Parts of the head are limited, although the overall skeleton is less well represented than in pit 202. This material may indicate the refuse from butchery for consumption (Fig. 18). Domestic pig body parts were present in relatively low numbers, apart from mandibular teeth (Fig. 19). Upper limb bones only were indicated, with some foot elements. This material indicates a limited usage of pig meat, with possible deposition of waste from the butchery of carcasses, at least parts of which could have been consumed and deposited elsewhere. The material from pit 212 shows a predominance of upper limb bones for sheep/goat (Fig. 20). Pelvis bones and a metatarsal, as well as rib bones, were also present and the remains may be indicative of the refuse associated with consumption of meat in the vicinity of the pits. The predominance of forelimb bones, however, suggests that the deposits may have been structured in their content and deposition. Fig. 21 shows the presence of the body parts of other species. Many of the elements identified suggest that wild species may also have contributed to the meat available for consumption. Humeri of wild pig and aurochs suggest the use of prime meat parts, although no butchery marks were evident. The presence of red deer antler may indicate that this was collected for use as a raw material. It was not possible to tell if the antler had been shed or removed from a hunted animal. A much smaller number of the bones from this pit were neonatal (Table 10). These were from cattle, pig and sheep/goat only, with sheep/goat having the highest proportion at 28.6%. The tooth data suggest a range of ages for both cattle and pig. For cattle only one tooth could be placed in an exact age stage, F (young adult, 1.e. >36 months). Another tooth was in wear at a point between stages D and E (18-36 months). Other teeth were recorded as being at stages B+ , C+, D+ and E+. This places many of the teeth at various points between 1-8 months and senile age. Although there is a lack of specificity of ages, the tooth wear data suggest that cattle were being killed at a variety of ages from as young as 1-8 months, up to > 36 months and possibly older. For pig the ages recorded were very young (i.e. 1-7 weeks), < 6 months, 6-12 months and + 24 months. Thus individuals were being killed generally within the first year of life and around 24 months. The fusion data add little information. For sheep/goat the fusion data were of indeterminate age stage. For cattle and pig, the information is set out in Table 11. Only one possibly female pig mandible was recorded. No other remains with sexually diagnostic features were present. Cut marks were noted on three bone fragments. One, a cattle/red deer metatarsal, had been worked into a point. A cattle/red deer mandibular hinge displayed cut marks that may have resulted from dislocation of this joint or removal of meat from the head. A cattle first phalanx displayed cut marks that may have been allied to the dismembering or removal of the foot. No gnawing marks were noted and only a fragment of red deer antler was burnt. Again much of the material was weathered. Few whole long bones were seen, with the vast majority of breakage being old. About a third of small bones had old breaks, but only two had new breaks, indicating that marrow may have been utilised. Table 10. Proportions of Neonatal and Older Bones (Later Neolithic pit 212) Domestic Domestic Sheep/ Boar Aurochs Cattle/ Cattle/ Sheep/ Cow/ Red deer Row Total Cattle Pig Goat Horse Red deer Goat/Roe Horse/ Aurochs New-born 3 1 6 - - - - 10 12.0% 6.7% 28.6% 12.5% Older 22 14 15 2 4 2 4 2 2 70 88.0% 93.3% 71.4% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 87.5% Column 25 15 21 2 4 2 4 2 2 80 Total 31.3% 18.8% 26.3% 2.5% 3.8% 5.0% 2.5% 5.0% 2.5% 2.5% 100.0% NEOLITHIC ACTIVITY AND OCCUPATION OUTSIDE WINDMILL HILL CAUSEWAYED ENCLOSURE 163 wn MNAU Rub ff DoD & 2 0 rete Tied: edd SP eS Gx SON eh a 6 EC ae ; & z is 2. a § 5 Ss g y oO Body Part Figure 18. Domestic cattle body part representation (pit 212) MNAU Ses At Ax Rib Antler/H Scaph Occip C MdH Nav Cub Carpal Tarsal Patella Cervical vert Body Part Figure 19. Domestic pig body part representation (pit 212) 164 THE WILTSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY MAGAZINE w 25 MNAU 0.5 4 a See £82 0< 27S 8 ae Gomis BS E29 BE BEE e bE 5 J ee ee ee be ee Se Z é < GQ Body Part Figure 20. Sheep/goat body part representation (pit 212) 6 Ged deer | ‘Si Cattle / Horse / Aurochs | i eer slow de Mad oe eda es ere ia elena si ed eS oe Me Ae one 2G eM CEN oy 2 Me I oe oe let, A OR | 2 Sheep / Goat / Roe | ‘Cattle / Red deer | Ei Cattle / Horse | 4 = BREE ESSE EERO eer es me Ce See SE er i ee eae ne eI ts 5 se r hs N A | N Hy | Wild pig fl >| N i 3 7 oe S a Nc Re eee OR OR cee A i> 2 Mp SO onan fee PD aiesee Pa EEL ec at cle DPE Reon, I oe Ree ao RE kN 8 ee ee ee Fee range nea cee Spee yan sean ou: eee l om mjtoy ine, cleere wigieielsiayerdalac wn 2 = == == == Kt al on =l= ee 4 » ee ; =A= EH 3 7 Yaa olin ta teat ent ee = moe Se0¢ 522 8a Sf 8 = BSEEOT PSHE Rae eee er Sg Se Sea Gaede eae z 3 < °o 8 Body Part Figure 21. Body part representation for other species identified (pit 212) NEOLITHIC ACTIVITY AND OCCUPATION OUTSIDE WINDMILL HILL CAUSEWAYED ENCLOSURE 165 Table 11. Fusion data from Later Neolithic pit 202 No. of bones Age at Death Cattle 1 <6-10m 1 <13-16m 2, >6-10m 2 >18-28m 2 >30-42m Pig 1 <6-10m <13-16m 1 >18-28m Sheep/ 3 <30-42m Goat 3 >6-10m >18-28m >30-42m Table 12. Fusion data for cattle and pig from Later Neolithic pit 212 No. of bones Age at Death Cattle 1 <30-42m 3 >13-16m 1 >18-28m Pig 1 <6-10m 3 <13-16m 2 >6-10m Measurements were compared with those in Grigson (1965). Again the majority of measurements were within the ranges from the Windmill Hill enclosure. Two possible aurochs second phalanges were identified during this comparison (Table 8). The measurements for proximal breadth are greater than those given by Grigson (1965, 159). Whilst size should not be used without care to distinguish wild from domestic cattle (Grigson 1969, 288), the much greater size suggests that these phalanges are more likely to be from wild cattle. The two phalanges were enantiomorphic, suggesting they were from one individual. The breadth of the trochlea for both ‘aurochs humeri was greater than those of domestic cattle at Windmill Hill. The breadth of the wild pig trochlea was also greater than comparative specimens in Grigson (1965). This specimen was also much larger than the measurements presented by Payne and Bull (1988) for wild pig and the wild pig identified from the Neolithic pit at Puddlehill (Grigson 1976, 16). The lateral metapodial from a wild pig was larger than the comparative modern boar specimen examined. Measurements of this element are not considered by Payne and Bull (1988) and thus other factors such as age, sexual dimorphism and individual variation may have affected the size of this metapodial. Discussion As so few of the domestic cattle bones were measurable, both from the Earlier and Later Neolithic, little suggestion can be made regarding the process of domestication of this species. What is evident is that by the Later Neolithic, at the latest, there was a distinct size difference between aurochs and domestic cattle. Overall, domestic cattle and pig seem distinct from their wild counterparts, by the Later Neolithic, evident in the differences in size. The tooth wear information and fusion data are somewhat scant and seem to provide little indication for the seasonality of occupation or use of the pits at the site. There is a total lack of any ageing data from the Earlier Neolithic pits. The presence of very young pig teeth, in pits 202 and 212, indicates these animals were being killed soon after birth. To infer seasonal activity must depend upon the acceptance that domestic pig in the Later Neolithic were producing young at a similar time of year to their wild counterparts (i.e. in spring, around April). However, pigs can be highly productive, producing more than one litter in a year. Therefore it would be rather erroneous to try to use the presence of neonatal remains to indicate seasonal activity. The presence of bones of older animals, suggested by tooth wear and fusion, generally of mixed ages for all three main domesticates, further suggests that consideration of seasonality may not be necessary. Grigson warns against the use of such data to infer seasonal occupation at similar sites, suggesting that there may be a great variation in tooth wear due to variable eruption and birth times (1966, 85). The spread of ages indicates that activity, whilst not necessarily permanent occupation, may have occurred in manifold episodes during the year. Exploitation of domesticates was not confined to distinct age groups. The data available cannot be refined to give a more accurate conclusion upon this point. Further, it may be inappropriate to suggest seasonal activity if the bones were contributing to midden accumulations prior to deposition in the pits. Whilst Legge notes that many bones from chalkland burial environments display considerable surface erosion (1991, 54) it is possible that middening occurred at this site. Therefore the whole process of use and deposition of the archaeozoological remains 166 THE WILTSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY MAGAZINE considered here may not reflect a single season’s deposition or ‘seasonal’ activities at all. The paucity of tooth wear data and sexable bones reduces what can be inferred about husbandry practices. For the Earlier Neolithic, it is possible to say little more than which animals were being kept or utilised and deposited in the pits. It is possible that domestic cattle, pigs and sheep/goat formed an important display within social exchanges occurring in the vicinity of Windmill Hill. These domestic species may have functioned as a symbolic resource, although the small amount of bone retrieved sheds little light on their social function. It is likely that at least some of the animals may have been used for their meat and marrow before deposition. By way of comparison, the Earlier Neolithic bones from Coneybury are suggested to represent primary butchery of domestic cattle. Equally, upper limb bones were infrequently encountered, with dumps representing possibly a single butchery event. The lack of upper limb bones in the Earlier Neolithic pits to the south of Windmill Hill may indicate a similar situation, with butchery to a secondary stage, occurring around these. The jointing of bones for food is also interpreted at Durrington Walls (Stone et al. 1954). The predominance of cattle bones fits with the accepted view of the predominance of cattle in the area in the Earlier Neolithic (Thomas 1991, 163). The presence of red deer antler may suggest that some wild resources were still utilised and important at this time. The division between upper and lower limb bones was not so distinct in the Later Neolithic assemblage. It is suggested that the bones from the Later Neolithic pits at Down Farm had a primarily social function, with deliberate selection and deposition of skull and jaw bones, as well as of large pieces of bone. The presence of bones of neonatal sheep/goat, pig and cattle suggests that animals may have been born at, or very close to, the site. Bones of a very young calf and pig were also recovered from the ditches of Windmill Hill (jope 1965, 145). As male cattle are generally absent from enclosures, it has been suggested that culling at a young age may be responsible for this (Thomas 1991, 24). It was not possible to tell the sex of the sheep/goat or cattle to determine if these were the young males, culled as surplus to requirements in a dairy economy. The lack of tooth wear data means that a mortality profile could not be produced to test this proposal. The presence of juvenile bones has been used to infer dairying at Fussell’s Lodge long barrow (Grigson 1966, 85-86). It can be seen that animals were being utilised throughout their investment phase and into adulthood. Pigs serve little purpose other than to provide meat and fat. Molluscan and soil evidence suggests that the area around Windmill Hill was not extensively cleared in the Earlier Neolithic (Whittle 1996, 272; Whittle et al. 1999) providing suitable pannage for wild and domestic pigs. Edmonds suggests that enclosure sites probably acted as congregational places for dispersed populations, with gathering events being closely related to the husbandry of livestock (1993, 105). Although the pits were in a location removed from the enclosure, the area around may have been influenced during events at the enclosure. At least some of the remains present within the Earlier Neolithic pits indicate that animals were probably being utilised, at least in part, for their meat. Whilst domestic pig predominate in the assemblages of many ceremonial sites (Thomas 1991, 22), their presence in the Later Neolithic pits may represent the use of some pig meat outside an enclosure context, as well as deposition of waste elements from primary, and possibly secondary, butchery of carcasses. Domestic cattle predominate in the assemblages from both Later Neolithic pits, followed by pig and sheep/goat. At Down Farm, pig are the most common species ((Legge 1991, 65). The predominance and proportions of the main domesticates in the pits at Windmill Hill are comparable to the remains from the Windmill Hill enclosure ditches (Jope 1965, 144; Whittle 1996, 235). Horse could not be distinguished, although the identification of specimens to cattle/ horse, may suggest that the species was present. The presence of this species has been considered to be practically certain during the Later Neolithic (Legge 1981, 80). The remains of wild animals, other than red deer antler, were present within pit 212 only. Remains of similar species were found within the Windmill Hill enclosure, but it was thought that hunted animals contributed little to the diet of those at the site (Jope 1965, 144-45). Admittedly, the number of remains of wild species is low, but their presence indicates that they may have been a more important utilised resource than in the Earlier Neolithic. Large hunted animals may have been butchered where they were killed, with only a few bones left attached to the meat and therefore being transported to the site. The use of animals may indicate something of their social significance. Throughout time, food has been used to express social values. The consumption of meat communicates a shared set of meanings, protocols and behaviour; communal eating and drinking form bonds of friendship and obligation NEOLITHIC ACTIVITY AND OCCUPATION OUTSIDE WINDMILL HILL CAUSEWAYED ENCLOSURE 167 (Fiddes 1991, 34). Cut marks were few, although this may be a factor of the weathering of bones. The presence of bones from meat-rich parts of the bodies of many of the species present suggests the use of meat for food. Fragmentation of limb bones prior to deposition suggests that the extraction of marrow was probably practised in the Earlier and Later Neolithic, and that many animals present were being used in a rational food procurement strategy. Butchery of carcasses of domesticates may have been taking place close to the pits, with deposition of primary and secondary waste parts, typified by the presence of body parts such as foot and head elements. Particularly in the Earlier Neolithic, consumption and deposition of some carcasses may have taken place elsewhere. Although a comprehensive conversion to sedentary agriculture is unlikely to have occurred during the Earlier Neolithic, domesticates would have played a significant role in social relations (Edmonds 1993, 101). The lack of wild species in the Earlier Neolithic pits may relate to social display, with utilisation of domesticates only. Evidence from other earlier and later sites of this period seems to suggest that the material from these pits fits with the general occurrences of this period. The majority of sites studied are in some way ceremonial or ‘ritual’ sites. As already noted, at many sites, such as Cherhill (Grigson 1983), domestic cattle dominate the assemblages. Whilst there is variation in the proportions of domesticates between sites such as Abingdon (Case 1965), Horslip long barrow, Beckhampton Road long barrow and South Street long barrow (Ashbee et al. 1979), as well as Coneybury (Maltby 1990), this may well relate to preferences and specific practices at each site rather than the abundance of species specifically. Perhaps the most closely comparable sites, in terms of context type, are Puddlehill pit 6, a Later Neolithic storage pit (Grigson 1976) and Down Farm (Legge 1991). Wild and domestic cattle and pig, plus sheep/goat and red deer were present at both sites. Although present in different proportions, the Later Neolithic assemblage from the pits to the south of Windmill Hill enclosure concurs with this trend. Wild ‘Species were seen at all three sites in small quantities, and are likely to reflect the local abundance and preference for specific species at the individual sites. It appears that similarities in animal bone assemblages from the compared Earlier and Later Neolithic sites are context-specific. There are similarities with assemblages from henge sites, in terms of the domesticates present. However, at henge and enclosure sites domesticates are present in much larger quantities, with few wild species, but a more visibly structured or ceremonial pattern of deposition (for example Jope 1965; Edwards and Horne 1997). The ways in which carcasses were disarticulated and jointed for meat appears to be more variable at henge sites, with deliberate wasting of whole limbs. This kind of conspicuous wasting does not seem to have occurred in the pits to the south of Windmill Hill enclosure. However, it is impossible to determine if the bone assemblage from non-domestic sites, such as the Windmill Hill enclosure, reflect the local abundance of species as the context of consumption and deposition is unlikely to reflect a rational food use strategy. As discussed previously, the deposition of animal bones in the pits may have formed a specific practice. Deliberate selection of left-side bones is suggested for pit 325. At West Kennet, the overwhelming majority of bones were from the right side of the species identified (Edwards and Horne 1997, 125). The left side represents different things in different cultures, including death and feminine gender, and is often equated with impure aspects (Hertz 1960, 99-102). If this was an element of the belief system of the Earlier Neolithic, the deposited bone in the pits may have been associated with profane or impure activities or social elements. This explanation may sound extreme, but perhaps what the predominance of left-sided bones indicates is that activities around the pits were, socially, visibly different to those occurring inside the enclosure. The left side also predominates in the Later Neolithic assemblage, but not to such a marked degree. Pits such as these have been considered to be initially created for other purposes, with subsequent deposition of ‘rubbish’ (Holgate 1988b, 106). The appearance of the Earlier Neolithic pits suggests that only one, 308, was open for any length of time. The Later Neolithic pits were little eroded. This suggests that the majority of pits were either filled soon after opening or, if used for another purpose previously, were not exposed to the weather. Whilst the erosion of the surface of bones, seen at other chalkland sites also, may be a factor of taphonomic processes in the burial environment, it is not possible to state that middening did not take place. Deposition of the bones themselves seems to have been deliberate, particularly in the Later Neolithic. Plans of the deposits confirm that, unlike some of the bones from the ditches of Windmill Hill enclosure (Whittle 1996, 274; Whittle et al. 1999), the material had been completely disarticulated prior to deposition. This kind of spatial separation of bones and body parts was also seen in 168 THE WILTSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY MAGAZINE the Coneybury pit (Maltby 1990, 61). Edmonds suggests that such structured deposits at enclosures may reflect episodes of consumption (1993, 112). It seems likely that the deposition of animal bones in this deliberate manner would reflect a similar practice. The presence of worked bone and antler may reinforce the different nature of the pit deposits to those from enclosures. With debris from several activities being deposited together, a more everyday domestic constitution to the process of deposition may be indicated. However, apart from the proportions of species present, the Earlier Neolithic assemblage compares well with that from Coneybury, and the Later Neolithic with that from Down Farm, in terms of context and deposition. CHARRED SEEDS, FRUITS AND TUBERS by Andrew S. Fairbairn Sampling during the 1988 excavation of the adjacent causewayed enclosure produced a small quantity of charred remains of cereals, seeds, fruits and tubers (Fairbairn 1999). These provided evidence that the debris of both wild and crop plants had been incorporated into the enclosure ditch segments after use as food, beverages and medicines during the acts of consumption that accompanied the exchanges and ceremonies occurring within the social arena of the enclosure. Charred cereals were also present in the soils buried during the construction of the outer bank and in an Earlier Neolithic grave fill. Further investigation of Neolithic contexts on the hill provided an opportunity to extend botanical investigations beyond the bounds of the enclosure in a different set of features. Four Neolithic pits were sampled. Sampled contexts Thirteen bulk samples were collected from the Earlier and Later Neolithic pits in Areas D and M respectively. Sample volume varied from 4-10 litres, most samples being 6-7 litres in size (Tables 13-14). All the samples were collected from the lower and basal pit fills from archaeologically sealed contexts without any obvious contamination from post-Neolithic activity. In Area D three samples were collected from the lower ashy fill (322) of pit 323, with one from a similar basal fill (330) of pit 325. In Area M a single sample was collected from the lower fill (223) of pit 202, with samples from the basal fill (224), lower fill (221) and fill (219) of pit 212. Field and laboratory methods The samples were processed on a ‘Siraf’ type flotation tank, using a 250um mesh sieve to collect the floating fraction (flot) and a 500um mesh sieve to collect the heavy residue. The volume of the dried flots was measured and each was sorted in its entirety using a low-powered dissecting microscope. All of the charred non-wood charcoal plant remains were picked out from the flots. Identification was completed with the aid of the comparative seed and fruit collections of the University College London Institute of Archaeology, with the parenchymatous remains identified after fracturing using a scanning electron microscope (SEM). Help in identification was given by Gordon Hillman and Jon Hather. The identified remains are recorded in Tables 13-14 for each sample, the nomenclature for cereals following van Zeist 1984, and that for the wild taxa following Stace 1991. Results Abundant plant remains were recovered from the pits, with both wild and domestic remains being present including cereals, wild seeds, fruits, nuts and the remains of vegetable tubers. The flot sizes were variable and most contained a significant quantity of mollusc shell. Therefore, the actual quantity of charred plant remains was often much less than the total flot volume recorded in Tables 13-14. Preservation of the remains varied within individual samples, although it was mostly very poor. Cereal remains were vesicular and often fragmented, with wild plant seeds and fruits often badly damaged and lacking features crucial for identification. Poor preservation also characterised the plant remain assemblages recovered from the 1988 excavations. Small fragments of parenchymatous tissue were also preserved, although many were glassy and lacked any discernible structure, making identification impossible. Plant remains from Area D (Earlier Neolithic: Table 13) The flots from Area D contained a high percentage volume of mollusc shells. Relatively little wood charcoal was preserved and much of the volume of the charred plant material in the flots consisted of cereal grain fragments. Cereal grains were preserved NEOLITHIC ACTIVITY AND OCCUPATION OUTSIDE WINDMILL HILL CAUSEWAYED ENCLOSURE 169 Table 13. Charred plant remains from the Earlier Neolithic pits. (Numbers refer to whole specimens and numbers in brackets refer to fragments unless stated.) Sample 1 Context Pit 323 Pit Fill basal Sample Volume Sule; Flot Volume 52ml Sorted flot volume 2ml Taxon Component Domestic taxa Triticum cf dicoccum grain Triticum cf dicoccum spikelet forks (glumes) Triticum grain dicoccum/monococcum Triticum sp. grain 1 Triticum sp. spikelet forks (glumes) 1 Hordeum vulgare var. grain nudum Hordeum vulgare grain 4 (2) cf. Hordeum vulgare grain Cereal indet grain BL C718) Wild taxa Corylus avellana nutshell (all fragments) 1 322-3119 2) 3 4 322-3223 322-3329 330-3344 323 323 325 basal basal basal 4L. 6:5 1: elles 20ml 45ml 82ml 2ml 5ml 12ml 1 2 (3) 2 i 22 (4) 2 3 (1) 13 (71) 1 6 We) 6 (10) 2 6(43) 11 (420) 36 (c.700) 4 38 149 in abundance in samples from Area D, although they were usually highly vesicular, distorted and had often lost much of their outer surface..This made identification difficult even to genus level in most cases and only occasionally could cereal grain identifications be made to species or sub-species level. Several typical emmer wheat (Triticum dicoccum) grains were distinguished in sample 4 from Pit 325. This sample also included two grains which may have derived from either emmer (Triticum dicoccum) or einkorn (Triticum monococcum). A single well preserved naked barley grain (Hordeum vulgare var. nudum) was distinguished in sample 4 from pit 325, recognisable by its rounded form and wrinkled surface. The good preservation of this grain in comparison to the others was noticeable and may indicate a different preservational history. Many grains were only identifiable to general barley or wheat categories, and both barley and wheat were recorded in each pit. Many grains were highly compressed and distorted. This distortion and the vesicular appearance suggest that they may have been charred at high temperatures in a confined space, such charring effects having been observed in laboratory experiments (Fairbairn 1991). All of the identified cereal taxa are well known in the British Neolithic (Moffett et al. 1989). They were also identified by Helbaek in his work on the causewayed enclosure and in the 1988 excavations with the exception of the naked barley. Cereal chaff was preserved in the form of wheat spikelet forks and glume bases in both pits. The narrow spikelet forks with wide disarticulation scars typical of emmer were identified in samples from pit 325. However, most of the specimens were highly fragmented and beyond identification. Several fruit and nut remains were preserved in the pits, hazelnut shell fragments being recorded in all the samples. In most cases few fragments were recorded, amounting to less than the equivalent of one whole nutshell per sample. Sample 4 (pit 325) contained the largest number and volume of shell fragments and the widest range of soft fruit remains, including the stone of a hawthorn fruit (haw) probably from Crataegus monogyna. Several fragments of the stone of sloe (Prunus spinosa) were identifiable by the characteristic sculpted surface and were freshly broken, suggesting that they were originally part of one specimen which had been broken during archaeological recovery. Fragments of apple pip, probably from the wild crab-apple (Malus sylvestris) were identified in sample 4 and sample 1, this being the only soft fruit remain from pit 323. The few wild plant/weed seeds identified from Area D were all from sample 4 with the exception of one fruit of a bedstraw species (Galium). This was 170 identified by its characteristic shape, although the loss of the diagnostic outer surface meant that it was not distinguishable at the species level. The assemblage in sample 4 was small but relatively diverse. Three groups of taxa from the goosefoot family were identified including one specimen of Chenopodium murale, the fragment having the characteristic cell pattern and marginal keel of the species (Bergerren 1981). The typical trigonous, angled fruits of a dock species (Rumex sp.) were identified as well as a single fruit of greater plantain (Plantago major). Two other fruit types were only identifiable at the genus and family level, one from the mint family (Lamiaceae), and the second a fruit of one of the meadowgrasses (Poa). Several probable seeds remained unidentified from samples 1, 2 and 4. Several small fragments of vegetative parenchyma were identified in samples from both pits (samples 3 and 4). Unlike that in the samples from Area M the specimens contained small (10-15 uum wide), densely packed cells and the specimens lacked vascular bundles. Taxonomic identification was impossible, although the cell size and structure suggest that the fragments are derived from charred endosperm or cotyledon tissue from a large seed or fruit (J. Hather pers. comm.), possibly from the broken sloe also identified in the sample. A variety of other remains was recognisable in the remaining assemblages from both pits. The only identified specimen was the culm fragment of a grass species, identified on the basis of its anatomical THE WILTSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY MAGAZINE characteristics observable on the SEM. Other culm fragments remained unidentified from pits 323 and 325 (samples 3 and 4), with the damaged remains of buds present in samples 1 and 4. Several small woody structures, possibly stems (c.2mm wide), were recorded in samples 1 and 4, all being damaged and unidentifiable. A possible fruit pedicel was identified in sample 4, of the type seen in the Rosaceae, possibly deriving from either sloe or haw. The final class of material has been labelled ‘vesicular material’. It was common in samples 1, 2 and 4, the specimens consisting of fused, glassy, dense material, probably of plant origin but with no clear features visible. Plant remains from Area M (Later Neolithic: Table 14) The flots from Area M contained a higher proportion of charred plant material than those from Area D, much of which was wood charcoal. Unlike those from Area D they contained few cereal remains, all of which derived from the lower fill of pit 212. These possible cereal remains were distorted, indistinct, unidentifiable and included one whole grain and several fragments in sample 7 and one fragment in sample 9. Hazelnut shell fragments were present in all the samples, although again usually only in small amounts equivalent to less than one whole nut with the exception of sample 11. Other small wild seeds and fruits were present in samples from both pits, although unidentifiable. A small woody axis was Table 14. Charred plant remains from the Later Neolithic pits. (Numbers refer to whole specimens and numbers in brackets refer to fragments unless stated.) Sample 5 6 Context 219-2176 221-2443 Pit 212 212 Pit fill fill lower fill Sample Volume OL OL Flot Volume 22ml 24ml Sorted flot volume & Section 2 igat60 $128 S Section 1 Oe otne fo) A ° 164 Uo 158 a 4 152 178 ace —166 3 104106 108 =a 126 bal Geotechnical test pit 176 | 3D 174 172 170 8 156 2 ) 1222 0 20m es > Section 1 109 108 KR 198 aon — 62m AOD se log OF ea ee Be a Section 2 Section 3 Section 4 aut - 62m AOD = {61,.5m AOD ——— = Alisly7. ae 3 WH 113 AG 111 y 2 110 = — 61.5m AOD O Im fm OS Figure 2. Area F: Plan and Sections 236 THE WILTSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY MAGAZINE Stakeholes Of the total of 13 stakeholes recorded, all but two formed a distinct group to the west of the pits. The stakeholes ranged in size from 0.1m to 0.2m in diameter, had an average depth of 0.05m, and contained orange—brown clay fills from which no artefacts were recovered. Gully Gully 122 was revealed at the western edge of the excavation. Orientated north-south, it was at least 2m long, 0.6m wide and 0.3m deep. Its uniform linear shape, steep profile and flat base were noticeably distinct from that of the contiguous pits. Interpretation of the feature is limited by the absence of artefactual material and, while it may be contemporary with the adjacent pits and stakeholes, the possibility that it is a natural feature should not be overlooked. The Finds Pottery by Jane Timby Two handmade bodysherds with a combined weight of 11g were retrieved from pit 106. The sherds were in relatively fresh condition and probably derived from the same vessel. The exterior surface and outer core were orange, while the interior surface and inner core were black. The sherds consisted of a fine sandy fabric with fine elongated voids on the surface arising from the former presence of organic matter. Larger ovoid voids were visible in a fresh fracture, possibly from chalk/limestone inclusions, with sparse, rounded, dark red-brown iron compounds also present. The character of the fabric and the firing is typical of ceramic material of Bronze Age date. Worked flint by Graeme Walker Twenty-four pieces of flint were recovered from stratified contexts, with a further five unstratified pieces. Material from the stratified contexts is very fresh and largely undamaged, indicating relatively rapid incorporation into pit fills. The small assemblage is characterised by small secondary and tertiary flakes, a few struck from blade cores. Raw material is variable and the artefacts are generally small, both aspects consistent with exploitation of derived material. It is notable that there is no primary flaking waste and few tools, which suggests that final manufacture and repair of existing tool-kits was the main activity taking place within the areas examined. Tool use and discard were presumably taking place off-site. The general characteristics of the assemblage would suggest a late prehistoric date, perhaps Bronze Age being appropriate for most of the collection, athough a late Mesolithic edge-blunted point does suggest earlier activity within the area. Area E Area E was located immediately to the south of Pudding Brook at the northern limit of the bypass corridor. The underlying geology consisted of Kellaways Clay. Two truncated ditches forming a “T’ shaped junction were revealed at the southern limit of the excavation (Figure 3). Ditch 003, orientated east- west, was on average 1.2m wide and 0.2m deep. Two small Romano-British sherds (weighing 6g) were retrieved from its fill. Both consisted of fine grey sandy ware from wheelmade closed forms (identified by Jane Timby). Ditch 005, orientated north-south, was 1.5m wide and 0.15m deep. The ditches are interpreted as contemporary, perhaps forming agricultural boundaries and/or drainage ditches. The Watching Brief No archaeological features were revealed during the watching brief, although a small assemblage of 106 pieces of unstratified worked flint was retrieved from the ploughsoil throughout the bypass corridor. None of the recorded material is diagnostic, but the general characteristics suggest that this assemblage is of similar date and composition to the stratified material from Area F, although the presence of numerous small snapped blades provides further evidence of Mesolithic activity. CONCLUSIONS The earliest activity detected, particularly during the watching brief, is represented by the Mesolithic component to the flint assemblage. No settlement or core of activity was identified and consequently little further comment can be made on this activity save to note that it is typical of the scatters recorded in the Chippenham region (Tucker 1985, Anon 1993, 159; NOTES Plan 80m to end of site fee # mode™ Section Figure 3. Southern portion of Area E: plan and section Bateman 2000), and across the southern Cotswolds generally (Saville 1984), which presumably indicate sites of temporary camps utilising woodland and riverine resources. By contrast, late Neolithic and late Bronze Age settlement has previously been suggested both to the north and south of these sites and, although no evidence of structures has been identified the quantity of domestic refuse retrieved from ditches and pits has been interpreted as indicative of nearby occupation (OAU 1991; N.J. Oakey, pers. comm.). Although no definitive habitation features were identified at Area F, Bronze Age occupation may be suggested both by the density of pitting, which is indicative of extended use rather than a single episode of activity, and by the close grouping of stakeholes, possibly representing a basic shelter or windbreak. The paucity of domestic refuse, such as pottery, retrieved from the excavation may indicate the pits are peripheral to the main settlement area. Alternatively it may suggest short term, maybe seasonal occupation. The lithic evidence also suggests use of the site as a temporary settlement as the final manufacture and repair of tool-kits rather than primary reduction was being undertaken, perhaps prior to the exploitation of the immediate area. The full extent of the site was not revealed, and the likelihood of further settlement features to 237 Section oe = = — 58m aop O Tm the south and east of Area F must be considered high. It remains unclear whether this occupation site was deliberately located upon the Kellaways Clays, rather than the Cornbrash which dominates the local geology, or whether it was located to take advantage of the local topography (overlooking the Pudding Brook and afforded some protection from the prevailing weather by the slightly higher ground to the north, east and west). However, it is worth noting that the prehistoric activity previously identified immediately beyond the northern and southern limits of the road corridor was also sited upon Kellaways Clay rather than the Cornbrash (Anon 1991,143; 1993, 159). The Romano-British activity revealed at Area E confirms that the Romano-British agricultural activity previously identified to the north of Pudding Brook (Anon 1991, 143) continues to the south and it is noteworthy that the activity is restricted to the lower slopes rather than the floor of the valley. Obvious limitations are placed upon the interpretation of such seemingly isolated features, but they add to our knowledge of the spatial distribution of Romano- British activity within the Chippenham area, where an increasingly dense settlement pattern, notably along the Cotswold dip slope and the immediate environs of the North Wiltshire Clay Vale, is becoming apparent (Bateman 2000). 238 THE WILTSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY MAGAZINE Acknowledgements The archaeological recording was funded by Wiltshire Civil Engineering Consultancy. The authors would like to thank Duncan Coe (Wiltshire County Council Archaeological Service) and Peter Hanson (Wiltshire Civil Engineering Consultancy) for their assistance during the course of this project, and Niall Oakey (Wessex Archaeology) for making information from previous work along the bypass corridor readily available during the compilation of this report. The project was managed by Dawn Enright. The excavations at Areas E and F were directed by Clifford Bateman and the watching brief supervised by Franco Vartuca. The illustrations were drawn by Richard Morton. References ANON 1991, ‘Excavation and Fieldwork in Wiltshire 1989: Chippenham’, WAM, 84,143 ANON 1993, ‘Excavation and Fieldwork in Wiltshire 1991: Chippenham’, WAM, 86, 159 BATEMAN, C., 2000, ‘Excavations Along the Littleton Drew to Chippenham Gas Pipeline’, WAM, 93, 90-104 DYER, C. A., 1991, The Archaeological Works on the Chippenham Bypass Route Spring 1991, Unpublished client report: Thamesdown Archaeological Unit OAU (OXFORD ARCHAEOLOGICAL UNIT) 1991, Archaeological Evaluation: Milbourne Farm and Showell Nurseries, Chippenham, Wiltshire. Unpublished client report. TUCKER, J.H., 1985, ‘Upper Palaeolithic and Mesolithic Sites in the Chippenham Area’, WAM, 79, 226-8 A MINIATURE FLAT AXE OR CHISEL FROM BROAD TOWN, NORTH WILTSHIRE by Bob Clarke A small bronze axe was discovered in May 1998 whilst returning an area of land back to garden at ‘The Laurels’, Broad Town, North Wiltshire (SU 09057792), by the owner of the house Mr Michael Broomfield. No other features or items were found. The object has been identified as a miniature flat axe or chisel. The axe has suffered slight damage to both the cutting edge and butt, and exhibits a dark green/brown patina with some slight pitting and corrosion on both sides. The original outline is only slightly reduced by deterioration of the artefact. It has a very slight stop- bevel positioned exactly half way along the overall length of the axe and a gently curved butt profile. The sides descend from the butt almost vertically to the stop-bevel then expand in a smooth curve to produce a cutting edge just over twice the width of the butt. The sides are bowed and a slight rise in edge section thickness is evident between the stop bevel and the cutting edge, which probably results from final working of the axe during manufacture. The dimensions are: length 85.5mm, width of cutting edge 32.5mm, maximum thickness 5.5mm and weight 50.53 gms. ] 'S rie CENTIMETRE 3 Q Figure 1. Bronze miniature flat axe from Broad Town (DERA Boscombe Down, © Crown Copyright) Bob Clarke, c/o DERA, Boscombe Down, Amesbury, Salisbury SP4 7RE NOTES Discussion Miniature axes often parallel larger forms, and the example from Broad Town is no exception, with similar larger forms being a relatively common type in England, mainly concentrated in the southern half of the country (West pers com). Clusters are present in Cornwall, Wessex and South Wales, as well as examples in East Yorkshire and Ireland (Needham 1983, 167-8). The presence of a stop-bevel separates the axe from Class 3 axes in the British Bronze Age Metalwork Series. The blade width differentiates it from Class 4A axes and the absence of flanges along the sides separates it from Class 4C and later axes. This places the Broad ‘Town example in Class 4B of the series and gives it a date of c.2000-1800 BC (Needham et al 1985, iii). One miniature example is known from the local area which parallels very closely that from Broad Town, discovered at Tan Hill, All Cannings (SU 090645) around 1864. It is currently held in Salisbury and South Wiltshire Museum (Moore and Rowlands 1972). It has a length of 81mm and is considered to be in the Migdale-Marnoch tradition as described by Britton (1963). The find spot on Tan Hill is 14 km south of the discovery at Broad Town. Other miniature flat axes are recorded at Devizes Museum, one from an unknown locality being 70mm long (Annable and Simpson 1964, 52), whilst another was recovered from a primary deposit in a bowl barrow at Collingbourne Kingston G4 (SU 21385179). The latter had a length of only 45mm (Annable and Simpson 1964, 57). Further afield, a miniature flat axe was located as part of a hoard of 11 bronze objects during the excavation of the Iron Age hillfort of Danebury, Hampshire (Cunliffe 1984, 335). This axe was smaller than the Broad Town example and has been interpreted by Dennis Britton as an example of a light woodworking tool (1963, 271). A GOLD FINGER RING FROM THE RUDGE ROMANO-BRITISH VILLA SITE, FROXFIELD, WILTSHIRE by Bernard Phillips! and Martin Henig? 239 Unfortunately, the Broad Town axe falls into the un-provenanced category of find, there being a number of possibilities as to how it got to its last position. It could have been found elsewhere and brought to the house, or it may have been part of an in situ deposit disturbed during the many phases of building carried out over the centuries. Acknowledgements Thanks go to Mike Broomfield for his prompt reporting of the find and Alan West at the Department of Prehistoric and Romano-British Antiquities, the British Museum, for his useful comments and assistance in producing this note. Any errors are naturally my own. Bibliography ANNABLE, F. and SIMPSON, D. 1964 Guide Catalogue of the Neolithic and Bronze Age Collections in Devizes Museum, Devizes: Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Society BRITTON, D. 1963 Traditions of Metal-working in the Later Neolithic and Early Bronze Age of Britain: Part 1, Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 29, 258- 325 CUNLIFFE, B. 1984 Danebury: An Iron Age Hillfort in Hampshire: Vol. 2, The excavations, 1969-1978: The Finds, London: Council for British Archaeology Research Report 52 MOORE, C. and ROWLANDS, M. 1972 Bronze Age Metalwork in Salisbury Museum, Salisbury: Salisbury and South Wiltshire Museum NEEDHAM, S. 1983 The Early Bronze Age Axeheads of Central and Southern England, Unpublished PhD, University College Cardiff NEEDHAM, S., LAWSON, A and GREEN, H.S. 1985 British Bronze Age Metalwork: Al-6 Early Bronze Age Hoards. London: British Museum Publications The Site In the late 1980s a gold finger ring was recovered from plough-soil overlying the Rudge Romano-British villa site by a metal detector user. Being the gamekeeper for the Littlecote Estate, on whose land the villa lay, Mr. M. Goodfield, the finder, brought the ring to the first author who was then directing an archaeological excavation on the Littlecote Romano- British villa site. The author contacted Martin Henig 1. Roman Research Trust 15 Yiewsley Cres., Stratton St Margaret, Swindon SN3 4LT 2. Institute of Archaeology, 36 Beaumont St.,Oxford OX1 2PG 240 THE WILTSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY MAGAZINE who examined the ring. His account forms the second part of this report. Following drawing by the Littlecote excavation’s draughtsman, Luigi Thompson, the ring was returned to the finder. Evidence that a Romano-British villa had existed at Rudge first occurred during clearance of woodland in 1725 (Pugh and Crittall 1957). Then foundations, a well and a tessellated pavement were located. The damaged central emblema of the pavement depicted the lower parts of two figures and a jar from which water flows. Late Roman coins, an enamelled cup and five human skeletons were found in the well. The cup shows and names military forts. Identification of these has been made with forts located on Hadrian’s Wall. Ploughing in about 1875 revealed a stone statuette thought to be of Atys. The discovery of tesserae occurred during the second world war in the course of digging foundations for Nissen huts. During an aerial survey in 1976 of local villa sites, involving the first author, cropmarks of a south facing rectangular structure were seen, presumably the villa- house, fronted by a corridor and with a room protruding at the east-end. On the west side of an apparent courtyard fronting the house a further rectangular building, divided widthways into three rooms, was also revealed. Figure 1. Rudge: Roman gold ring (scale = 10mm) The Ring The ring is very small with a diameter of about 12 mm and a weight of 2.6g, presumably intended for a girl. Itis made from sheet gold approximately 0.75mm thick and is faceted, probably octagonal, a form which is widespread in the 3rd century. The topmost facet which is rectangular with bowed sides (8mm by 7mm) serves as a bezel with an engraved intaglio device of a palm-branch with four projecting leaves on each side, all of them terminating in pellets. When found the ring was badly distorted, but this may have been recent damage. For gold rings of the same type engraved with the palm-frond device, comparison may be made with two even lighter in weight (respectively 1.8g and 1.0g) from a Severan hoard at Lyons (Comarond 1844, 40, pl. 3 nos. 25 and 26). There is no exact parallel from Britain but I know of a number of faceted rings from the province, for instance two from Vindolanda (Birley 1973, 119-20, pl. XVIII nos. 17 and 18), one set with a gem, the other plain, and one from Carrawburgh (Allason-Jones and McKay 1985, 19-20, no. 30 pl. XID), also plain. The device of a palm with its connotations of victory and success (including victory in love) is widespread. A gold ring from Verulamium of somewhat different form, but perhaps also 3rd century may be noted (Henig 1984, 19. no. 1, pl. la, b) as well as a gold ring from Carlisle inscribed ‘AMA ME’ (Dalton 1912, 4, no. 15,) while for the form of palm with pellets, the device on a silver ring, probably a 2nd century type, from Southwark comes to mind (Henig 1976). Incidentally, although such pelleting is to be seen on some Iron Age coins of the Dobunni, it is hardly conceivable that the two types of objects can be linked over two centuries and, besides, such pelleting is to be seen on palms engraved on two rings from the Continent (Hoffman and Von Claer 1968, 184, no. 124). Gold rings were the prerogative of such people of high social rank and, however expanded the definition of such an honour had become by the 3rd century, we clearly have here an object likely to have belonged to the child of a villa-owner: The device hints at her future prospects in finding a suitable husband. References ALLASON-JONES, L. and McKAY, B., 1985, Coventina’s Well. A shrine on Hadrian’s Wall. Chesters Museum BIRLEY, R., 1973, ‘Vindolanda-Chesterholm 1969-1972: some important material from the vicus’, Archaeologia Aeliana, 5th series 1 COMARMOND, A., 1844, Description de L’Ercin d’une dame Romaine trouve a Lyon en 1841. Paris DALTON, O. M., 1912, Catalogue of the Finger-Rings; Early Christian, Byzantine, Teutonic, Medieval and Later. London: British Museum HENIG, M., 1976, ‘A silver finger-ring from Winchester Wharf, Southwark’, Transactions of the London and NOTES Middlesex Archaeological Society 27, 256 HENIG, M., 1984, in Frere, S., Verulamium Excavation III, Monograph, no. 1, Oxford University Committee for Archaeology HOFFMAN, H. and VON CLAER, V., 1968, Museum fur 241 Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg Antiker Gold-und Silberschmiuck. Mainz PUGH, R. B. and CRITTALL, E., 1957, Victoria County History of Wiltshire, volume 1, part 1. Oxford University Press EXCAVATIONS AT VALE’S LANE, DEVIZES, 1996-7 by Phil Andrews and Lorraine Mepham In 1996 Wessex Archaeology was commissioned by Lovell Partnerships (Southern) Ltd to carry out an archaeological excavation prior to redevelopment at the former Old Joinery Works, Vale’s Lane, Devizes (centred on SU 61370061). The report published here is asummary of the principal discoveries as financial support for a full programme of post-excavation work was not obtained. However, the pottery is considered at greater length as there is a dearth of material so far published for the town. Few finds other than pottery were recovered and further details of these, the archaeological deposits and the environmental remains can be found in the assessment report (WA 1996) which forms part of the site archive, shortly to be deposited at Devizes Museum. The known archaeology and historical setting of Devizes have been summarised by Haslam (1976). The town is of medieval origin, first recorded as ‘Divisas’ in 1135, and the evidence available, especially the street pattern, indicates that it developed as a result of construction of the castle. The earliest known castle, which was burnt down in 1113, was replaced in c. 1120 by one of multiple bailey type (Figure 1a). This comprised a motte, inner bailey, and outer bailey, with an outer arc of streets and properties (the area refered to as Old Port) surrounded by a ditch and bank comprising the ‘town defences’. Haslam has argued that the ‘town defences’ were created at the same time as the castle in c. 1120, and integral with these was the construction of the earthworks surrounding the deer park to the south-east (Haslam 1980, 64-5). At some point, probably in the later 12th century, the outer bailey of the castle was abandoned and this set of defences was either removed or left to decay naturally. The town then developed within the former outer bailey (contra Butler 1976, 45), the area subsequently referred to as New Port. With the exception of the excavations south of Hare and Hounds Street (Haslam 1980) and at New Park Street (Russell 1993), recent archaeological work in Devizes has either taken the form of evaluations or watching briefs, or has not been fully published. Redevelopment of the Old Joinery, Vale’s Lane, provided an opportunity to establish the position of the outer bailey ditch and investigate the evidence for medieval and later settlement in this part of the town. The redevelopment site covered an area of approximately 3800m? (Figure 1b), lay at c. 129.00m aOD and, at the time of the excavation, was covered with concrete slabs and tarmac. The underlying geology is Cretaceous Upper Greensand. An evaluation undertaken by the Cotswold Archaeological Trust in January 1996 (CAT 1996) revealed archaeological deposits of medieval and later date in the northern part of the site, but none were present or survived to the south. On the basis of the evaluation results the County Archaeological Officer requested that a further programme of archaeological work be undertaken. The Excavation The fieldwork strategy comprised the excavation of a single area measuring c. 15m by 10m (incorporating the majority of the northern evaluation trench) at the north end of the redevelopment area, and a watching brief during subsequent groundworks associated with the housing development. The excavation was carried out in October-November 1996 and the watching brief in February-March 1997. The archaeological features recorded are shown in Figures 1b and Ic. Medieval features The earliest feature was probably a large ditch (514), approximately 8m wide and up to 4m deep. It was aligned roughly north-south and lay towards the west side of the site, immediately to the west of the excavation trench (see Figure 1b). The location of this feature was indicated by a series of geotechnic boreholes prior to excavation, and was confirmed during the watching brief. Only a small part of this feature was revealed in plan and section and it was Wessex Archaeology, Portway House, Old Sarum Park, Salisbury SP4 6EB THE WILTSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY MAGAZINE [] Medieval features [__] Post-medieval features —-— — Probable kne of ditch s Recorded section Approximate line of Outer Bailey ditch Evaluation trench 4 Excavation trench Watching Brief Area 50m Figure 1. Site Location. NOTES not possible to ascertain its profile. The upper fill was a homogeneous dark greyish brown loam containing post-medieval (18th — 19th century) debris, and it is suggested below that this feature was the outer bailey ditch. The excavation revealed six shallow pits (29, 36, 51, 53, 67, 71), all less than 0.5m deep, which have been assigned on ceramic evidence to the 13th century. These pits varied in shape and size, with an apparent concentration of larger examples towards the east end of the trench. Towards the west end was a homogeneous spread of dark greyish brown sandy loam up to 0.3m thick which overlay the natural greensand and was indistinguishable from the fills of pits 51 and 53. Pottery recovered from the spread was also predominantly of 13th century date, but both it and several of the pits contained some residual 12th century sherds. Three further shallow pits (24, 35, 48) were of 13th or early 14th century date. Also assigned to this phase was a short length of wall footing represented by a single course of small limestone lumps (8) aligned approximately east - west, and an oval, clay hearth (33) some 5m to the north of the wall footing. Two pits (58, 64) are the only features assigned a late medieval (15th — 16th century) date. Post-medieval and modern features The western two-thirds of the trench was partly covered by a large, shallow scoop (28), of probable 16th century date which had truncated the earlier features and deposits in this area. This was only partly excavated. Its fill comprised a generally homogeneous dark greyish brown sandy clay loam with a concentration of coarse shelly limestone fragments at the east end; these included at least one fragment of stone rooftile. Limestone building material recovered to the east of the excavated area during the watching brief may have derived from the same source, perhaps from a nearby medieval structure. Five pits (4, 15, 17, 41, 80) and as many as five post-holes (9, 11, 13, 19 and 31) have been assigned a 17th century date, although few of the post-holes contained dating evidence. The post-holes were generally insubstantial, but may represent the corner of a timber building aligned approximately north - south. Pit 80 was a large, shallow, sub-circular feature which contained a concentration of stone building material, and pit 4 was deeper than any of the other pits on the site: it was sub-rectangular in plan, at least 1.5m deep (not bottomed) and had vertical sides. The 17th century and earlier features were sealed by a substantial deposit of very dark greyish brown 243 sandy clay loam. This homogeneous deposit, most of which was removed by machine, was up to 0.7m thick at the west end of the site and appears to represent a well-mixed agricultural soil. This soil most likely reflects the existence of an orchard on the site from the 18th century until the construction of the joinery works in the 20th century. The Pottery by Lorraine Mepham The pottery assemblage from the Vale’s Lane site amounts to 224 sherds (4994 g) of medieval to post- medieval date. This has been analysed using the standard Wessex Archaeology pottery recording system (Morris 1994) by which fabrics are defined and coded on the basis of dominant inclusion type. In addition, some fabrics can be identified as of known type or source. Medieval vessel forms are defined following nationally recommended nomenclature (MPRG 1998). Medieval On the basis of known or suspected source/source area the medieval assemblage falls into six main groups: 1. sandy wares probably deriving from the Nash Hill kilns at Lacock 2. micaceous sandy wares probably from the Crockerton area 3. coarsewares and finewares of Laverstock type from south-east Wiltshire 4. calcareous and flint-tempered ‘Kennet Valley wares’ 5. calcareous wares from north Wiltshire (Nash Hill or Minety) 6. other miscellaneous wares Predominant amongst the medieval assemblage are wares which can be tentatively identified as originating from the Nash Hill production centre approximately 10 km north-west of Devizes. Four fabrics were identified, although visual similarities suggest that all are merely variants of a single type (McCarthy 1974, fabric B): Q401 Hard, moderately coarse matrix, slightly micaceous; common, fairly well sorted, subrounded quartz <0.5 mm (rarely <1 mm); handmade; generally oxidised with unoxidised core. Q402_ Finer version of Q401 with quartz <0.25 mm (rarely <0.5 mm); wheelthrown. 244 THE WILTSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY MAGAZINE ‘Table 1. Fabric totals and diagnostic forms Fabric No. sherds Nash Hill Q401 35 787 74.0 Q402 19 186 V7.5 Q404 2 64 6.0 Q405 2 26 2.5 sub-total 58 1063 - 36.0 Crockerton Q400 10 139 61.8 Q403 5 86 38:2 sub-total 15 225 - 7.0 Laverstock E422a 1 24 4.6 E422b 6 152 29.0 E420 3 70 13.3 E421 1 16 3.) 11 262 50.0 sub-total 22 524 - Dh ‘Kennet Valley’ C401 31 734 98.7 F400 1 10 1.3 sub-total 32 744 - 25.2 N. Wilts C400 3 48 14.9 C402 2 52 16.2 C403 4 222 68.9 sub-total 9 322 - 10.9 Q406 2} 54 - 1.8 ‘Tudor Green 2, 22 - 0.8 TOTAL MED 140 2954 - . E600 25 380 E601 55 1582 Verwood 2 2 Stoneware 1 4 Porcelain 1 1 TOTAL POST-MED 84 2040 Weight % of group % of total med. Vessel forms tripod pitcher, frying pans (Fig. 2, 3), jars (Fig. 2, 1), glazed and white-slipped jugs glazed and white-slipped jugs glazed jugs jar frying pan, jars glazed jugs glazed jug jars (Fig. 2, 2 glazed and decorated tripod pitcher glazed tripod pitcher glazed jug handled cup includes slipwares dishes, bowls, jars Q404 Hard, moderately fine, slightly micaceous matrix; sparse, well sorted, subrounded quartz <0.5 mm; rare limestone <0.25 mm; sparse iron oxides; ?wheelthrown; single example is unoxidised but might be overfired. Q405 Coarser version of Q401 with quartz <1 mm; also rare limestone <0.5 mm; handmade. Vessel forms present are summarised in Table 1. The jars and glazed jugs are comparable to published examples from the 13th century kilns (McCarthy 1974), but the tripod pitcher is likely to be earlier. The type is generally dated to the 12th century, and an example found in a non-kiln context at Lacock NOTES was dated no later than the beginning of the 13th century (ibid., fig. 34). Fabrics originating in the Crockerton area are characterised by their visibly micaceous clay matrix. Two fabrics are defined here: Q400_ Hard, fine, micaceous matrix; sparse subrounded quartz <0.5 mm; rare subangular flint and irregular limestone <5mm; sparse iron oxides; handmade; generally oxidised (often pale-firing) with unoxidised core. Q403 Hard, fine, micaceous matrix; moderate, well-sorted, subrounded quartz <0.25 mm; moderate iron oxides; wheelthrown; oxidised (often pale-firing) with unoxidised core. These two fabrics can be compared respectively with fabrics D and H at Emwell Street, Warminster (Smith 1997, 20-1). Both have a lengthy currency from at least the 12th century at Warminster, but in general the finer fabric does not feature prominently until the later 13th century. Fabric D is predominant throughout the medieval period (ibid., fig. 13). Only one rim sherd, from a jar in fabric Q400, is present here; the form is not closely datable. The Laverstock-type wares are represented by three fabric types, two coarse (E422a, E422b) and two fine (E420, E421). These are defined following the type series established for Salisbury (Mepham 2000) and are not therefore described in detail here. The finewares derive from glazed jugs and the coarsewares from jugs, with one frying pan also recognised. Two fabrics, one calcareous and one flint- tempered, fall within a widespread ceramic tradition found across west Berkshire and north-east Wiltshire, and recently redefined as ‘Kennet Valley wares’: C401 Hard, moderately coarse matrix, very slightly micaceous; sparse, poorly sorted limestone <1 mm; sparse, fairly well sorted, subrounded quartz <1 mm; sparse iron oxides; handmade; firing irregular. F400 Hard, moderately coarse matrix; moderate, poorly sorted, subrounded quartz <0.5 mm; sparse, subangular flint <2 mm; rare limestone <1 mm; sparse iron oxides; handmade; irregular firing. One kiln site is known for these wares near Newbury (Mepham forthcoming), but given such a widespread distribution more must still await discovery; one putative source has been identified on place-name evidence in the Savernake Forest (Vince 1997, 65). One sherd has been thin-sectioned as part of a small- scale programme of petrological analysis on these ‘Kennet Valley’ wares (see Mepham forthcoming), and 245 the sample from Vale’s Lane was found to differ quite significantly from samples from sites further east in the Kennet Valley in terms of matrix (coarser) and range of inclusions (relatively high content of shell but no flint). The potential date range of these wares is wide (see Vince 1997), but there is nothing amongst the vessel forms here (jars only) to suggest a date range later than the 13th century. Three fabrics, all calcareous, may not derive from a single source, but all are likely to originate in north Wiltshire, where calcareous wares are known to have been produced at Nash Hill as well as at Minety and Lyneham (McCarthy 1974, fabric A; Musty 1973; Annable 1960). C400 Hard, moderately fine matrix, slightly micaceous, slightly soapy feel; moderate, poorly sorted, irregular limestone <2 mm; rare quartz and iron oxides; handmade; unoxidised with oxidised internal surface. C402 Hard, moderately fine, slightly micaceous matrix, soapy feel; moderate, fairly well sorted limestone (including ooliths) <0.5 mm (rarely <1 mm); rare subrounded quartz <0.5 mm; handmade; unoxidised with oxidised external surface. C403 Hard, moderately fine, very slightly micaceous matrix; moderate, fairly well sorted limestone (including ooliths) <1 mm; very rare quartz <0.5 mm; handmade; generally oxidised with unoxidised core. Sherds of glazed tripod pitchers occur in fabrics C400 and C402; the example in C400 has combed decoration; there are no other diagnostic sherds. Two other fabrics were identified: Q406 Hard, moderately coarse matrix; moderate, well sorted, subangular/subrounded quartz <0.125 mm; sparse limestone <0.125 mm; sparse iron oxides; handmade; unoxidised with oxidised (pale-firing) surfaces. “Tudor Green’ ware: for full description see Pearce and Vince (1988). Fabric Q406 is represented only by two sherds from one context, probably both from the same glazed jug. The source of this fabric is unknown, although it could be from the Bristol area, possibly Ham Green. Post-medieval The post-medieval assemblage consists largely of coarse earthenwares, mostly glazed. These have been broadly divided into wares which are at least partially unoxidised, often resulting in an olive-green internal glaze (E601), and wholly oxidised wares (E600). The 246 THE WILTSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY MAGAZINE former are all probably Crockerton area products, and at Warminster tend to occur in earlier post- medieval contexts (pre-18th century), superseded later by the oxidised wares (Smith 1997, 29). A few examples of each type are slip-decorated. Other wares are very scarce, and are represented by a handful of sherds of Verwood type earthenware, stoneware and porcelain, all of which are 18th century or later. Ceramic sequence It is difficult to identify any demonstrable sequence within the medieval ceramic assemblage, even when viewed against the background of the stratigraphic evidence, since most of the wares identified could have covered a relatively long timespan. A 12th century component, in the form of tripod pitchers, is certainly present, but all examples are found with 13th century or later wares. All the other medieval wares identified (with the exception of “Tudor Green’) would fit within a 13th century date range. The ‘Kennet Valley’ wares were certainly in use earlier elsewhere in the Kennet Valley (eg. Vince 1997, 64), but in this instance, apart from pits 51 and 53, they are associated with definite 13th century or later wares. Wares which might extend the sequence into the 14th century include the finer glazed wares of Laverstock and Nash Hill type, although there are no closely datable forms present here, nor are there any forms comparable to the wasters found at Minety and provisionally dated to the 14th/15th century (Musty 1973). It seems, then, that there is a real hiatus in the ceramic sequence between, at the latest, the early 14th century and the late 15th/16th century, which is very sparsely represented by a few sherds of “Tudor Green’ ware. An early post-medieval ceramic phase can be defined (16th/17th century), dominated by Crockerton area products, in particular the partially unoxidised wares (E601). The almost complete absence of other wares suggests that there was little activity on the site after the 17th century, although some late deposits were removed by machining. Wares which can be certainly be dated later than this are restricted to two sherds of Verwood type earthenware, one sherd of stoneware and one of porcelain. Discussion The range of medieval wares identified at Vale’s Lane is comparable to that described for the site at New Park Street (Gardiner 1993), and confirms the location of the town within the overlapping distributions of several pottery production centres. Potential 12th century wares probably derive from the nearest known source, Nash Hill, as well as other kilns elsewhere in north Wiltshire. From the 13th century the dominant local wares from Nash Hill are supplemented by a wider range of sources, including the Salisbury area (Laverstock types), the Kennet Valley, and the Warminster area (Crockerton types), as well as possible sources to the west, towards Bristol. “"-! Green glaze 9 50mm a Figure 2. Medieval Pottery. List of illustrated vessels (Figure 2) 1. Jar rim, fabric Q401. PRN (Pottery Record Number) 50, context 34, hearth 33. 2. Jar rim, fabric C401. PRN 23/96, layers 6/66. 3. Frying pan handle, fabric Q401. PRN 30, layer 6. Discussion The excavation at Vale’s Lane, although limited in extent, has provided a welcome addition to the rather meagre archaeological evidence from Devizes. The outer bailey ditch was recorded in approximately the position postulated by Haslam (1980, fig. 3; Figure NOTES 1b), although no controlled excavation was possible and the ditch could not be closely dated. The outer bailey ditch has been recorded on three other occasions since 1980 (Figure la): near to St John’s church to the south-west where part of the associated bank survived (IAFAU 1991); to the north-west beneath the Corn Exchange (WA 1994); and to the north-north-west between the Market Place and New Park Street (TVAS 1999). None of these sites produced any secure dating evidence, but all three indicated that the ditch was approximately 8m wide and 4m deep, similar in size to the outer ‘town ditch’ (Haslam 1980, fig. 2). The Corn Exchange site produced no evidence for the existence of a large ‘moat’ separating the castle inner bailey from the outer bailey as postulated by Haslam (1980, fig. 3). Instead, it appears that the outer bailey ditch may have continued around to form a complete circuit enclosing the kidney-shaped outer bailey. The recorded ditch fills on all three sites comprised mainly homogeneous slightly loamy sands, suggesting that the ditch had been regularly cleaned out, or little debris deposited in it, and that it may have been backfilled largely with bank material in a single operation. When the backfilling took place is uncertain, but it is unlikely that the ditch was maintained after the 12th century when the outer bailey fell out of use and the inner market place developed there. Very small quantities of pottery recovered from the top of the ditch at Vale’s Lane suggest that in places it may have remained as a slight hollow and not been finally infilled until the 18th-19th century. Indeed, its line appears to be still evident as a very shallow linear hollow in the graveyard belonging to the Baptist Chapel immediately to the north of the development area (Figure 1b). The outer bailey ditch at Vale’s Lane would have served to demarcate properties along Sheep Street to the east from those along Long Street to the west. The excavated area lay to the rear of properties along Sheep Street, and thus outside the castle bailey and within the area of the original planned borough laid out in the early 12th century. No features of 12th century date were identified, although 12th century pottery was present as residual material in later features, and the majority of the medieval features comprised shallow pits of 13th century date. The nature and date of these features, and the limited structural evidence, is likely to reflect the location of the excavated area in backlands 70m or so from the street frontage. No property divisions were apparent, nor any evidence for specific crafts or industries, and the finds recovered are likely to reflect the disposal of domestic rubbish. The ceramic evidence indicates an 247 apparent hiatus in activity in this area between the early 14th century and the late 15th/ early 16th century. This was followed by a further phase of pit digging, with a possibly associated post-built structure, in the 17th century, prior to the establishment of an orchard in the 18th century. Acknowledgements Wessex Archaeology would like to acknowledge the assistance and facilities provided by the staff ot Lovell Partnership (Southern) Ltd, and in particular Mr Richard Cruse and Mr David Milner. The collaborative role of the Archaeology Section of the Libraries and Heritage Services, Wiltshire County Council and particularly Mr Roy Canham, County Archaeologist, and Mr Duncan Coe, Assistant County Archaeological Officer, is also acknowledged. We are grateful to the County Archaeologist and Mr Will Bryant, Housing Development Officer, Kennet District Council, for arranging grants from Wiltshire County Council and Kennet District Council which have enabled the publication of this report. The project was managed for Wessex Archaeology by Niall Oakey, with the excavation carried out by Phil Andrews, Richard May, Angela Batt and Rosie Edmunds, and the watching brief undertaken by Nicholas Wells and Rosie Edmunds. The illustrations were produced by S.E. James. References ANNABLE, E.K., 1960, ‘A possible medieval pottery site at Lyneham’, WAM, 57, 403-4 BUTLER, L., 1976, ‘The evolution of towns: Planned towns after 1066’, in M.W. Barley, (ed.), The plans and topography of medieval towns in England and Wales, Council British Archaeological Research Report 14 CAT [Cotswold Archaeological Trust] 1996, ‘Old Joinery Works, Vales Lane, Devizes: Archaeological evaluation’, unpublished client report, CAT 96341 GARDINER, M., 1993, “The pottery’, in Russell 1993, 94-6 HASLAM, J., 1976, Wiltshire Towns: The Archaeological Potential. Devizes HASLAM, J., 1980, ‘The excavation of the defences of Devizes, Wiltshire, 1974’, WAM, 72/73, 59-65 IAFAU (Institute of Archaeology Field Archaeology Unit] 1991, ‘An evaluation of the Norman outer bailey defences at Estcourt Hill, Devizes’, unpublished client report MCCARTHY, M.R., 1974, “The medieval kilns on Nash Hill, Lacock, Wiltshire’, WAM, 69, 97-160 248 THE WILTSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY MAGAZINE MEPHAM, L., 2000, ‘Pottery’ in M. Rawlings, ‘Excavations at Ivy Street and Brown Street, Salisbury, 1994’, WAM 93, 29-37 [this volume] MEPHAM, L., forthcoming, ‘The medieval pottery from Enborne Street and Wheatlands Lane’, in V. Birbeck and C.W. Moore, Archaeological Investigations on the A34 Bypass, Berkshire/Hampshire MORRIS, E.L., 1994, The analysis of pottery, Salisbury, unpub. Wessex Archaeology guideline 4 MPRG [Medieval Pottery Research Group] 1998, A Guide to the Classification of Medieval Ceramic Forms, Medieval Pottery Research Group Occasional Paper 1 MUSTY, J., 1973, ‘A preliminary account of a medieval pottery industry at Minety, North Wiltshire’, WAM, 68, 79-88 PEARCE, J. and VINCE, A., 1988, A dated type-series of London medieval pottery. Part 4: Surrey Whitewares. London Middlesex Archaeological Society Special Paper 10 RUSSELL, M., 1993, ‘Excavations at New Park Street, Devizes, 1990’, WAM, 86, 88-101 SMITH, R.W., 1997, Excavations at Emwell Street, Warminster: the early economy and environment of a Wiltshire Market Town. Salisbury: Wessex Archaeology TVAS [Thames Valley Archaeological Services] 1999, ‘Land to the rear of Cromwell House and 33 Market Place, Devizes, Wiltshire’, unpublished client report, MPD 99/ 20 VINCE, A., 1997, ‘Excavations at Nos. 143-5 Bartholomew Street, Newbury, 1979’, in A.G. Vince, S.J. Lobb, J.C. Richards and L. Mepham, Excavations in Newbury, Berkshire 1979-1990. Wessex Archaeological Reports 13, 7-85 WA [Wessex Archaeology] 1994, ‘Corn Exchange, Devizes, Wiltshire: Archaeological watching brief’, unpublished client report, W687 WA [Wessex Archaeology] 1996, ‘Old Joinery Works, Vale’s Lane, Devizes: Assessment report on the results of the archaeological excavation including proposals for post- excavation analysis and publication’, unpublished client report, W2658 A MONKEY’S HEAD KNIFE FINIAL FROM NEAR TROWBRIDGE by Paul Robinson In the 16th century the style arose of applying to the end of the handle of a scale-tang knife a small decorative finial (or ‘knife cap’) generally made of copper alloy. The most common designs were those in the form of the head of a hammer (either a carpenter’s claw hammer or a shoeing hammer), a horse’s hoof or two addorsed horse’s hooves. These often include detail showing the horse-shoe and its nails. Complete knives with finials of this form are not uncommon. One example in Salisbury Museum with a horse’s hoof finial may have been made by a Salisbury cutler (Saunders 1986, 7). Another, found in London, is believed to be the work of a Flemish cutler (Hayward 1957, i3, pl.le). The use of finials in the form of a horse’s hoof remained popular with cutlers until well into the 17th century. Much less often the decorative finial was in the form of a human head, the head of an animal or a bird. When a human head is used, generally there is insufficient detail to show for certain whom the figure was intended to depict. Possibly female heads were intended to represent St Barbara, the patron saint of gunners, and male heads St Lawrence, the patron saint of cutlers. Terminals in the form of a bird or pair of birds may Figure 1. Monkey-head knife finials from near Trowbridge (left) and Sussex (below) be intended to depict a pigeon or dove. Those in the form of an animal’s head may depict what appears to be a horse’s head, while some certainly show the head of a monkey. The style of the finials does not closely imitate the range of decorative finials in use at the same time on silver or base metal spoons. In the main, decorative finials were not used on spoons until well after the fashion of decorative knife finials had begun. It is noticeable too that some of the subjects of knife finials are light-hearted in nature, such as the head of a hammer and the monkey’s head, which contrast with the more formal subjects on 16th- and 17th-century spoons. It is possible too that the use of the designs of the horse’s hoof or the head of a claw-hammer may be to do with tapping the end of the knife on the table. Perhaps not surprisingly the monkey’s head design NOTES of knife finial is among the least common found in England. The example illustrated is the first to be recorded from Wiltshire. It was found near Trowbridge in 1992 and acquired by Devizes Museum (accession number 1993.619). It is smaller in size than most other examples of the type and shows less detail of the head. For comparison, a similar knife finial, now in a private collection, found in Sussex, is shown. Both can be dated to c. 1500-1550. It is doubtful whether more than a few people in Wiltshire in the first half of the 1 6th century would have seen a live monkey. They could, however, have seen images of monkeys on objects ranging from misericords to public house signs. They would know about monkeys from the Bible, from classical literature and from medieval writers and bestiaries. In medieval thought monkeys have been seen as symbols of evil, sin, particularly in relation to the fall of man, and of the 249 waywardness of Christian Europe. They were a ludicrous approximation of humanity, a prop for the derision of women, as well as a demonstration of the idiocies of all human endeavour. But to the common man then as in post-medieval times, the monkey was seen as a boisterous comical rebel, an unrestrained mockery of mankind which it so closely resembled, and a mischievous roguish creature of insatiable curiosity, which inevitably made it vulnerable to a smarter opponent. It is as such a creature it is shown on knife finials. References HAYWARD, J.F., 1957, English Cutlery 1500-1800. HMSO (Victoria & Albert Museum Catalogue) SAUNDERS, P.R., 1986, Channels to the Past: the Salisbury drainage collection. Salisbury & South Wilts Museum YET MORE ABOUT CUMBERWELL by Kenneth Rogers This note describes the owners, occupiers and history of Cumberwell, a vanished house near Bradford-on- Avon, from the late 17th century. In the light of more recently available sources it supplements and corrects earlier accounts, published in 1950 and 1952. In 1950 G. J. Kidston of Hazelbury wrote an article in this magazine about Cumberwell, which he described as ‘a quite insignificant and uninteresting place tucked away between Bradford-on-Avon and South Wraxall’. In 1952 he added new information in a further article ‘More about Cumberwell’.' Since then Cumberwell has developed a higher profile as a golf club and restaurant. It is now possible to add more to what Kidston knew, mainly from papers of the Clark family in the large deposit made by Mann and Rodway of Trowbridge in the Wiltshire and Swindon Record Office.? Rather than trying to fill gaps in Kidston’s articles it seems best to present a narrative from the late 17th century. The Button family of Alton, later of Tockenham Court in Lyneham, had acquired Cumberwell in 1530.’ Sir Robert Button, the second of three brothers who in turn succeeded to the baronetcy, died c. 1679 without issue, and left Cumberwell by will to his nephew Charles Steward, the son of his sister Jane, who had married Richard Steward, Dean of St Paul’s and Westminster. At that time it was described as a farm and lands occupied by Robert Foote.’ Steward moved to Cumberwell, and was probably the builder of a mansion house of some size on the estate. By 1691 he was married to Mary Compton of a family seated at Hartpury, Gloucestershire; his uncle had married one of this family too. Steward died in1698 as a result of injuries received from a fall from his horse, as is told on the elaborate memorial, featuring a full-length figure of the dead man in the costume of the time, which Mary set up in the chancel of Bradford church.’ The couple left no issue, so Mary had only a life estate with remainder to John Walker of Hadley, Middlesex and his heirs. He had married Mary, another sister of Sir Robert Button who had left it to Charles Steward. John Walker died in1703, probably before Mary Steward, whose death has not been found. By 1718 it was in the possession of John’s son Heneage Walker, who executed a deed of settlement which names no occupier of the mansion house but describes the farm of 265 acres as occupied by John Newton. The effect of this would probably have resulted in Cumberwell passing in due course to Heneage’s brother John, the ancestor of the Walker- Heneage family of Compton Bassett, for Heneage was unmarried. However in 1721 he revoked the settlement, evidently with a view to selling Cumberwell, which he did in 1723.° 250 THE WILTSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY MAGAZINE The purchaser was John Cooper of Trowbridge, who paid £2,925 for a property (fully described for the first time in the deed) consisting of the mansion house, a house in Little Cumberwell, and about 230 acres of land. He had made money as a clothier, as had his father Thomas, and Thomas bought the manor of South Wraxall, adjoining Cumberwell, in 1722. Other purchases in the same area followed.’ They owned the large and stately house in Fore Street, Trowbridge now occupied by Lloyds Bank, and a few letters from John in the last years of his life in the late forties show that he moved between there and Cumberwell. Racked by gout so that he sometimes had to be carried by two men, he went from Cumberwell to Trowbridge in February 1747, a time of wet and unwholesome weather, and after a fortnight there felt much better for the change of air and the company. John Cooper died early in 1749, and Cumberwell passed to his son Thomas, who had married Frances Bathurst of Clarendon Park. After his father’s death Thomas wrote to his sister, Ann Fleming: I have (tis true) arrived to a very good estate, but then tis all entailed on my eldest son and I am only a tenant for life so that my daughters’ fortunes must depend on what I can save out of my estates. If my poor father had thought proper to have shewed me his will I believe I shou’d have prevailed with him to have altered it in many particulars, but he was so Reserved that I never knew the contents of it till after his decease. In these circumstances it was essential for Thomas to live to a good age, but in fact he died at the age of about 46 in 1756, leaving the estate to bear the costs of a widowhood until Frances’s death in 1779. Daniel Clutterbuck, the Bradford lawyer, wrote to Thomas’s brother-in-law, Edward Fleming, ‘Mr. Cooper’s concerns are so circumstanced as to render it necessary to call in all the debts’. Fleming did not pay up, and in 1758 Frances had to tell him, ‘Our affairs are left so that it is unavoidable . .. I must not let my children hazard so considerable a loss .. ., Life is very precarious’.® The next heir was Thomas’s son, John Cooper, who married Mary, daughter of Edward Baynton of Spye Park in 1759.’ He was living at Cumberwell in 1762 while his mother appears to have moved to Salisbury. In 1763 his huntsman, very much in liquor, was killed by being thrown from a mettlesome young horse of his master’s between Bradford and Cumberwell. In 1765 John wrote from London to his uncle Fleming that he could not meet him in town because he had to be at the races at Newmarket. In 1766, when he died, aged about 30, the estate was mortgaged for over £6,000.'° Mary Cooper re-married in the same year. Her new husband was a captain in the Royal Volunteers in which her first husband had been a lieutenant; he was Charles Cooper, an illegitimate son of Henry, Lord Holland, and not known to be related to the Cumberwell Coopers. On their marriage she made arrangements for financial provision for her only daughter, Frances Sarah; her failure to honour them led her and Charles into what appears to have been an acrimonious dispute with her father and brother culminating in a Chancery cause in which they acted as ‘next friends’ to the girl."! Cooper may indeed have been an unsuitable man to be step-father to her, as is known from the memoirs of William Hickey. He first met Charles and Mary when they were living at Sheerness and sailed with them on their yacht The Porpoise. Later entries depict Charles as a dissipated gambler and drunkard. What was happening at Cumberwell meanwhile? Andrews and Dury’s map of 1773 shows Sir Edward Bayntun as occupier. The significance of this is not clear; he may well have been acting as guardian of the next heir, his grandson, John Allen Cooper, but is hardly likely to have set up an establishment for a boy of about 12 away from his own seat at Spye Park. Nor is it likely that he fitted the house with new furniture, which happened in c. 1776, as the following advertisement!” makes clear: BRADFORD, WILTS. To be SOLD BY AUCTION by HENRY HILL, on Wednesday the 24th of September instant, and the following day._The HOUSEHOLD FURNITURE of CUMBERWELL HOUSE, removed for the convenience of sale, to a commodious room at the Green Dragon in Bradford aforesaid; consisting of handsome four-post bedsteads, with silk, mohair, cotton and other furnitures, and window curtains, fine goose feather beds, mattrasses, blankets, quilts, and counterpanes, Wilton and Turkey carpets, mahogany chairs, and a set of drawing room armchairs, dining, card, and Pembroke tables, chests of drawers, oval, pier, and other glasses, prints, cast iron Bath stoves, and other useful furniture. The whole was put in new about twelve months since, and exceedingly well kept. The whole may be viewed on Tuesday the 23d, and each morning of the sale, which will begin at three 0’ clock. Catalogues will be delivered in due time, at the King’s Arms, Devizes; Woolpacks at Trowbridge; at the place of sale; and of Henry Hill, upholder, in Marlborough. *** The room is upwards of sixty feet long, in which seats will be compleatly fitted up for the company. It seems more likely that this furniture was put in by a tenant whose term ended abruptly in some way. 2511 NOTES its demolition r10r to 1ts Cumberwell in 1903 p to Ui bo THE WILTSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY MAGAZINE He Cumberwell in 1903 prior to its demolition The heir, John Allen Cooper, was a soldier who had just returned from service in America in May 1781, when he was almost of age, and was than at Spye Park. His mother, Mary, had died the previous year.'’ It seems possible that he moved into Cumberwell for a time, for another advertisement for furniture" sheds light on the situation: BRADFORD TO BE SOLD by AUCTION, by WILLIAM PITMAN, on Thursday next, the 18th instant, and following days, The HOUSEHOLD FURNITURE, Linen, China, Glass, and other Effects, at Cumberwell House, near Bradford; consisting of bedsteads, with cotton, check, and other furniture; feather beds, blankets, quilts, and counterpanes ; the Mahogany articles consist of tables, chairs, night stools etc large marble slab in mahogany and other frames; handsome pier glasses in carved and gilt frames; carpets, an excellent eight-day clock in a japan case; an elegant time-piece (by Evil and Co.) a neat mahogany sopha covered, and festoon window curtains of the same; a billiard table complete; Bath stove and other grates; smoke and other jacks, with all kinds of useful kitchen furniture, brewing utensils, etc. N.B. A quantity of exceeding good HAY will be sold the second day of the sale. The whole may be viewed the day preceding the sale, when catalogues may be had at the place of sale ; at the George and Woolpack, Trowbridge; King’s Arms, Melksham; the New Bear, the Printing-Office, and of W.Pitman, Auctioneer and Undertaker, Bradford. To begin each day precisely at eleven o’clock. In 1786 the Cooper property in Bradford and South Wraxall was put up for sale by auction.'? Lot 1 was: Cumberwell House; containing on the ground-floor two handsome parlours, a breakfast parlour, and study, a large kitchen and all other proper offices for servants; on the first floor, a handsome drawing room with bed- chambers and dressing-rooms; and good rooms in the attic story; with stables, coach-houses, a walled garden, a rich piece of pasture ground, and a spacious lawn in the front, containing about five acres, with an an inclosed park, containing about thirty-three acres, well stocked,with deer. With the house went a farm of 230 acres let to Thomas Gerrish, who lived at Little Cumberwell. NOTES The house was bought by Robert Taunton LL.D., a clergyman in his forties who held the livings of Sydling St Nicholas, Dorset, North Perrott, Somerset, and Alton Barnes. He had apparently resided at Sydling, where he improved the vicarage, until he came to Cumberwell.'® Kidston quotes a letter from Eliza Purbeck describing a visit to Cumberwell, probably in 1787:'’ We returned to Bath... after spending a week at Cumberwell Park, Dr. Taunton’s new purchase; from its situation it must be in the summer a very agreeable residence ... The prospects round it are beautiful... but the house is old, and too large to be comfortable; there was something very gloomy in the idea of a number of uninhabited rooms, which, large as their family is, you will imagine to be the case, when I tell you that there are more than thirty apartments in the house. The Doctor is at present undetermined what he shall do with this great pile of building; he sometimes talks of dividing it, at others of building a new house in the Park. This implies that the house was larger than the description of 1786 suggests. Perhaps there was an older and less genteel part? - However, the Doctor’s problem as to the size of the house was solved on 9th December 1790:'* 259 Thursday morning, 9th, very early, a dreadful fire broke out at Cumberwell House, near Bradford, the seat of the Revd. Dr. Taunton which raged with such fury that Mrs. ‘Taunton and her little family with great difficulty escaped with their lives and with scarcely any clothing; the conflagration was soon general, and totally destroyed the house, except one wing, with nearly all the furniture, plate, cash, notes, books, etc. to the amount of nearly £5000 no part of which was insured. Thomas Underwood the butler, a faithful servant was lost in his attempt to save a second maid-servant, after having brought one safe out of the flames. Two female servants were greatly hurt by jumping out of the window, one having had her thigh broke. This melancholy catastrophe is said to have begun in the laundry, where some linen took fire that was hung up to dry. Kidston had heard only a tradition about a fire, which lay the blame on a drunken butler, so it is pleasing to be able to rescue the reputation of the heroic Thomas Underwood. Affidavits made many years later about the loss of the deeds of the property in the fire assert that Taunton did not live in the house again, but in fact at least part must have been reinstated, for he died there in 1797.'° His heir was his son William Leonard Thomas Pile Taunton, who was still in his teens. However, it seems certain that the Tauntons soon left, for in 1800 a lease was made to a Mrs. Moncaster. Cumberwell in 1903 prior to its demolition 254 THE WILTSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY MAGAZINE Cumberwell: the interior in 1903 prior to 1ts demolition In 1802 the whole estate was put up for auction in London. The description of the house shows that what was described in 1787 had been restored completely. The stone-built house was described as ‘exceedingly well fitted up and furnished in a neat genteel manner and in perfect and compleat repair’. On the attic floor were six chambers and a seed room, on the first floor four bed-chambers and an elegant drawing room, 28ft. by 18ft., and on the ground floor dining room, library, parlour and entrance hall. There were stables for 11 horses, coach houses, dove-cote, walled kitchen garden, fish ponds, and various pleasure grounds.”” No sale was made, and the Tauntons let it for a number of years. After Mrs. Muncaster we know of Mary Ann Rundell and Charles Ponsonby Butler as tenants, then in 1820 a lease was made to Samuel Staples. He was of a banking family in London. Finally in 1832 W. L.T. P. Taunton, then of Stoke Bishop near Bristol, sold the Cumberwell estate to John Clark of Trowbridge, clothier. He was of the firm of J. and T. Clark, and lived at Bellefield House in Hilperton Road, Trowbridge. Cumberwell House was still let to Staples at that time.” In 1836 it was said that Clark farmed the land but did not reside,?*> and no more is known of the mansion house being occupied. Kidston was told that when Dorcas, widow of Thomas Clark, sold the property to Erlysman Pinckney in 1903 the house was a ruin unsafe to enter, and this is borne out by the photographs reproduced here. It was then pulled down and the materials, Pinckney’s son remembered, were used to build some farm-workers’ cottages. However, it will be seen that the door and window cases on the photographs are numbered and lettered, so it looks as though they were intended to be sold. The house was built of unsquared stone laid in courses and covered with stucco on the front and one side. The front facade shows only two storeys and attics, but the ground against it was some feet higher than on the other three sides, which reveal a basement level: Kidston was told there was a basement kitchen. The window and door features all suggest a late 17th- century date, which agrees with Charles Steward being the builder. So, too, do the gate piers now at Avebury Manor. The extra rooms which existed until the fire probably formed a wing of which the remains can be seen on the right of the back frontage. Why the Clarks let a house of standing and evidently in reasonable condition in 1831 fall to ruin is a puzzle. Kidston suggested that it was haunted! Notes 1. WAM 53, 471-485, and 54, 279-288. This article is concerned only with the mansion and does not attempt to trace the history of the farms on the estate. WRO 2153; at present only partially catalogued, and no final item numbers allotted. . WAM 53, 481. 4. G.E.C., Complete Baronetage ;\WWRO 2153, abs. title; W. H. Jones and J. Beddoe, Historv of Bradford-on-Avon (1907). . Ibid. . WRO 2153, abstract of title. . WRO 947/1371, 1378, 1380. . Alistair Rowan, ‘Sibdon Castle, Shropshire’, Country Life 1 and 8 June, 1967, which gives more detail of the Cooper- Fleming alliance. The letters, then in the possession of Major H. Holden of Sibdon Castle, were kindly shown to me in 1967. 9. Gentleman’s Magazine, 1 Nov. 1759. 10. Sibdon Letters; Hunnisett, R.F. (ed.) Wiltshire Coroners’ Bills 1752-1796 (Wilts. Rec. Soc., vol 36), no 360. 11. Gerald Hamilton-Edwards, ‘Should Fanny have been sent to France? Revelations of a Chancery Proceeding’, Genealogists Magazine, vol. 16, 10-14. 12. S(alisbury and Winchester) J(ournal), 22nd Sept. 1777. 13. Sibdon letters. 14. SJ, 15 Aug 1785. 15. Ibid:, 12 June 1786. 16. WRO 2153, deed; J. Hutchins, History of Dorset, (3rd. ed.), vol. 4, pp. 507, 510; J. Foster, Alumni Oxonienses, 2nd series, 1390 17. Quoted at more length by Kidston, WAM, 54, 280. 18. SJ, 20 Dec 1790. 19. WRO 2153; SJ, 24 July 1797. 20. WRO 947/1363. 21. WRO 2153. 22. WRO 866/12. 23. WRO 2153, case and opinion about rights of way. This, incidentally, shows that Robert Taunton had sold a lot of stone from an old quarry on the site. Two quarries, one being worked, are mentioned in the sale particular of 1802. i) Qo OANA WYN Wiltshire Archaeological & Natural History Magazine, vol. 93 (2000), pp. 255-264 Excavation and Fieldwork in Wiltshire 1998 Alton Sewerage Scheme (centred on SU 108 621); Romano- British to Medieval A programme of archaeological work, comprising excavation of selected lengths of pipe-trench and a watching brief, was undertaken by AC archaeology in conjunction with the construction of Wessex Water’s Honeystreet and Alton Barnes/Alton Priors Sewerage Scheme. Existing archaeological records, pre- construction desk-based study, earthwork survey and geophysical survey previously defined an archaeological interest. Prehistoric and Roman finds are present within the area; the settlement of Alton Barnes and its parish church, St. Mary’s, are believed to have Saxon origins; and significant lengths of the pipeline route were seen to cross or pass adjacent to earthworks believed to relate to medieval settlement at Alton Barnes and Alton Priors. Some 57 ditches and 15 pits were recorded, the majority of medieval date (probably 13thcentury). Throughout the course of the investigations, it was noted that the layout of the earthworks (either plotted or as visible on the ground) did not correspond with the location or orientation of the excavated (medieval) ditches. Finds included Romano-British and late Saxon pottery, both in limited quantities. Amesbury DERA, Boscombe Down (SU 145 412); Late Iron Age or Romano-British Wessex Archaeology undertook an archaeological watching brief during the demolition of two buildings within the base at Boscombe Down, Amesbury. A number of archaeological features were visible in the chalk beneath the buildings, indicating that similar remains may be preserved under standing buildings elsewhere within the base. Twelve small pits and post- holes were excavated, but only one yielded any dating evidence, pottery of Late Iron Age or Romano-British date. The dating of this one pit is consistent with the evidence for extensive occupation at this time at the adjacent site of Butterfield Down. Boscombe Down Airfield; Romano-British to Modern Fifteen watching briefs and two excavations were carried out at the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency (DERA) site at Boscombe Down during 1998. The watching briefs were carried out during a number of development projects as part of the on-going assessment of the archaeological potential of the airfield. These recorded mostly modern or natural features. However, two produced archaeological features that were excavated and fully recorded. The first (at SU 1834 4088) was a ditch or field boundary. No dating evidence was recovered, but a small amount of weathered human bone was present. The second (at SU 1862 3950) produced evidence of a multi-phase field boundary. The ceramic assemblage from this ditch indicated a lst to 3rd century AD date. Both excavations were managed by Bob Clarke, whilst the watching briefs were carried out by Bob Clarke and Colin Kirby for Boscombe Down Conservation Group. Queensbury Bridge (SU 152 413); Post-Medieval Two trial holes excavated for engineering assessment on Queensbury Bridge (built 1775) were monitored by AC archaeology in accordance with the requirements of a scheduled monument consent. It had been anticipated that the trial holes might encounter early surfaces but, although various (undated) flint and sandy mortar make-up layers were encountered, no detail of the bridge construction was observed. 72 London Rd (SU 1584 4188); Modern An archaeological watching brief was undertaken by Wessex Archaeology during residential development at 72 London Road, immediately south of Ratfyn Barrow, a Bronze Age burial mound and Scheduled Monument (Wiltshire No. 28931). No archaeological features or deposits were recorded, but as the foundation and service trenches represent c.5% of the total site area there remains a high likelihood that other archaeological features are present on the site. Former Pitt’s Garage site (SU 1550 4156); Modern Wessex Archaeology was commissioned by Primary 256 THE WILTSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY MAGAZINE Health Care Centres (Amesbury) Ltd to undertake an archaeological evaluation of an area of land at the former Pitts Garage site, Amesbury, situated within the core of the town. No archaeological features or deposits were noted. Avebury National Trust Estate (centred on SU 102 699); Prehistoric, Medieval and Post-Medieval Since 1995 National Trust staff have been recording all ground disturbances resulting from work carried out by staff and contractors on the property. Surface artefacts collected by the staff (both targeted and casual finds) have also been recorded as archaeological interventions. A total of 65 were recorded in the period from September 1995 to December 1998. A full list of these and their archive reports are held at the Alexander Keiller Museum. Nearly half of all interventions were recorded when excavating pits for fence posts and sign posts. Only two of these interventions have produced worked flint, and only post-medieval and modern disturbance has been encountered. Four redundant display panels have been removed from the henge, and although there are no records of their post placement pits having been recorded when erected in the 1980s, it appears they were sited in areas of post-medieval and modern disturbance. A number of service trenches have also been excavated and recorded around the property, including two sewage pipe trenches within the henge itself. Both revealed considerable post-medieval and modern disturbance, and no prehistoric features were encountered. Other service trenches east of the henge and along the winterbourne have demonstrated the nature of the sometimes difficult geology around Avebury. The erection of signs and improvements to the surface of the southern car park have continued to produce evidence for medieval activity west of the henge. A small quantity of residual medieval pottery has been collected from the topsoil and further evidence for the medieval ploughsoil, observed during excavations by the Wiltshire Rescue Archaeology Project in 1988, has been recorded. The Winterbourne Team Rector, Warren Sellars, has kindly given permission for the archaeological staff to observe and record excavations for graves within the churchyard of St. James, Avebury. Two possible early features, a post-hole and a linear feature, have been recorded outside the area of the (now flattened) henge bank. Although no artefactual dating evidence was recovered from them, they do predate the earliest grave cuts, and may relate to the Saxon settlement or prehistoric activity. Surface artefact collection involved the recovery of prehistory pottery and worked flint prior to erosion repairs to the Overton Hill barrow cemetery, and the chance find of a barbed and tanged arrowhead near to the agger of the Roman road. 11 Kv Cable refurbishment (SU 098 690); Prehistoric to Post-Medieval Wessex Archaeology was commissioned to carry out an archaeological watching brief during the refurbishment of parts of the 11 Kv supply network within the World Heritage Site at Avebury, Wiltshire. The observed works included the excavation of open-cut trenches for replacement cables and new sockets for replacement poles, along with the removal of existing poles in areas of archaeological sensitivity. The works occurred in both privately owned and National Trust land, but did not cross any area currently designated as a Scheduled Monument. Medieval and post-medieval material was recovered from topsoil/subsoil deposits in the vicinity of Avebury Trusloe, and prehistoric and Roman material from ploughsoil deposits to the south of West Kennet. In Butler’s Field, to the east of Avebury Trusloe, material was recovered consistent with the suggestion that this was formerly a post-medieval water meadow. A large, buried sarsen with associated medieval pottery was noted to the north of this field. Archaeological observations by the National Trust as part of this project resulted in a low-density recovery of finds representing prehistoric, Romano-British and Saxon activity. Blunsdon St Andrew Groundwell Farm (SU 1513 8902); Roman and Medieval Trenches cut during an evaluation, carried out prior to selling land for development, revealed a probable Romano-British cambered stone road and traces of 13thto 15thcentury settlement. Worn into the road surface were a number of wagon ruts. Nearby, a vast bowled depression cut into the Corallian escarpment and extensive linear features indicate that stone quarrying had taken place. This activity may have been the reason for the road’s existence. A trench cut into the top of the bowled depression produced a few unworn Romano-British sherds, a box tile fragment and many medieval sherds. The medieval EXCAVATION AND FIELDWORK IN WILTSHIRE, 1998 settlement remains included wall traces, yard surfaces and ditches. The work was undertaken by Bernard Phillips. Bishopstone (north) Bury Mill, Hinton Parva (SU 2264 8540); Roman and Medieval Linear features noted on an aerial photograph suggested the presence of a deserted medieval village. Examination on the ground revealed that the area adjacent to a stream had been ploughed since the photograph was taken. Fieldwalking produced 13th and 14th century sherds, animal bones and building stone. The hedgerow either side of the stream also contains many sarsen blocks, presumably removed from the field during ploughing. Two Romano-British sherds were also found. The work was undertaken by Bernard Phillips. Bishopstrow Home Farm (ST 895 444); Late Mesolithic/Early Neolithic and Post-medieval Machine-trenching by Asi revealed parallel linear ditches of post-medieval date and scatters of late Mesolithic/early Neolithic worked flint. Whilst the linear ditches are not remarkable, the flint assemblage indicates the survival here of an episode otherwise poorly represented within the chalkland landscapes of the south Wiltshire downs, potentially a tool manufacturing site or seasonal camp, and is therefore of considerable archaeological significance. Comparison with lowland Mesolithic sites revealed in the adjacent Kennet watershed suggests that this material is likely to be distributed for some distance across the site. Bradford-on-Avon The West Barn, Barton Manor Farm (ST 8230 6045); Medieval Compilation of archive and excavation data, together with an historic building survey conducted by Archaeological Site Investigations (Asi) and the Bradford on Avon Preservation Trust, established that the ruinous West Barn adjacent to the Great Tithe Barn represents the remains of a much modified, and unparalleled, agricultural structure, possibly based upon components of a 13th century monastic grange farm. The building, extant until a fire in 1982, is now in a hazardous state of dynamic collapse. 257 Brixton Deverill The Manor House (ST 8640 3865); Undated A single machine-excavated trench was located across elements of a network of hollow-ways and house platforms following detailed earthwork survey. This revealed an intermittent linear depression within the soliflucted chalk, containing animal bone and fragments of Red Pennant sandstone. It is concluded that, although no longer visible in detail due to recent topsoil dumping, earthworks relating to the medieval village of Bristicii do extend across the rear of the Manor House gardens. The work was undertaken by Asi. Broad Chalke Water main relining works (centred on SU 041 253) Monitoring was undertaken by AC archaeology during groundworks to facilitate water mains relining. The works involved the excavation of several access pits sited at various locations around the village. Observations revealed no archaeological deposits or finds. Broad Town Mesolithic and Medieval Two surface artefact collections were carried out during 1998 by Bob Clarke. These were part of an ongoing project into the development of the village of Broad’Town. The first (centred on SU 0960 7827) identified a concentration of Mesolithic worked flint, comprising blades, blade cores, and scrapers, along with burins. The second (centred on SU 0988 7793) located a large concentration of 13thto 14th century pottery including examples from Minety, Wootton Bassett and Naish Hill. Chippenham Without Sheldon Manor (ST 8865 7414); Medieval An archaeological investigation at Sheldon Manor entailed an earthwork survey at a scale of 1:1000 of the site of a deserted medieval settlement, and a detailed investigation of the remainder of the manor. The work is part of a personal research project on the Hundred of Chippenham being undertaken by Graham Brown. The earthworks are contained within three fields to the north and north-west of the manor house. In the latter are the remains of a deserted settlement, the most prominent feature being a 258 THE WILTSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY MAGAZINE hollow way (210m in length and up to 8m wide) that extends in an east-west direction from Sheldon Wood. This can be traced further west in Corsham Wood where it merges with the woodland edge and probably continued to Biddestone. Sited along the northern side of the hollow way are earthwork remains of up to ten sub- rectangular building platforms, ranging in size from 5 x 5m to 17 x 10m. Covering much of the field to the north of the hollow way is a swathe of what appears to be ridge- and-furrow, but is more likely drainage, probably cut in the early 16th century. The majority of the furrows are sharply incised, particularly near the building platforms. To the south of Sheldon Wood, three ditches extend in a southerly direction with traces of further probable building platforms on the east side of the field. Another hollow way extends in an east-west direction from Sheldon Wood and can be traced for some 100m: it is aligned on a modern field boundary that ultimately leads to Allington. Corsham Heywood Preparatory School, Priory Lane (ST 8723 7062); Medieval During groundworks associated with construction of a new building at the rear of Heywood Preparatory School, observed by Asi, the northern terminal of a 2m broad ditch was revealed, sealed beneath a sterile clay subsoil. Unweathered sherds of 10th-13th century pottery were recovered from the charcoal- rich fill. The school occupies the site, and many of the buildings, of the post-Dissolution ‘Rectory Manor’ of Corsham, itself the remains of a short- lived Benedictine Priory founded in the 12thcentury. It is likely that the features revealed relate to the Priory. Cricklade Horse Fair Lane (SU 1017 9376); Medieval and Post- Medieval Watching briefs and a small excavation were undertaken by Bernard Phillips prior to house construction. These revealed an occupation layer, ditches and traces of two buildings. Associated pottery attests to occupation from the 10thto the 1 6thcentury. One building was sunken floored and the other had a paved stone floor and a drainage ditch on its south side. Later occupation, contemporary with the former Three Horseshoes Inn, in whose garden the construction site lay, included an early 18th century cess pit and a late 19th century stone lined well. High Street (SU 1012 9383); Roman and Medieval A watching brief undertaken by Bernard Phillips in advance of house construction, revealed a 2nd century occupation layer. Overlying this were traces of two buildings floored in clay and dated by pottery to the 11th century. A hearth sealed by the floor of the eastern building suggests that it had an earlier phase. The other building’s floor preserved traces of intense burning in association with iron slag. Pottery fragments show that occupation on the site continued into the 13thcentury. Devizes Wayside Farm, Nursteed Road (SU 016 603); Romano-British An evaluation of a proposed residential development was carried out by AC archaeology. The site is located to the southeast of Devizes, adjacent to Wayside Farm, and covers approximately 7.2 hectares. Work initially comprised the machine-excavation of 15 trenches, each 30 x 2m, plus an additional 90m’ contingency trenching excavated to pursue specific features. The trenching revealed extensive evidence for Romano- British occupation, including stone structures, possibly ovens, cut features, and evidence for a buried soil horizon containing significant quantities of Romano-British artefacts. Finds indicate a mid 4th century emphasis for the settlement activity. Further excavation in advance of development is proposed for 1999, Downton Land adjacent to 136 The Borough (SU 1793 2152); Medieval and Post-Medieval A machine-excavated trench revealed pits and post- holes from which medieval and post-medieval pottery, building materials, iron slag or clinker, nails and animal bones were recovered, cutting through a sequence of alluvial soils, the lowest of which contained only medieval pottery. Though situated within the medieval core of Downton and containing residual materials, the activities represented by the bulk of the deposits appear to be of post-medieval date and of uncertain, though non-domestic, function. The work was undertaken by Asi. EXCAVATION AND FIELDWORK IN WILTSHIRE, 1998 Heytesbury and Imber Park Street Gates, Heytesbury (ST 9315 4265); Iron Age and Medieval Machine-excavated trenches, located over the footprints of two proposed dwellings adjacent to the former Park Street gates of Heytesbury House, revealed ditches, gullys, post-settings and other sub- soil deposits from which pottery of Iron Age and early to late Medieval date was recovered, along with animal bone and burnt stone. The results of the work suggest that the site overlies archaeological deposits associated with the medieval precursor of Heytesbury, possibly re-located after landscaping works associated with Heytesbury House and its parkland gardens, and hitherto unsuspected prehistoric activity. The work was undertaken by Asi. Imber Village Silt Lagoons, SPTA (ST 965 486); Medieval, Post-Medieval and Modern Observations by Asi maintained during construction of silt lagoons at Imber, within the Salisbury Plain Training Area, recorded residual medieval pottery from within a range of post-medieval and modern deposits. Whilst construction work does not appear to have had a deleterious archaeological impact itself, the results suggest that in situ deposits representative of the medieval village may well survive elsewhere within the vicinity of the site. Latton Latton Lands (SU 0800 9670); Bronze Age and ?Medieval A one hectare area was stripped by Cotswold Aggregates in December 1998 and January 1999 in the north-east corner of the gravel extraction area. The Oxford Archaeological Unit monitored the machining as part of the watching brief and recorded a stream course and a waterhole. These contained no dating evidence but are likely to be medieval. Subsequent excavations encountered a trackway and several ditches, possibly early medieval, and probable Bronze Age pits and waterholes. Excavation continues in 1999. Lakeside, The Street (SU 0922 9544); Post-Medieval Evaluation by the Cotswold Archaeological Trust (CAT) located the foundations of a post-medieval building fronting The Street, and revealed that the majority of the site had been subject to previously unrecorded gravel extraction. Maiden Bradley Church Street and High Street/Back Lane (ST 8020 3878 and 8045 3918); Post-Medieval and Modern Hand excavated test pits, located over the footprints of proposed new dwellings, revealed deposits and features of post-medieval and modern date, likely to be the by-product of recent gardening activities, but containing relatively large quantities of residual medieval pottery. The work was undertaken by Asi. Marlborough Waitrose, High Street (SU 1885 6905); Medieval and Post-Medieval An evaluation was undertaken by Wessex Archaeology at the rear of the Waitrose supermarket within the medieval town of Marlborough. Two evaluation trenches revealed sequences of post- medieval deposits to a depth of at least 1.4m below existing ground levels. Soliflucted chalk was sealed below a series of soil, yard, and make-up layers and modern disturbances. A small quantity of residual medieval material was recovered, although the stratigraphically earliest deposit, possibly a cobbled surface, contained pottery of 15th or early 16th century date. A homogeneous soil layer was recorded in the second trench. It was at least 1.4m thick, contained post-medieval material, and is consistent with the agricultural use of an area some distance from the street frontage. Chandler’s Yard (SU 1875 6925); Post-Medieval Evaluation by CAT identified a make-up layer dating to the post-medieval period and two post-holes probably of the same date. No evidence for the late Saxon or Medieval town was found. Mildenhall ‘The Bothy’, Werg Mill (SU 2145 6955); Romano- British An archaeological evaluation was undertaken by AC archaeology on the site of a proposed house extension at ‘The Bothy’, Mildenhall. The location of the evaluation was very close to the known north-western perimeter of the Roman town of Cvnetio. The evaluation comprised a small trench some 5.5m? in area, dug within the confines of the extension. This demonstrated the presence of deeply stratified Roman deposits, probably dating to the late 2nd century. These deposits generally consisted of flint rubble in a 260 THE WILTSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY MAGAZINE matrix of clay or clay loam soil, and can be interpreted as demolition rubble or levelling layers. Ogbourne St Andrew/Wroughton Barbury Castle (SU 149 763); Prehistoric and Modern Barbury Castle, an Iron Age hillfort on the scarp edge of the Marlborough Downs overlooking Wroughton airfield, was surveyed by the RCHME in 1998 at the request of, and with the help of, Swindon Borough Council (the site owners). Though Barbury 1s a prominent fort, little research has been done here and our knowledge of it is slight. Cursory excavations between the 1870s and the 1930s produced less information, probably, than the considerable disturbances to the site by the US Air Force during the Second World War, which revealed pits containing Iron Age pottery and human skeletons. Geophysical survey by the Ancient Monuments Laboratory in 1996 revealed a density of sub-surface features which was confirmed by our surface survey. This new survey recorded traces of approximately 40 hut circles and revealed many other interesting features. The forework outside the east entrance sits at a strange angle to the main ramparts and has clearly been cut by the outer ditch, suggesting it could have been an earlier enclosure re-used as an outwork. The scarp around the outside of the northern defences, possibly an unfinished third rampart, might alternatively be the remnant of another earlier enclosure. Also found within the fort were traces of one probable and two possible round barrows, suggesting that those surviving on the slopes to the west are the tail of a barrow cemetery which covered the ridge in the Bronze Age. Several large hollows around the periphery of the fort’s interior are anti-aircraft gun pits of Second World War vintage, showing that Barbury was used for defensive purposes in the 20th century for a type of warfare which could never have been dreamed of by its Iron Age builders. Salisbury Dairy Meadow Lane (SU 1562 2929); Undated and Modern Archaeological evaluation on land to the rear of Harcros Timber Merchants, Dairy Meadow Lane, was carried out by AC archaeology. The one-hectare site is situated on low-lying ground less than 50m from the Anglo-Saxon settlement close to Dairyhouse Bridge. Trenching demonstrated the presence of deep former quarries to the south, with variable degrees of truncation evident elsewhere. No intact archaeological stratigraphy or any pre-modern finds were encountered. Waitrose, Old Livestock Market (SU 140 307); Modern An intermittent watching brief was maintained during groundworks associated with the construction of a shopping complex on the former site of a cattle market north of the historic core of Salisbury. The level of the site had been raised by 1.5m when rubbish and topsoil were dumped before the construction of the Cattle Market in the 1950s. Few of the groundworks penetrated below this dumped material, but it was seen to directly overlay natural gravels. Part of the brick and concrete structure of a bridge constructed in the late 1950s to cross a former course of the River Avon was observed, but no features or deposits of archaeological significance were revealed during the watching brief. High Street Enhancement Scheme (SU 14275 29785); Modern j In April 1998 Wessex Archaeology undertook an archaeological watching brief during the enhancement of Salisbury High Street. The scheme involved the replacement of the existing tarmacadam carriageway and pavement, and the shallowness of the works did not penetrate any underlying archaeological deposits. 1 The Rings, Old Sarum (SU 13465 32895); Undated and Modern Wessex Archaeology was commissioned to undertake an archaeological watching brief during renovations to 1 The Rings, immediately to the north-west of the Scheduled Monument of Old Sarum and within the presumed extent of the later medieval settlement of Nyweton Westyate. One undated ditch, one possible tree-throw hole and two modern features were recorded. The ditch was aligned south-south-west to north-north-east. No finds were recovered. Fisherton Manor Middle School, Highbury Avenue (SU 132 307); Modern A watching brief by Wessex Archaeology during the groundworks for a new entrance lobby to the school revealed that the land had been raised with redeposited topsoil, probably as part of the terracing for the construction of the school. The underlying river gravels were not observed in any of the trenches. Although no archaeological features or deposits were observed during the watching brief, it is possible that EXCAVATION AND FIELDWORK IN WILTSHIRE, 1998 archaeological deposits may be preserved below the made ground in this area. The Close (SU 14350 29711); Post-Medieval and Modern Wessex Archaeology was commissioned to undertake the field evaluation of a proposed extension to 22 The Close, a largely 18th century cottage with possible medieval beginnings. The existing north-east wall of the building is probably of medieval construction and was recorded during evaluation. A probable 18th century courtyard surface with soakaway, consisting of at least two phases, was observed sealing deep deposits of building rubble. A number of disturbances of the courtyard may well have been the result of a major renovation of the building known to have taken place in the mid 18th century. These included a linear trench running the length of the wall, associated with red brick underpinning of the medieval wall fabric. The full northern and western extent of the courtyard still remains unclear, although the eastern limit is suggested by surviving traces of kerbing. The courtyard appears to have remained in use until the early—mid 19thcentury, when the general ground level within the plot was raised by the deposition of large quantities of rubble and garden soils. A low background of residual medieval material was observed, with small quantities of residual potsherds and tile recovered from the topsoil, linear trench fill and gravel deposits at the base of one test pit. No significant medieval features or horizons were encountered. Salisbury Plain Training Area Sites Wessex Archaeology has undertaken a series of excavations associated with the construction of the Southern Range Road within the Salisbury Plain Training Area. East of Quebec Barn (ST 9704 4410); Late Bronze Age and Romano-British Excavations to the east of Quebec Barn, c.2km west of Chitterne, on the north-facing slope of a large dry valley, produced a small assemblage of Late Bronze Age and Romano-British pottery, worked flint and four possible quernstone fragments, all from within the topsoil. Two pits, two post-holes a gully and a hearth, all of Late Bronze Age date, were also recorded. East of Knook Castle (ST 9620 4388); Undated Excavation c.100m east of Knook Castle, close to the crest of a ridge between two large dry valleys, revealed 261 a positive lynchet and a small hearth, neither of which produced any dating evidence. Willis’s Field Barn (ST 9473 4366); Late Neolithic/ Early—Middle Bronze Age, Late Iron Age An area of 640m? was excavated on the crest of a ridge on the north side of the Wylye Valley 2km north- east of Heytesbury. A ‘ditch and pit complex’ had been identified during an earlier evaluation. Two ditches and three pits represented at least two distinct phases of activity. Three other features may be the vestigial remains of small pits or post-holes. A moderate-sized ditch of Late Neolithic/Early Bronze Age date and a small pit containing a small assemblage of Beaker pottery were recorded. Two other small pits may be contemporary. A substantial ditch, possibly part of an enclosure cut both the earlier ditch and pit, and was itself later recut. A large assemblage of Middle Bronze Age pottery was recovered from both phases of this ditch, along with large quantities of animal bone, burnt and worked flint and a small quantity of quernstone fragments. A complete cattle skull and a group of articulated cattle bones were recovered from the terminal of the enclosure ditch. Two iron objects, a small flat fragment and a Late Iron Age brooch, came from the uppermost ditch fill. Horse Down (SU 02100 48300); Late Neolithic/Early Bronze Age and Undated An area of c. 1250m? was excavated across an east— west chalk spur to the west of the village of Tilshead where two linear features and three possible pits had been identified during evaluation. The ditches probably represent prehistoric field boundaries; extensive field systems have been recorded in aerial photographic surveys on high ground to the south (on Copley Down) and west (Tilshead Down). However, a small quantity of Neolithic/Early Bronze Age pottery in one of the ditches may indicate an earlier date. South of Foxtrot Crossing (SU 10985 48550); Romano-British Three possible intercutting ditches of Romano- British date had been recorded in an evaluation on a low ridge to the north-west of Tilshead. Excavation revealed at least nine intercutting quarry pits producing samian and Romano-British coarsewares. The upper fills were cut by a curvilinear ditch which produced a single sherd of Romano-British pottery. 262 THE WILTSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY MAGAZINE Shrewton Old Coal Yard (SU 0681 4340); Medieval and Modern An archaeological watching brief by Wessex Archaeology during the construction of six residential properties recorded two ditches and a post-hole, all undated. Two sherds of 12th or 13th century pottery were recovered from a pit (probably modern), but may have derived from one of the ditches through which the pit had been cut. If of medieval date, these features would constitute the first buried archaeological remains of medieval Shrewton. Stanton St Bernard Manor Farm (SU 0934 6231); Undated An archaeological evaluation was undertaken by AC archaeology on the site of a proposed housing development at Stanton St Bernard. The evaluation comprised three trenches amounting to a total area of over 75m’. A large ditch, possibly medieval or post- medieval, was encountered in one trench; with a second trench containing a number of irregular, shallow features of indeterminate date. Sutton Benger 58 High Street (SP 9475 7880); Post-Medieval A previous topographic survey had revealed a variety of medieval earthwork features immediately to the west of land at the rear of 58 High Street. Evaluation by CAT to the rear of this property found no further medieval features. The area had been subject to quarrying in the 19th century. Tilshead ‘M’ and ‘N’ Crossings, A360 near Tilshead, SPTA (SU 0392 4685 and 0432 4590); Later Prehistoric Observations maintained by Asi during groundworks associated with the upgrading of two road crossings on the A360 south of Tilshead revealed that crossing point ‘M7’ is situated over the line of the ‘Old Ditch’ — otherwise known as the Breach Hill linear earthwork — one of a series of prehistoric land boundaries preserved on Salisbury Plain. The watching brief was able to record, however, that the upgrading works had been minimally intrusive, with no significant archaeological impact. Upavon Widdington Farm (SU 125 540); Modern An evaluation within a proposed agricultural deveiopment at Widdington Farm was undertaken by AC archaeology. This revealed only modern re- deposited material, probably from the construction of an existing adjacent barn. Wanborough Earlscourt Manor (SU 2166 8558); Roman and Medieval Two trenches, cut prior to granting permission for tree planting, revealed evidence of substantial medieval occupation. Three Romano-British and many 13thand 14thcentury pottery sherds were also found in soil disturbed by ploughing and in the back- fill of a recent pipe trench. The work was undertaken by Bernard Phillips. Warminster Battlesbury Bowl (ST 8986 4610); Late Bronze Age/ Early Iron Age Wessex Archaeology undertook an archaeological excavation of a c.418m long strip (0.62ha) of land immediately to the north of the Iron Age hillfort of Battlesbury Camp, near Warminster. The work identified an extensive spread of Late Bronze Age/ Early Iron Age activity along the length of a north— south chalk spur between the hillfort and the modern military buildings of the Harman Lines works to the north. A group of ditch and gully features appear to delineate the southern extent of the activity, close to the hillfort. More than 900 archaeological features were recorded, including c.725 post-holes, c.170 pits and seven ditches/gullies. Most date to the 8th—7th centuries BC, although a small number of 10th—9th century BC features were also recorded. Three features of 6th—4th century BC date occurred in the southern part of the excavation area. Most of the pits occurred within distinct clusters. The fills of the pits from the two most southerly clusters were distinctly different from those in the two northerly clusters; 34 of 38 pits containing ‘structured deposits’. All three 6th—4th century features occurred in the two southern clusters. Human skeletal remains occurred in 19 features, including ten of those with otherwise ‘structured deposits’. Six complete inhumation burials were recorded from four pits in close proximity, EXCAVATION AND FIELDWORK IN WILTSHIRE, 1998 comprising two double inhumation and two single inhumation burials with a further six pits containing human skeletal fragments. All but one were in the southern part of the site. Ten sub-rectangular/square post-built structures were recorded: six 4-post structures, two 5-post and two 6-post. Seven of these were again in the southern part of the site. Three possible round-houses were recorded, including one with internal hearths. South-east of Battlesbury Wood (ST 9008 4488); Late Bronze Age, Romano-British and Undated Wessex Archaeology undertook an archaeological excavation of an area of 560m? 400m south-east of Battlesbury Wood, at the foot of the low ridge between Battlesbury Hill and Middle Hill. This was targeted on two channels, a series of pits and stake-holes and a possible linear mound identified during an earlier evaluation. Four pits, a ring-gully and a possible post- hole were excavated, as well as three probable erosion channels, potentially of prehistoric and Romano- British date. Only one of the pits contained datable material, a small assemblage of worked flint and Late Bronze Age pottery. Small quantities of burnt flint were recovered from the other pits but no datable material. The shallow ring-gully, c.9m in diameter and no more than 1.1m wide, lay in the centre of the excavation area, between two erosion channels and produced a very small assemblage of fired clay fragments, animal bone and burnt flint. The erosion channels were probably caused by seasonal ‘run off’ from the higher ground to the north-east. One may be confidently dated to the Romano-British period, the others are possibly 1st millennium BC. Stake-holes identified during the evaluation are in fact probably rootholes, and the possible linear mound was found to consist of a localised subsoil deposit of post-medieval or modern date. This may be the result of relatively recent erosion from upslope of the site. Boreham Farm Bungalow (ST 8951 4566); Mesolithic/Early Neolithic, Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age Wessex Archaeology undertook an excavation of an area of 340m? in the base of a broad valley immediately south of Battlesbury Hill on the north bank of a small culverted stream, a tributary of the river Wylye. This was targeted on a group of pits and stake-holes associated with a channel filled with a black clay deposit identified during a previous evaluation. 263 A large stream channel, two pits and two possible post-holes were examined. The channel probably represents the original course of a small stream, almost certainly that which currently flows in a deep, narrow ditch immediately to the south of the site. A small assemblage of abraded Late Bronze Age pottery and residual worked flint of Mesolithic/Early Neolithic date were recorded from the lower fills, with two sherds from a furrowed bowl of Early Iron Age type from the upper fills. This material appears to be derived from elsewhere, possibly further upstream. The other apparent features may be of natural origin, but included charred seeds and Late Bronze Age pottery. Water pipeline, Furnax Lane (ST 8662 4617); Iron Age, Romano-British, Medieval and Post-Medieval Wessex Archaeology was commissioned to undertake an archaeological watching brief during construction works along c.300m of the south-eastern slopes of Brick Hill. A pit containing pottery of Early to Middle Iron Age date (700-100 BC) was recorded. Deposits of colluvium in the south of the field and a layer of crushed chalk, probably a recent levelling layer, were also recorded. Finds of Iron Age, Roman, medieval and post-medieval date occurred in the topsoil. Westbury Westbury Quarry Chalk Pit (centred on ST 890 503); Prehistoric and Romano-British Some 46ha adjacent to the existing chalk pit were the subject of an evaluation by AC archaeology. An earlier fieldwalking exercise had suggested the presence of low-density scatters of worked flint, and the layout of trenches was designed to concentrate on those areas, whilst providing even coverage of the remaining parts of the site. In fields to the north-east of the existing quarry (Area A) there were no obvious archaeological features. A number of probable tree-root hollows and periglacial features were investigated, but none produced archaeological finds. Limited quantities of unstratified Late Neolithic-Earlier Bronze Age worked flint were, however, recovered from the spoil heaps. In areas south of the existing quarry (Area B) positive findings were limited to two linear features (one re-appearing in four trenches). Both contained small quantities of worked flint and one a small sherd of Roman pottery. Proposed Northacre Business Park (ST 857 522 and area); Prehistoric and Medieval Following initial evaluation of part of the site in 1997 264 THE WILTSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY MAGAZINE (see WAM 92, 142) further investigation was undertaken by AC archaeology. This comprised twenty machine-excavated trenches across the site and an area of some 900m? dug in the area of the intended access road. No archaeological sub-soil features were encountered, and the only artefacts comprised very small quantities of medieval pottery and prehistoric worked flint, neither in sufficient numbers to suggest settlement activity in the vicinity. Wingfield Olid Timber Yard, Church Lane (ST 822 567); Modern An evaluation was carried out at The Old Timber Yard by AC archaeology during December 1998. Evidence from early maps indicates probable medieval settlement concentrated alongside this, the main road of the village. The evaluation comprised four trenches, all of which contained evidence of truncation and revealed modern made-ground immediately overlying natural subsoil. With the exception of a modern pit and a ditch of post-medievai date, no subsoil features or archaeological deposits were encountered, and no pre-modern finds were recovered. Winterbourne Stoke Hill Farm (SU 0844 4086); ?Prehistoric Observations were undertaken by AC archaeology in conjunction with groundworks to construct a telecommunications mast at Hill Farm. Although the site lay within the known extent of a prehistoric field system, no archaeological features were observed during the work. A limited quantity of burnt flint was recovered. Wroughton Overtown House (SU 1543 7970); Modern Wessex Archaeology carried out an archaeological watching brief during machine stripping for the construction of a new drive to the west of Overtown House. The site is immediately north of the former medieval village of Overtown (SM2859/01 and 02), represented by a complex of earthworks. No archaeological features or deposits of note were recorded. One sherd of Romano-British pottery and several of 13th century date, along with pieces of animal bone, were recorded from the subsoil and the remnants of a former pathway and driveway. Yatton Keynell Church Farm (ST 8655 7655); Medieval An earthwork survey was carried out at a scale of 1:1000 in a field immediately north of Church Farm, Yatton Keynell. The earthworks comprise the remains of six tofts defined by a bank and ditch. The largest measures 80 x 25m, whilst the length of the others has been reduced by the construction of the modern road. At the eastern end of three of the tofts are probable building platforms, measuring up to 25 x 15m, whilst along the western side of the tofts is a hollow way with ridge-and-furrow cultivation in the remainder of the field. The work is part of a personal research project on the Hundred of Chippenham being undertaken by Graham Brown. Various Wiltshire barrows; prehistoric The Ancient Monuments Laboratory undertook several magnetometer surveys in Wiltshire as part of a pilot study of severely eroded barrows. Six sites were used to assess the response from, and condition of, any remains. Only one site, at Littkecombe Down produced results suggestive of significant surviving prehistoric features. On other sites interesting anomalies were recorded, such as a square-shaped feature at Mere Down Farm and a large amorphous response at Liddington Castle, but neither of these is likely to be ploughed out barrows. On the other three sites (The Park, West of Court Hill Plantation; Smeathe’s Ridge, South Burderop Down; and Coombe Down, South-East of Smeathe’s Plantation) only minor anomalies of possible archaeological origin were located. The lack of positive geophysical identification of barrows is unlikely to be due to geological conditions: either they have been totally eliminated from the landscape by cultivation, or the original locational information was in error. Wiltshire Archaeological & Natural History Magazine, vol. 93 (2000), pp. 265-272 Reviews S. E. Kelly (editor). Anglo-Saxon Charters V; Charters of Shaftesbury Abbey. Oxford University Press for the British Academy, 1996; xxxvili + 151 pages. Price £30.00, hardback, ISBN 0 19 726151 5. A joint committee of the British Academy and the Royal Historical Society was set up in 1966 to publish a new critical edition of the whole corpus of Anglo- Saxon charters. The magnitude of the task may be judged from the list of some 1500 charters in P. H. Sawyer’s book on the subject. A glance at the list emphasises how great was the loss of these documents from the 8th century onwards in those parts of the country devastated by the ‘fury of the Northmen’. This fifth volume of the series will be welcomed, in the words of N. Brooks’s foreword, as setting new standards in the editing of these charters. The introductory section of Dr. Kelly’s book deals with the history of the abbey and its estates and with the nature of its Cartulary (B.L. Harley 61) which preserves the only surviving copies of the abbey’s thirty known pre-conquest charters, ranging from one of around 670 A.D. to a grant by King Cnut in 1016. The text of this early 15th century manuscript, much corrupted by repeated copying over the centuries, sets editors a formidable task to recover as far as possible the original charters and then to evaluate their authenticity. Dr. Kelly’s conclusions are most carefully set out in her commentaries on each, with a wide ranging discussion placing the charter against its own probable background. Here too is an analysis of the minutiae of the standard formulae in the Latin of the charters, and their development over the Saxon centuries. Without a detailed knowledge of the subject it is not easy to assess this work, but we seem to have here a large step forward in elucidating these charters. Nearly all the charters take the same form, albeit _ with wide variations. A Latin introduction is followed by a statement of the grant itself, often with an anathema calling down damnation on anyone who might break its terms. This leads to a description in Old English of the bounds of the land granted, and the charter ends with a list of witnesses who confirm the grant. In the introduction, an invocation ‘In the name of God’ or a more florid phrase usually leads to a section of a religious nature and sometimes of great length. The king styles himself ‘of the West Saxons’ in the earlier charters but ‘rex Anglorum’ or even ‘king of all Britain’ in later ones. With the continuing development of this subject it is natural that there will be new suggestions on the interpretation of details. In the Bradford charter (no. 29) for instance, recent work has convincingly proposed that the unidentified Alvestone (on p. 120) was Calvestone, that is, Kelston, Somerset, and that a small stream running from a point near ST821582 on the B3109 road down to join the River Frome at Stowford could be the unidentified wigewen brook. These however are minor matters. Many readers will not find reading the Latin of the texts easy. It would obviously not be possible in a book of reasonable size and cost to translate the texts, but the Glossary in an appendix overcomes many of the problems which arise largely from the florid and obscure style. Lack of translation does not, in any case, affect one’s appreciation of the treasures to be discovered in this book. R. HARVEY Peter Tolhurst. Wessex, a Literary Pilgrimage. Black Dog Books, 1999, 264 pages; 200 black and white illustrations (line and photographic), 8 colour photographs. Price £19.95, hardback, ISBN 0 9528839 1 0. It is through its literature that many of us first came to know the landscapes which we now love and visit regularly. Shakespeare was often our first introduction to the Avon and Warwickshire, the grandeur of the Lakes was invoked by Wordsworth before many of us had set foot there. Further back in time children’s authors may have been the inspiration for visits in later life to the places where they had set their stories. Closer to home few can think of Dorset without an image from Thomas Hardy, the Powys brothers 266 THE WILTSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY MAGAZINE or, more recently, John Fowles coming to mind. Indeed the combination of literature and the cinema has made the Cobb at Lyme Regis an enduring image of Dorset for many. Unlike Hardy, with his vision of an extended Wessex, Peter Tolhurst concentrates on the historic core of Wessex, Wiltshire and Dorset. Naturally Dorset dominates. Wiltshire cannot lay claim to a novelist of the first rank although some have dwelt here for a while and used the county as a setting for a book or two. Most notable of these is Nobel prize-winner William Golding who, as carefully chronicled, used his life and experiences at both Marlborough and Salisbury for two of his important early novels. Golding visited Figsbury Rings with E.M. Forster many years after Forster published The Longest Journey, which was partly inspired by the Rings and their landscape but mostly by a chance meeting with a lame Wiltshire shepherd boy in those Rings. Tolhurst has a sympathetic understanding of Francis Kilvert, a writer whose deep Wiltshire roots and local writing are often overlooked in favour of his beloved Clyro. He recognises that the eligible young socialite moving in the upper reaches of rural society is fully compatible with the earnest curate bringing comfort to poor people in their broken down hovels, without railing against the social order which created their pitiful situation. Although in full agreement with the writer’s views on the poetical works I would take issue with the somewhat summary dismissal of the later prose works of Edward Thomas. There is a strong sense of locality in these works and, although condemned by economic necessity to hack work, Thomas put far more into the lowest paid task than many a better paid writer has managed to achieve. It is always interesting to see the links between writers associated with one’s own country. Edward Thomas was inspired by Richard Jefferies, for whom a sympathetic evaluation is provided in this book. Thomas went on to write a biography of the mentor he never met while later, outside the geographical scope of this book, Gloucestershire country writer John Moore wrote a biography of Thomas by whom he was inspired but never knew. Three generations of writers linked to one another by common themes and beliefs. Another link is provided in that the eyes of Kenneth Allsop were fully opened to the value of the countryside, its birds and other wildlife by Henry Williamson. There is a good section on Allsop’s writings and his fight to preserve part of Dorset’s ecology. This is an excellent book by a literary man with great insight into the way landscapes have shaped their writers and how, in turn those writers have shaped their landscapes. Thomas Hardy is dominant but, apart from those already mentioned, Alfred Williams, Charles Sorley, John Betjeman, Henry James, Stevie Davies, Virginia Woolf, A.G. Street, Edith Olivier and W.H. Hudson represent those who have been influenced by Wiltshire and have themselves influenced public perception of that county. There are omissions, Geoffrey Grigson and Maureen Duffy could have been included, but there is much here to savour. It is through its writers that a country achieves an immortality comparable with that given by the great structures of the past. Most of what we do will be soon forgotten; that which is written in earth, stone and words will endure. Take this book and be captivated by the literary landscapes of Wiltshire and Dorset. Then visit both new and familiar places and see them through the eyes of their writers. MICHAEL MARSHMAN Mere Papers, Numbers 1 -9, edited by M. F. Tighe. The Friends of the Church of St Michael the Archangel, 1996 -1999, 204 pages; illustrations, maps. Paperbacks. In the relatively short period of three years this on- going series has produced a substantial body of over two hundred pages of research into the town’s history. Subjects covered include the Textile Industry, Inns, Congregationalism, Probate Records, Domestic Buildings, Enclosure, Edge-Tool Making, the Families of Walton, Goldsborough and Edmunds, Doctors and T. H. Baker, Historian. All but the last two, which were written by Dr. David Longbourne, for many years a leading figure in the Mere Historical Society, were written by the editor himself. His industry and enthusiasm are as striking as his ability to write in an informed manner. His piece on Mere in 1851 describing what a visitor to the town would have seen is an extremely clever blend of imaginative writing and sound historical knowledge of the subject. The description of the self-penned will of Margaret Harding in the 1630s as a ‘DIY’ will is a fine example of his engaging and informative style which accurately describes the idiosyncratic spelling of the document. The preface in each volume in which the editor seeks contributions from others is not a sign of flagging on his part. It is a call from an enthusiast REVIEWS eager to engage others to share his passion. It is to be hoped that it may fall on receptive ears and that a series, now firmly planted, will continue to flourish. That would be no mere achievement. STEVEN HOBBS Hazel Gifford. The Biography of a Country Church; Berwick St. John. Winkelbury Publications, 1999; 101 pages, illustrations. Price £6.00, paperback, ISBN 0 9535893 0 7. Every parish has one. It is the background to village life, accepted as part of the landscape by local people and an influence on the lives of most of them even if they do not attend or only enter its doors for christenings, marriages or funerals or at Christmas and Harvest Thanksgiving. Most churches have a printed guide; some are good, some are indifferent. Others have only information sheets pasted on boards. It is a rare thing to have a book devoted to a village church but that is what Hazel Gifford has given us. This is a good biography of a village institution. The book takes full account of the effects of national events and movements and their influence upon a small rural parish. Nearly half the book is taken up with descriptions of rectors and lay benefactors, fleshing out those characters who are often only names on a board inside the church. One such was Richard Downes (1826-1855), an energetic rector who repaired and improved the church, spending nearly £400 of his own money. He also took great interest in employment during times of agricultural depression, built a school with his own money and both he and his wife were responsible for many other charitable works. It is rectors like Downes who bring church history alive. Although information is sparse in earlier centuries, one rector notably stands out. Edmund Audley (1465-1480) held several livings and so visited Berwick infrequently but he did become, first, Bishop of Rochester and then Bishop of Salisbury. His family were powerful and well connected and Audley was made Chancellor of the Order of the Garter. Chapters on the buildings, furnishings and memorial stones and effigies provide the reader with a picture of the church, even though they may never have visited it. I would have liked to have seen a chapter on the relationship of the church with its community; for it is this relationship, spiritual, economic and social, which has sustained the church 267 over the centuries. Apart from that quibble I found this a well researched and annotated book which serves as an excellent introduction for anyone wishing to learn about the history of rural parish churches, as well as being the story of the Berwick church. Very readable, it contains good and interesting illustrations and provides a definitive history. MICHAEL MARSHMAN Gwyneth F. Jackson (compiler). A tale of two manors; Zeals, a Wiltshire village. Dickins Printers, 1997; 208 pages, illustrations, maps. Price £12.50, paperback ISBN 1 902247 00 0. The effects of a bypass on a community can be far- reaching. To the people of Zeals it provided the spur for a celebration of the history of their village, now no longer divided by the relentless flow of traffic along the A303. The result of their efforts is an attractively produced, well illustrated and informative history for which all involved in its production can feel justifiably satisfied. Drawing on a rich fund of oral history, supported by a wide range of excellently captioned photographs, the reader is presented with a good balance of administrative and personal histories which make up the story of the village. The final chapter is a good example of the blend of both. Its content somewhat belies its somewhat discouraging title, Local Government and Facts and Figures. Lists of parish overseers of the poor and parish council chairmen and an analysis of occupations in the village in 1891 compared with those of today are useful and informative. Similarly, lists of surnames found in archives for 1332, 1648, 1891 and 1991 are fascinating, not least because the name Martin occurs in each list. The overlying strengths of the book lie firmly in the last 150 years which comprise the bulk of the text. A few weaknesses occur in the brief section dealing with the earlier history which sadly detract from the pleasures to be enjoyed later on. The suggestion that there is a difference between Cottagers and cottagers in the Domesday Book is a woeful misconception. The notion that Geoffrey de Seles escaped royal wrath in establishing a park without first obtaining permission was probably as a result of him being a hunting acquaintance of the king reveals a naive misunderstanding of the relations between king and tenants-in-chief. These lead to the view that the book might have had a better balance if the earlier section had been excised. This would have enabled a more 268 THE WILTSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY MAGAZINE appropriate title to have been selected. However the unpublished thesis on the settlement and landscape of Zeals, from which only a few interesting points were included, could have provided the basis of the early section and allowed an interesting piece of original research to reach a wider audience. Proof-reading was a little awry. Mention of the researches of John Bratton on p.14, correctly referred to as John Batten on p. 24, is an unfortunate slip since the noted Somerset antiquarian had a real link with the village as his daughter married a Troyte Bullock, thus making him a great grandfather of Bill Woodhouse, who contributed an informative piece about Zeals House. It is worth noting here that the sources of Batten’s work, together with that of T.H. Baker (not J.H. Baker as on p. 204) relied on by the authors are in volumes 28 and 29 of this journal. These are, however, minor quibbles which should not detract from the success of the book in recording the life of the village over the last two centuries ensuring that it will be of value to all those will an interest in Zeals. STEVEN HOBBS Books also noted It is intended that there will be a section in WAM 94 for those works on a parish published to mark the millennium in that community. Some books already published are not noted below as they are being held over for next year. Norman Beale. Is that the Doctor; a history of the Calne GPs. N. Beale, 1998; 95 pages, illustrations. Price £6.95. paperback, ISBN 0 9533992 0 6. Fascinating account, by a current Calne GP of the medical men and women who have practised in Calne since the mid-17th century. Sixty three biographical entries with interesting insights on the development of medicine. Keith Berry. Bradford on Avon’s Schools; the story of education in a small Wiltshire town. Ex Libris Books, 1999; 239 pages, illustrations. Price £8.95, paperback, ISBN 0 948578 96 3. Covers the history of schools in the town for the last 300 years relating national developments to local practice. The main part of the book is a detailed history of Fitzmaurice Grammar School. John Chandler. Great-grandmother’s Footsteps; a stroll through Victorian Salisbury. Salisbury and South Wiltshire Museum, 1999; 45 pages, illustrations. Price £4.99, paperback, ISBN 0 947535 18 7. Skilful juxtapositioning of the paintings of Louise Rayner and others from the 1870s with maps and modern photographs interwoven with the expected masterly text. T.S. Crawford. Wiltshire and the Great War; training the Empire’s Soldiers. DPF Publishing, 1999; 181 pages, illustrations, maps. Price £12.95, paperback, ISBN 0 9535100 0 X. Suprisingly the first book to be published specifically on this period which so greatly affected Wiltshire. Substantial section on the preparation for, and the reality of, war and a very helpful section on the histories and descriptions of individual camps. Jane Freeman and Aelred Watkin. A History of Malmesbury. Wiltshire County Council and The Warden and Freemen of Malmesbury, 1999; x + 230 pages, illustrations, maps. Price £9.75, paperback, ISBN 0 86080 444 5. All the articles on Malmesbury and its abbey from volumes 3 and 14 of the Victoria History of Wiltshire re-formatted into a more user- friendly format. T.E. Holt. Travelling Folk: Itinerant Mission in the Diocese of Salisbury, 1882,1883. Transcribed and edited by Rosemary Church. Wiltshire Family History Society, 1999; 68 pages, maps. Price £6.50, paperback, ISNB 1898714 44 4. The log books of this mission to the travelling population of drovers, showmen, hawkers and gypsies who frequented fairs and race meetings in south Wiltshire and Dorset. Complements A Parish on Wheels (1897) by J. Howard Swinstead. Danny Howell. Wylye Valley Folk Volume 1; an album of memories by senior citizens who lived and worked in the Wylye Valley during their younger days. Recorded and edited by Danny Howell. Bedeguar Books, 1999; 288 pages, illustrations. Price £18.00, paperback, ISBN 1872818 35 8. Five people with extensive memories which have been collected and transcribed by an expert in the oral history field. Peter Lavis. A Century of Nestle at Staverton 1897 - 1997. Nestle UK Ltd, 1998; 56 pages, illustrations. ISBN 0 9532792 0 0. One of a small number of business histories for Wiltshire provides a welcome account from the time the Anglo-Swiss Condensed Milk Company bought the Staverton cloth mill. Ruth Marshall. Trowbridge Voices; recollections of local people compiled by Ruth OBITUARIES Marshall. Tempus, 1999; 128 pages, illustrations. Price £9.99, paperback, ISBN 0 7524 1644 8. Interesting collection of memories dating back to the early 1900s, complemented by largely unpublished photographs. Michael Marshman. The Wiltshire Village Book. Countryside Books, 1999; 256 pages, illustrations, map. Price £9.95, paperback, ISBN 1 85306 583 8. Covers over 180 villages with snippets of history, anecdotes, description, personalities and events. Terence Meaden. The Secrets of the Avebury Stones. Souvenir Press, 1999; 152 pages, illustrations. Price £12.99, ISBN 0 285 63501 8. Interesting account linking Avebury to the Neolithic Earth Goddess which provides symbolic meanings for every stone. Max Milligan. Circles of Stone; the prehistoric rings of Britain and Ireland. Text by Aubrey Burl. Harvill Press, 1999; 232 pages, mainly colour photographs. Price £30.00, hardback, ISBN 1 86046 661 3. Only a small amount of Wiltshire material but Obituaries 269 these superb photographs show the wide variety of stone circles constructed in these islands over a 2,000 year period. Lynda J. Murray. A Zest for Life; the story of Alexander Keiller. Marren Books, 1999; 134 pages, illustrations. Price £9.99, paperback, ISBN 0 9536039 0 3. A general biography which gives generous coverage to the two decades of Avebury excavations in Keiller’s full and varied life in this well written and readable book. Andrew Sewell. Aldbourne; the Present Past. A. Sewell, 1998: 78 pages, Illustrations, maps. Paperback. Comprehensive coverage of the parish in a well researched and informative book. Strong on prehistory. Doug Small. The Wilts and Berks Canal. Tempus (Images of England Series), 1999; 128 pages, chiefly photographs. Price £9.99, ISBN 0 7524 1619 7. Photographic exploration of the canal in images both old and new. An evocative journey from Semington to Abingdon also shows new restoration projects and plans for the future. Desmond Hawkins, writer, producer and founder of the BBC’s Natural History Unit, died on 6 May 1999. He was born on 20 October 1908. Desmond Hawkins was born a Londoner, later moving to Guildford, but at heart always seemed to be a countryman. The family firm was an ironmonger’s shop near the Elephant and Castle and after leaving Cranleigh at 16 he spent five years working in the hardware business. While delivering electrical equipment to theatres he became familiar with life in the West End, seeing plays, attending lectures and developing a love of literature. This self education led to his decision to become a writer, at first a rather precarious living, writing for such magazines as Purpose, The Listener, The New Statesman and Time and Tide. He became part of the cafe and literary culture of the 1930s, discussing art and literature with the fascinating novelists and poets of that decade. He also took great pleasure in supporting them when he was literary editor of The New English Weekly. These times and his early life are well chronicled in his autobiography, When I Was. His first link with Wiltshire occurred in this period when living just over the border in Berkshire. Johnny Morris was then a farm agent living at Aldbourne and the two friends often visited one another. In later years they managed to spend one day each year together at a Test match, at Lords or the Oval; a practice they continued to 1998 for they died on the same day before the 1999 Tests began. With a wife, Barbara, and two children writing was very much a hand to mouth existence but from 1936 onwards he had ideas for programmes accepted by the BBC and was also editing selections from writers such as Donne and Lawrence for publishers. In 1939 his first novel Hawk Among the Sparrows was published. It is the story of the disruption caused by an intellectual who has taken rooms with a middle class couple, the sexual awakening of a young girl and a destructive conflict between her and a worldly wise aunt. A second, and lesser, novel, Lighter than Day, was published in 1940 but by then Desmond had realised that the war had ended the society and mores about which he had just begun to write. Disqualified from military service by ill health he worked as a freelance for the BBC particularly on the weekly programme Country Magazine and the daily War Report. He worked with George Orwell 270 THE WILTSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY MAGAZINE in the Far Eastern Service and wrote scripts with Louis MacNeice on the bombing of the capital. He became a permanent member of the BBC staff in 1945 and soon became a features producer based in Bristol. This period was to be the high point of regional radio which was an important opinion former and shaper. Through the medium of radio Desmond introduced many writers to a far wider public than could have been achieved by other means. Most notable was Dylan Thomas who was a friend from the 1930s when the two used to drink in Soho and talk of poetry and showgirls in equal measure. Until only a year or two before his death, when he sold them at auction, Desmond preserved an important collection of material on Dylan including a letter in which the poet announced his marriage. Under Frank Gillard the West Region of the BBC took a specialist interest in wildlife programmes and Desmond, whose first broadcast in 1936 had been on birdsong, took his opportunity with a series called The Naturalist. In the early 1950s he moved into television with a series, Look, and also produced some of Peter Scott’s early wildlife programmes. These led, in 1957, to him founding the BBC’s Natural History Unit and setting out its strong principles of parallel status of radio and television, high standards of scientific accuracy and use of the best available technology. At the same time literature was not forgotten and he dramatised the novels of Thomas Hardy which were broadcast as Sunday serials and greatly boosted both Hardy’s readership and reputation. In 1955 Desmond had become head of programmes in Bristol and later became the region’s last controller in 1967 until his retirement in 1970. At this point, with nearly 30 years of active life to come he decided that he would produce at least one book, one television film and one radio programme each year. Amazingly he very nearly achieved this. It was in the latter third of his life that his involvement with Wessex, always strong, became the cornerstone of his literary and ecological life. He wrote what are arguably the best books on Hardy by anyone of his generation. These were followed by articles and presentations for the Thomas Hardy Society, broadcast anthologies of poetry and prose and a televised book, Hardy’s Wessex. He later confessed that as far as Thomas Hardy was concerned he had written all he could and so, fortunately for us in Wiltshire, he turned his attentions to other areas. He produced a definitive work on Cranborne Chase and later brought out new editions of rare early works on the Chase by William Chafin and Wake Smart. In 1973 while researching the friendship of Hardy and Agnes Grove he became aware of the Grove family habit of writing and preserving diaries. After his book on this friendship had been published he researched and wrote another on the relationship between Harriet Grove and her cousin, the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, Shelley’s First Love. Many of the diaries are in the Wiltshire and Swindon Record Office and many were the trips made from Blandford in Dorset to Trowbridge. It was then that we, in Wiltshire, became aware of the detailed and meticulous research that preceded every book, article, broadcast and lecture that were a part of the man and writer of integrity that he was. His energy was prodigious. Before the publication of The Grove Diaries and at the age of 86 he undertook an exhausting trip to the U.S.A. to further research diaries held there and to raise funding for the publication of the American edition. He was not happy unless he had one project in progress and another one or two ready to start when the current one had been completed. Only two weeks before he died he was planning a trip to Trowbridge to discuss a small edition of a travel journal of Tom Grove. With an enviable lifetime of achievement Desmond was a very modest man and had to be pressed to speak of writers he had known and things he had done. He much preferred to talk of current projects and discuss avenues of research. He was a great friend of the Wiltshire and Swindon Record Office and the County Local Studies Library and we all became accustomed to his erudite questions on genealogy, heraldry and local history which extended our own knowledge and competence whilst finding the answers. Wessex and south western England have lost a great advocate of their history, literature and beauty and we in Wiltshire feel that we have lost a great gentleman and a friend. MICHAEL MARSHMAN , Eve Machin, archaeologist, poet, linguist, died 1 November 1999. She was born 17 January 1915. Although born in Bristol to an English father, Jim Baxter, Eve’s mother came from a well-to-do Austrian Jewish family, and with her younger brother Eve was brought up in Vienna from the age of eight. There Eve got to know the friends and relatives of her Viennese family, a wide and and often brilliant circle of artists, entepreneurs, scientists and writers. Although she was to return several times to school in England, the Vienna of that era was in many ways to remain Eve’s spiritual home. She went hiking in the Alps, she was introduced to the glittering group of poets OBITUARIES and dramatists who gathered around her distant cousin Richard Beer Hofmann, and she must often have been invited to the dazzling parties and balls which were still such a feature of Viennese life. She was soon fully bilingual in German and English, and learnt excellent French from her Swiss governess. She acquired a life- long love of German literature and poetry. At the age of 17 Eve was back in England, living in Surrey and preparing for university. Her fluency in English, German and French was not in doubt, but one other language — Latin — was a requirement. Luckily, a master at the nearby Cranleigh School, Max Machin, was able to tutor her in this. In 1933 Eve went up to Oxford to study Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Lady Margaret Hall, but left a year later to marry Max. Although in many ways a natural academic, it was a decision that she never regretted. Max and Eve settled in Cranleigh and employed a young German architect to build them a house there. The resulting structure caused some consternation among the good people of Surrey, but it gave their children the rare distinction of having grown up in a Bauhaus. The field around the house was soon populated with an assortment of animals including goats, geese, and guinea-pigs. The couple’s first child, Tess, was born in 1935, followed by Noel in 1939 and Blaise in 1946. Max, who had already served in the First War, did not have to go on active service after 1939, but for Eve, who was by now also working as a teacher at Cranleigh, bringing up two young children during the war was very stressful. Max and Eve had long shared a love of archaeology; they spent holidays in Avebury and Brittany, and in the Dordogne they visited the painted caves of Lascaux and Font de Gaume. And even though a schoolmaster’s salary was no fortune, they took their children abroad every other year to Austria, France, Spain and other parts of Europe. Eve went on to teach German to sixth-form students at her old school of St. Catherine’s, and in the early 1960s she gained an extra-mural diploma in archaeology from the University of London. In 1968 after Max had retired from Cranleigh School he and Eve were able to move to a part of the country that they had always loved; they had already bought the house Chancel End in St. Johns churchyard. When they moved to Devizes they took an active part in WANHS and were fortunate that several of their friends from Surrey also moved to Wiltshire. But Max died suddenly in 1970 and Eve had to resign herself to what she knew would be long years of widowhood. Her love of working with young people and her happy memories of the Girl Guides in her youth led to her 271 becoming a District Commissioner for Guides, much to the astonishment of her family, who had never seen her in a uniform before (or since)! She became very active on behalf of this Society, where her speciality was the classification of flint implements. She particularly enjoyed leading field parties of flint hunters for the young people’s section of the Museum. Her passion for archaeology was reinforced when the eminent archaeologist, Peggy Guido, moved into 44 Long Street next door to Chancel End. In this way, a close friendship began which was to last until Peggy’s sudden death five years ago. Eve helped Peggy in the massive task of classifying all the beads found in European archaeological sites, an area previously neglected, and travelled with her to Europe on several occasions where her knowledge of German and French often came in useful. Although Peggy herself had not lived to see her work published Gn 1999), Eve was enormously encouraged by the fact that it had been so well produced and that her own part in it had been generously acknowledged. Another strand in Eve’s life was her poetry. She had written poems when she was young, but late in life the muse spoke to her again — and to great effect. Her poems were published in small but highly regarded magazines, and she was very fortunate that her friends in Devizes included the artists Graham and Ann Arnold, who helped her publish two beautifully printed volumes with illustrations by themselves and other members of the Brotherhood of Ruralists. At the time of her death Eve was particularly delighted that her latest poem had just appeared in Agenda, and that there had been talk of her collected works being published. In later life Eve, who was a believing but broad- minded Christian, became a member of the Society of Friends, and through them she acquired a wide circle of friends in and around Devizes who were much valued by her and a great support to her. Although to avery large extent she retained her sight, her hearing, and her fierce and inquiring intellect to the end of her life, she was becoming progressively less mobile as the result of an inner-ear infection that had affected her balance. Peggy’s death had hit her hard, and it was less and less easy for her to visit friends and family. Her great comforts were her home in Chancel End, and the kindness of the people of Devizes. When it came, her death by heart attack was sudden, and quite painless. She leaves behind her two surviving children, six grandchildren and one great-grandchild. Adapted from the funeral address given by her son, BLAISE MACHIN 212 THE WILTSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY MAGAZINE Michael Lansdown, newspaper editor, writer, historian, died 20 December 1999. He was born 25 November 1916. Michael Lansdown was born at Trowbridge in 1916, the son of Charles Lansdown and great grandson of Benjamin Lansdown who founded the Trowbridge Advertiser (predecessor of the Wiltshire Times ) in 1854. Another great grandfather was William Millington, the artist whose paintings and prints of Victorian Trowbridge and its people are well known. Michael was educated at Trowbridge Boys’ High School and read Modem Languages at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. After war service in the Royal Signals which took him to India and Burma he joined the staff of the Wiltshire Times in 1946, and succeeded his cousin Leonard Lansdown as editor in 1957. In 1961 ownership of the Wiltshire Times was transferred from the Lansdown family to the Westminster Press, Michael remaining editor until his retirement in 1981. He died after a brief illness on 20 December 1999. As a local historian Michael Lansdown naturally concentrated on Trowbridge as revealed by the files of his own newspaper, and later, after their rediscovery in Bath, those of its rival, the Trowbridge Chronicle. His knowledge of Victorian Trowbridge was encyclopaedic, and he was frequently able to quote verbatim from the files from memory. Many finished little pieces of local history appeared in the columns of the newspaper during his time there, and he joined as co-editor in three books of old photographs of the town. He also published pamphlets on Trowbridge’s fight for pure water, on the Trowbridge Chartists and the stained glass windows of St. James’s Church, ‘Trowbridge. Michael Lansdown served as honorary treasurer of the Wiltshire Record Society for 48 years, and managed its finances with a success probably unparalleled by any similar body. The enthusiasm and humour with which he reported the intricacies of postage, packing, and covenants and the quirks of printers and booksellers will remain a vivid memory with all who served on the Society’s committee. He was photographed at the Record Office only a few days before his death, reading a file of the Wiltshire Times, in preparation for a memoir to be inserted in a future volume to mark his half century in office. He was long a member of the West Wiltshire branch of the Historical Association and in recent years its president. He regularly attended the tours in this country and abroad which the Historical Association organized and it was through them that he met his wife, Dorothy, whom he married in 1972. They were regular attenders at the concerts of the Trowbridge Philharmonic Choral Society and the Trowbridge Orchestra, and took an active part in the affairs of the Trowbridge Civic Society and the Friends of the Trowbridge Museum. Both attended St. James’s Church, and Michael served for some years on the P.C.C. Regularly to be seen round the town (he did not drive a car), he never failed to have some new fact he had discovered, or some happening which had amused him to report. As a raconteur he was, in the writer’s experience, unequalled. His recall of events from childhood, schooldays, army, newspaper office, holidays, seemed detailed and perfectly complete. He will be sadly missed. KEN ROGERS Wiltshire Archaeological & Natural History Magazine, vol. 93 (2000), pp. 273-282 Index by Philip Aslett NOTE: Wiltshire places are indexed or referenced under civil parishes. Abingdon (Oxon), 167, 269 AC Archaeology. evaluations, 259-60, 262, 263-4; excavations, 255, 257, 258 Addington, Henry, Viscount Sidmouth, 10 Adshead, Stanley Davenport, 210 adzes: Neolithic, 153; Roman, 227 aerenchyma, remains, 171 aerial photography, 90-2, 96, 103, 140, 240, 257, 261 Agenda, 271 agriculture, Romano-British, 233, 237 Agrostemma githago (corn cockle), remains, 42, 43, 44 Ainsworth, James, 55 Albania, 16 Albert, Prince, 16. Aldbourne, 269; Aldbourne Chase, 108; Lewisham Castle, 108 Alderbury, 197; kilns, 37 Alfred, King, 183, 201 Alington, Cyril, 211 Alismataceae (water plantains), 171 Alisma spp. (water plantains), 171 Allan, Edith, 228 Allason-Jones, L., 225 All Cannings, Tan Hill, 239 Allen, Michael J.: note on buried soil at St John’s Hospital and South Street, Wilton, 200; note on marine shells from Ivy Street/ Brown Street, Salisbury, 45 Allsop, Kenneth, 266 Alton, 249; Alton Barnes, 253, 255; Alton Priors, 255; church, 255; Honeystreet, 255 Alvestone (Avon), 265 America, 252 Amesbury, 66; Boscombe Down, 255; Boscombe Down Airfield, 255; Butterfield Down, 76, 77, 79, 81, 255; Coneybury, 166, 167, 168; Gauntlet pipe factory, 38; London Road, 255; Normanton Farm, 67; Pitt’s Garage, 255—6; Queensbury Bridge, 255; Ratfyn Barrow, 255, see also Stonehenge amphibians, bones, 45 Ancient Monuments Laboratory, 2, 260, 264 Andover (Hants), 66; faunal remains, 49, 50 Andrews and Dury, map (1773), 250 Andrews, Phil: note on excavations at Vale’s Lane, Devizes, 241-8; report on excavations at St John’s Hospital and South Street, Wilton, 181—204 Anethum graveolens (dill): seeds, 42; uses, 44 Anglo-Swiss Condensed Milk Company, 268 animal bone see bone, animal animal remains see faunal remains Broad Hinton, 67, 228, 229, 230; Bicknoll Castle, 114, 115 Broad Town, 257; bronze axe, 238-9 Bromham: church, 87; Spye Park, 250 Bromus spp. (brome-grass), seeds, 42 brooches: Late Iron Age, 261; Roman, 220-5; Romano-British, 100, 102, 185, 198; Aucissa type, 223; Birdlip Brooch, 223; Colchester derivatives, 220-2; dolphin type, 222; Drahtfibel derivatives, 222; Late LaTeéne, 222—3; Nauheim derivatives, 222; penannular, 225; Polden Hill type, 220; Trumpet Type, 223-5, see also fibulae; strip brooches Brooks, Mr, 56 Brooks, N., 265 Broomfield, Michael, 238 Brotherhood of Ruralists, 271 Browne, William, 132 Brown, Graham, 257, 264 Brown, John, 132 Brussels (Belgium), 65 Bruton (Somerset), 112 Buccinum undatum (whelk), 45 buckles, Roman, 225 Bucks see High Wycombe Budden, Thomas, 53 building materials: medieval, 22, 257, 258; post-medieval, 243, 258; ceramic, 37-8, 196-7, see also brick; chalk blocks; tiles; wattle and daub buildings: Late Bronze Age/Early Iron Age, 263; Roman, 231; Romano-British, 90, 92, 99; Saxon, 90, 185, 233; medieval, 26-8, 57-9, 257, 258; post-medieval, 259, 261; 16th century, 203; as war memorials, 210, see also villas; walls Bulford, 18 Bull family, 125 Bull, John, 125 Bullock, Troyte, 268 Bupleurum rotundifolium (thorow-wax), 44 Burcombe Without, 185, 202 Burghal Hidage, 183, 185, 201, 202 burials see inhumations Burl, Aubrey, work noted, 269 Burma, 272 Burton (Glos), 83 Burton, Thomas, 83 Bury, Lady Charlotte, 12 Busshel, William, 53 butchery: Neolithic, 154, 156, 158, 162, 166— 7, 175; Beaker, 78-9; Romano-British, 198, 200; medieval, 50; post-medieval, 51 Butler, Charles Ponsonby, 254 Button family, 249 Button, Sir Robert, 249 By Brook, 103, 219 Byron, Lord, 16 Caerleon (Gwent), 222 Calluna vulgaris (heather), 42 Calne: burial registers, 120, 122; Castle House, 120, 125-7; Castle Street, 125; church, 120, 122-8; doctors, 268; fortifications, 108; Ingen Housz in. 120-30; Quemerford, 128 Calne Without: Calstone, 125; Derry Hill, 124; Quemerford, 128, see also Bowood Caltha palustris (marsh marigold), 44 Cambridge: Corpus Christi, 272; Magdalene College, 212-13; Trinity College, 16 Cambridgeshire see West Wickham Camden, Ist Marquess of, 10-12 Camerton (Avon), 223 Campbell College (Ireland), 210 camps, temporary, 237 Camulodunum (Essex), 227 Cannabis sativa (hemp), seeds, 43 Canterbury, Archbishop of, 181 Canterbury (Kent): cess pits, 45; Prerogative Court, 54 Carex spp. (sedge), 44, 200 Carlisle (Cumbria), 240 Caroline, Queen, 12 Carrawburgh (Northumberland), 227, 240 Case, Humphrey, 76 Castle Combe, earthwork, 114 Castlereagh, Robert Stewart, Viscount, 10-12 castles, 261; Norman, 105, 107; medieval, 241-8; classification, 116-17; early, 105— 19 Catesby, Sir John, 87 cats, bones, 45,51, 198 cattle: bones, 45, 48, 49, 50, 51, 59, 79, 157, 160-5, 166, 198, 200, 261; teeth, 102, 155, 160, 162, 165 Caundel, John, 52, 53 celts, Neolithic, 134 cemeteries: Bronze Age, 260; Romano-British, 90, see also inhumations Centaurea cyanus (cornflower), charred grains, 43, 44 ceramics see pottery Cerastium spp. (chickweeds), charred seeds, 200 cereals: charred, 168, 172, 173, 174; remains, 42,43, 44, 45, 131, 153-4, 168-9, 170 cess pits: medieval, 24, 28, 39, 43, 45, 48, 49, 50, 59; post-medieval, 51, 191 274 Chaffin, Mr, 55 Chaffyn, Mistress C., 54 Chaffyn, Thomas, 53, 54 Chafin, Thomas, 54, 56 Chafin, William, 54, 66-7, 270 Chafyn, Charles, 54 Chafyn, Dorothy, 54 Chafyn family, 57 chalk blocks, 24, 141, 144 Chandler, John: documentary report relating to excavations at Ivy Street/Brown Street, Salisbury, 51-7; work noted, 268 Channel Islands, 50, see also St Clement charcoal, 80, 141, 144, 168, 170, 173-4, 176, 258 Charlton Musgrove (Somerset), Cockroad Wood, 112 Charterhouse (Surrey), 210 charters, Anglo-Saxon, 185, 265 Chartists, 272 Chedworth (Glos), 228, 229 Chenopis atrata (black swan), 70 Chenopodium murale (goosefoot), seeds, 170, 174 Cherhill, 167; Yatesbury Field, 134 Chester, cess pits, 45 Chesterholm (Northumberland), 240 Cheverell, Robert, 87 Chicklade, manor, 84, 86, 87 Chilmark, stone, 188 Chippenham, 84; Bell Inn, 86; Cock, 70; gas pipeline, 90-104; hundred, 264; Market Place, 108; Swan, 70;Western Bypass, 233— 8 Chippenham College Archaeology Group, 103 Chippenham Without: Allington, 258; Corsham Wood, 258; Sheldon Manor, 257-8; Sheldon Wood, 258 Chiseldon, Burderop Down, 148 Chitterne, great bustards, 67 Chokke, Richard, 83, 84, 85 Chrysanthemum segetum (corn marigold), charred grains, 43, 44 Church, Rosemary, work noted, 268 Chute, William, 10 Civic Arts Association, 209 Clarence, Duke of, 12, 15 Clarendon Park, 250; Ashley Hill, 31; Clarendon Palace, 29, 37; Fussell’s Lodge long barrow, 166; Petersfinger, 31; tile industry, 38 Clark, Dorcas, 254 Clarke, Bob, 255; note on bronze axe from Broad Town, 238-9 Clark family, 249, 254 Clark, John, 254 Clark, Thomas, 254 clay pipes, 6, 7, 38 Cleal, Rosamund M. J., report on excavations at Crescent Copse, Shrewton, 71-81 cloth trade, Salisbury, 53 Clutterbuck, Daniel, 250 Clwyd see Prestatyn Clyffe Pypard, 115; Stanmore, 115 Clyro (Powys), 266 Cnut, King, 265 Cobbett, William, 9 (Vindolanda) THE WILTSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY MAGAZINE Codford, 87; East Codtord, 86; West Codford, 86 coffins, lead, 123-4 coins: Iron Age, 240; Roman, 220, 228-30, 240; Romano-British, 228-30, 240 Colchester (Essex);. 29, 223, Camulodunum, 227 Colerne: Ashley Barn, 220; Bury Wood Camp, 90, 103; Euridge [Ewerigga/Iwerugge/ Uridge], 219; Euridge Manor Farm, 218— 32 Cole, William, 70 Collingbourne Kingston, barrows, 239 Collingwood, R. C., 228 Colnbrook, Sir George, 125 Columella edentula (mollusc), 78 combs: medieval, 197; bone, 38—9 Comper, Sir Ninian, 214 Compton Chamberlayne, 66 Compton, Lord, 10 Compton, Mary, 249 conger eels, bones, 49, 51, 59 Conium maculatum (hemlock): charred seeds, 200; uses, 44 conservation, and fungi, 80-1 Constantinople, 16 Coombes, John, 55 Cooper, Charles, 250 Cooper, Frances Sarah, 250 Cooper, John, 250 Cooper, John Allen, 250, 252 Cooper, Mary, 252 Cooper, Thomas, 250 copper alloy objects: Roman, 220-7, 227; medieval, 29; waste, 197 cores, 134, 148-9, 151, see also flintwork Coriandrum sativum (coriander), uses, 44 Corio, 103 Cornburgh, Avery [Alfred], 85 Cornhill Magazine, 212 Cornwall, 85, 239, see also East Looe; Penryn; ‘Trevelgue Corsham, 16; church, 87; Corsham Court, 183 Hartham Park, 115; Heywood Preparatory School, 258; Neston, 83, 85; Rectory Manor, 258 Cotswold Aggregates, 259 Cotswold Archaeological Trust, 77; evaluations, 241, 259, 262; excavations, 90-104, 233-8 Cotswolds, 102, 103, 237 Country Life, 209 Country Magazine, 269 Cowley (Oxon), 219, 228 Cranborne Chase, 132, 270 Cranborne Downs (Dorset), 70 Cranleigh (Surrey), 269, 271 Crataegus monogyna (hawthorn), seeds, 169 Crawford, OG: S., 132 Crawford, T. S., work noted, 268 Creighton, Oliver H., paper on early castles in medieval landscape, 105-19 Cricklade, 196; fortifications, 108; High Street, 258; Horse Fair Lane, 258; Three Horseshoes Inn, 258 Croft Ambrey (Hereford and Worcester), 222 cropmarks, 90—2, 94, 96, 103, 240 Cross, Mr, 123 PYAR Crummy, N., 225, 227 Crutcher, Thomas, 56, 57 culverts, Romano-British, 96 Cumbria see Carlisle Cunetio, evaluations, 259-60 Cunnington, Maud, 2 Cunnington, William, 67, 132 cups: Late Neolithic, 146; Romano-British, 240 cutlers, 16th century, 248 Cyperaceae (herbs), 171 Daily Telegraph, 63 Dale, Mr, 132 Danebury (Hants), 239 Danes, campaigns, 183, 201 Darvill, T., 77 David, Andrew, 2 Davies, Jessica, report on excavations at Windmill Hill causewayed enclosure, 131— 80 Davies, Stevie, 266 Dawson, W. R., 70 de Dunstanville family, 114 deer: antlers, 162, 166; bones, 45,51, 96, 103, 156, 198; teeth, 101 Defence Estates Organisation (Lands) South- West, 71 Defence Evaluation and Research Agency, 255 defences: Late Saxon, 181—204; medieval, 241 de Keynes family, 111 Delmé, Peter, 9 Deneman, Margaret, 52 Denham, Thomas, 53 Dennis, Ian, report on excavations atWindmill Hill causewayed enclosure, 131-80 Devizes, 10, 12, 13, 18, 67; Baptist Chapel, 247; Bear Hotel, 15; Bear Inn, 14; Black Swan, 70; Castle, 241; Chancel End, 271; Corn Exchange, 247; Corporation, 18; Hare and Hounds Street, 241; King’s Arms, 250; Long Street, 247; Market Place, 247; New Park Street, 241, 246, 247; New Port, 241; Pelican, 70; ringwork, 107; St John’s church, 247; Sheep Street, 247; Vale’s Lane, 241-8; Wayside Farm, 258; White Swan, 70 Devizes Museum, 68, 132, 134, 219, 220, 227, 230, 233, 239, 241, 249, 271 Devizes and Wiltshire Gazette, 13-15 Devon see Exeter; Plymouth Dew, 67 Dewel, John, 52 Dinton, Baverstock, 66 Discus rotundatis (mollusc), 78 dishes, medieval, 33 Disraeli, Benjamin, Ist Earl of Beaconsfield, 16 Disraeli, Mary Anne, 16 ditches: Neolithic, 2-4, 6, 175; Early Neolithic, 146; Late Neolithic, 233, 261; Early Bronze Age, 233; Late Bronze Age/Early Iron Age, 262; Iron Age, 92, 96, 259, 260; Middle Iron Age, 233; Roman, 102; Romano-British, 92—4, 96, 99, 100, 103, 233, 236, 261; Saxon, 183, 185, 186-8, 201; medieval, 189, 191, 202, 255, 262; post-medieval, 257; ?modern, 189; ring, INDEX 92, 141, see also gullies; pits Dobunni, 240 dogs, bones, 45, 51, 158, 198 Dole, hundred, 114 Domesday Book, 52, 114, 183, 267 Donne, John, 269 Donyatt (Somerset), pottery, 36, 37 Dorchester (Dorset), 181 Dordogne (France), 271 Dorn (Glos), 228, 229 Dorset, 268; literature, 265—6; pottery, 31, see also Blandford; Cranborne Downs; Dorchester; Folke; Maiden Castle; Poole; Purbeck; Ridgeway; Shaftesbury Abbey; Sydling St Nicholas; Verwood; Waddon Hill; Woodcutts Douai, Walscin of, 115 Douglas, Mr, 66 Dove, Peter, 53 Doves, Mr, 55 Downes, Richard, 267 Downman, E. A., 105 Downside School (Somerset), 210 Downton, 80; The Borough, 258; Castle Meadow, 108; Charlton, 53; Moot House, 107; Old Court, 108; ringwork, 107-8 Driesch, A. von den, 45 Driver, J. T., paper on career of Thomas Tropenell, 82-9 Drummonds (bankers), 122, 123 Dubois, Mr, 66 Duckett family, 125 Duckett, Thomas, 125 Duffy, Maureen, 266 Dumont, Rev, 122 Durdall, Thomas, 54 Durdall, Widow, 55 Durnford, Little Durnford, 86, 87 Durrington, Durrington Walls, 100, 166 Dycar, Nicholas, 53, 54 Eames, George, 10 earthworks, 107, 111; medieval, 264; interpretation, 105, see also mottes; ringworks East Anglia, beakers, 76 East Anton (Hants), 228, 229 Easterton, Eastcott, 67 East India Company, 125 East Knoyle, Milton, 86 East Looe (Cornwall), 12 East Sussex see Hastings; Seaford East Yorkshire, 239 Eaton Socon (Beds), 114 Ebbesborne Wake, Fifield Bavant, 100 Edinburgh (Scotland), 16, 120, 210; Academy, 210 Edington, 87;Tinhead, 67 Edmonds, M., 166 Edmonstone, Mr, 15 Edmunds family, 266 Edward IV, King, 84, 85 Edwards, Brian, paper on Marlborough College Memorial Hall, 205-17 eels: bones, 45, 49; in medieval period, 50, 59 Eleocharis spp. (spike-rush), 44 enclosures: Neolithic, 1-8; Iron Age, 103; Romano-British, 233; causewayed, 131— 80; palisaded, 131, see also hillforts; settlements English Heritage, 2 Enright, Dawn, note on excavations at Chippenham Western Bypass, 233-8 environmental materials, from Ivy Street/ Brown Street, Salisbury, 39-51 Erlestoke: Erlestoke Park, 9-19; prison, 9, 19; Senior Officers Training School, 18-19; ‘Stoke Park’, 10; village improvements, 10 Erley, John, 83 Essex see Camulodunum; Colchester; Harlow; Woodham Ferrers Estcourt, Mr, 12 Estcourt, T. G. B., 15 Ethelred II, King, 112 Eton College (Berks), 211 Euphrasia spp. (eyebright), seeds, 43 Evans, John, 1, 2, 132 Evelyn, John, 65 Evil and Co., 252 Eward, Suzanne, 51 excreta: medieval, 26, 43; fruit stones in, 44 Exeter (Devon), 90 fabricators, Neolithic, 151 faeces see excreta Fairbairn, Andrew S., report on excavations at Windmill Hill causewayed enclosure, 131-80 Falconer, William, 121 Farleigh Hungerford (Somerset), 87 faunal remains: classification, 45; from Crescent Copse, Shrewton, 78; from Ivy Street/Brown Street, Salisbury, 45-51, 59; identification, 45 Fawconer, Jasper, 53 Fettes School (Scotland), 210 fibulae: Roman, 220; Alesia type, 223; Aucissa type, 223 Ficus spp. (fig), seeds, 42 field surveys: Chippenham Western Bypass, 233; Euridge Manor Farm, Colerne, 231; Westbury, 263; Windmill Hill causewayed enclosure, 137 field systems, 261; Romano-British, 99, 103 Figheldean, Robin Hood’s Ball, 77, 79, 80, 153 Findon (West Sussex), 66 finials, medieval, 37-8 First Pembroke Survey (1563), 203 First World War see World War I fish: bones, 48, 49, 50; in medieval period, 50, 59; recipes, 50 Fisher, Mr, 15 flagstones: 17th—18th century, 28; limestone, 27 flakes, flint, 90, 102, 134, 149, 151, 152, 236; notched, 149; serrated, 149, 153; utilised, 149, 152, 153, see also flintwork Fleming, Ann, 250 Fleming, Edward, 250 flints: burnt, 73, 152, 154, 261, 263, 264; nodules, 188, 189; raw materials, 148, 236; scattered, 92, 102, 131, 137, 148, 151 flintwork: prehistoric, 90, 102, 256, 264; Mesolithic, 102, 103, 235, 236, 257, 263; Neolithic, 4, 5, 103, 131, 132-7, 148-54, 176; Early Neolithic, 141, 257, 263; Late 275 Neolithic/Early Bronze Age, 263; Beaker, 73, 77-8, 79, 80; Bronze Age, 235, 236; Middle Bronze Age, 261; Late Bronze Age, 263; classification, 271, see also adzes; arrowheads; awls; axes; blades; celts; cores; flakes, flint; hammerstones; Knives; scrapers; tools Foch, Marshall, 213 Foeniculum vulgare (fennel), uses, 44 Folke (Dorset), 84 Font de Gaume (France), 271 food, processing, 131, 166-7, 172-3, 176 Foote, Robert, 249 Forster, E. M., 266 Fortescue, John, 83, 84 Fosse Way, 90, 92, 102 Fowler, Richard, 7 Fowles, John, 266 fowls, bones, 198 Fox, Caroline, 126 Fragaria spp. (strawberry), seeds, 42, 44 France, 271, see also Arles; Brittany; Dordogne; Font de Gaume; Lascaux; Loos; Lugdunum; Lyons; Morvan; Paris Franco-Prussian War, 68 Franklin, Benjamin, 121 Freeman, Jane and Watkin, Aelred, work noted, 268 French Revolution, 121 Fripp family, 125 Frome, River, 265 Froxfield, Rudge Romano-British villa, 239— 41 fruits, 59, 168-75; analyses, 43—4 fruit stones, remains, 42, 43, 59 fuels, plant, 173 funerary monuments, prehistoric, 90 fungi, arboreal, effects on archaeological remains, 71, 80-1 furnaces, Late Saxon, 197 Gadebridge (Herts), 223 Galium spp. (herbs), 169-70 Gauntlet pipe factory, 38 geese, bones, 198 Gentleman’s Magazine, The, 126 geophysics: Barbury Castle, 260; Euridge Manor Farm, Colerne, 220;Windmill Hill causewayed enclosure, 137—41 George III, Kung, 10 George IV, King, 12, 15 Germany see Trier Gerrish, Thomas, 252 Gibbes, Bridgett, 54 Giffard, Osbern, 114 Gifford, Hazel, work reviewed, 267 Gifford and Partners, excavations at Crescent Copse, Shrewton, 71-81 Gilbert, Sarah, 10 Gillard, Frank, 270 Gillings, Mark, report on excavations at Beckhampton Avenue, 1—8 Gilpin, 65 Girl Guides, 271 Glamorgan, castles, 117 Glasgow (Scotland), Academy, 210 glass, medieval, 24, 38 Gloucester, Robert, Earl of, 114 276 Gloucestershire, 103, 266, see also Burton; Chedworth; Dorn; Hartpury; South Cerney; Tewkesbury goats: bones, 96, 157, 158, 160—5, 166, 198; teeth, 162 Goddard, E. H., 105, 132 Godshill (Hants), 108 Golding, William, 266 gold objects, Romano-British, 239-41 Goldsborough family, 266 Gomme, Alison, 19 Goodfield, M., 239 Gosport (Hants), 70 Gower, Widow, 55 gradiometers, 137 gradiometer surveys, 137-41 Grant (farmer), 67 grasses, seeds, 42, 45 gravel pits, Saxon, 108 Graves, 67 Gray, Thomas, 214 Great Bedwyn, 83 great bustard, in Wiltshire, 63-70 Great Bustard Trust, 68 Great Chard (Kent), 70 Great Somerford, 117; church, 114; The Mount, 112-14 Great War see World War I Greece, 16 Green & Co, Messrs, 18 Greenwood, Thomas, 122 Griffin (farmer), 7 Grigson, C., 165 Grigson, Geoffrey, 266 Grime’s Graves (Norfolk), 132 Grimes, John, 53 Grimes, Mary, 53 Grimstead, West Grimstead, 31 Grinsell, L. V., 140 Grist, Stephen, 54 Grittleton, 102, 115; Green Barrow Farm, 92 Grove, Agnes, 270 : Grove, Harriet, 270 Grove, Tom, 270 Guernsey, 18 Guido, Peggy, 271 Guildford (Surrey), 269 Guild Merchant, 183 gullies, 235, 236; Late Bronze Age, 261, 263; Late Bronze Age/Early Iron Age, 262; medieval, 233, see also ditches Gumbleton, John, 55 Gwent see Caerleon Habsburg family, 121 Hadley (Middlesex), 249 Hadrian’s Wall, 240 Hamilton-Dyer, Sheila: note on animal bones from Crescent Copse, Shrewton, 78-9; note on animal bones from St John’s Hospital and South Street, Wilton, 198-9; note on faunal remains from Ivy Street/ Brown Street, Salisbury, 45-51 Hamilton, Michael A., report on excavations at Windmill Hill causewayed enclosure, 131-80 hammers, 248 hammerstones, Neolithic, 151, 152, 153,154 THE WILTSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY MAGAZINE Hampshire: pottery, 36; tile industry, 37, see also Andover; Danebury; East Anton; Godshill; Gosport; Kings Somborne; New Forest; Owlesbury; Romsey; Solent; Southampton; Sparsholt; Wherwell; Winchester Handle, Cristina, 53 handles, medieval, 197 Harcros Timber Merchants, 260 Hardell, Robert, 86 Harding, Margaret, 266 Hardy, Thomas, 265, 266, 270 hares, bones, 45, 48, 50, 198 Harlow (Essex), Harlow Museum, 225 Hartley, B., 219, 227 Hartpury (Glos), 249 Harvey, R., review by, 265 Haslam, J., 181, 183, 201, 203, 241, 246-7 Hastings (East Sussex), cess pits, 45 Hather, Jon, 168 Hatt, Robert, 54 Haughton Court (Jamaica), 12 Hawkes, C. F. C., 225 Hawkins, Barbara, 269 Hawkins, Desmond, obituary, 269-70 Hay, Lady Charlotte, 18 Haydon Wick, Moredon, 115 Hay, Lady Julia, 16 hazelnuts, remains, 169, 170 hearths: Late Bronze Age, 261; Saxo-Norman, 191, 197, 201 hearthstones, Neolithic, 154 heathers, seeds, 42, 43 Heaton, Michael, report on excavations at Crescent Copse, Shrewton, 71-81 Helbaek, H., 169 Helix spp. (mollusc), 78 henge monuments, 269 Henig, Martin, note on ring from Froxfield, 239-41 Henry I, King, 108, 114 Henry VI, King, 84, 86 Herbert, Thomas, 84 Hercules (god), sculpture, 219 Hereford, Viscountess, 125 Hereford and Worcester see Croft Ambrey Hertfordshire see Braughing; Gadebridge; Puckeridge; St Albans; Verulamium Heytesbury, 52, 261; Heytesbury House, 259; hundred, 114; Park Street Gates, 259 Heywood: Down Farm, 90; Lodge Farm, 90 Hibberd, John, 55 Hickey, William, 250 Higgins, Peter, note on palaeoenvironmental remains from Crescent Copse, Shrewton, 78 Highworth, Swan, 70 High Wycombe (Bucks), 125 Hill, David, 183 hillforts: Iron Age, 90, 108, 116, 260, 262, see also enclosures; specific sites Hill, Henry, 250 Hillman, Gordon, 168 Hinde, Thomas, 211 Hindon: manor, 84, 86, 87; Swan, 70 Hinton, Pat: note on plant remains from Ivy Street/Brown Street, Salisbury, 39-45; note on plant remains from St John’s Hospital and South Street, Wilton, 199-200 Historical Association, 272 Hobbs, Steven, reviews by, 266-7, 267-8 Hobhouse, Charlotte, 16 Hobhouse, John Cam, Ist Baron Broughton de Gyfford, 9, 16-18 Hobhouse, Julia, 16, 18 Hobhouse, Sophia, 16 Hodding, John, 66 Hofmann, Richard Beer, 271 Holgate, R., 2 Holland, 126 Holland, Henry, Lord, 250 Holland (Jamaica), 12 Holt: Great Chalfield, 82—9; Little Chalfield, 84, 85 Holt, T. E., work noted, 268 Hordeum spp. (barley), charred grains, 42, 43, 200 Hordeum vulgare var. nudum (naked barley), grains, 169, 173 horncores, 24 horses, bones, 166, 198 Houghton Hall (Norfolk), 12 Houghton (West Sussex), Bury Hill, 6 Howell, Danny, work noted, 268 Hudson, W. H., 68-9, 266 Hullavington, 115 Hull, M. R., 225 Hundred Days, 16 Hungerford, 68 Hungerford, Sir Edmund, 84 Hungerford family, 52, 83, 84, 86 Hungerford, Robert, 2nd Baron Hungerford, 84, 86 Hungerford, Robert, Baron Moleyns and 3rd Baron Hungerford, 84, 85, 87 Hungerford, Thomas, 52 Hungerford, Sir Thomas, 85, 87 Hungerford, Thomas de, 52 Hungerford, Sir Walter, 83 Hungerford, Walter, 85 Hunstanton (Norfolk), 65 Hunter, John, 121 Hunter, William, 121 Hunt, Thomas, 38 Hurst Fen (Suffolk), 148, 149 Hussey, William, 66 Hydra, sculpture, 219 Hyoscyamus niger (henbane): charred seeds, 200; uses, 44 Ide, Isabel, paper on Erlestoke Park, 9-19 Idmiston: Gomeldon, 35; Porton Down, 68 Imber, 84; silt lagoons, 259 India, 272, see also New Delhi infusions, 44 Ingen Housz, Agatha (née Jacquin), 122 Ingen Housz, Jan, biographical notes, 120-30 inhumations: Beaker, 2; Late Bronze Age/Early Tron Age, 262-3; Saxon, 116; medieval, 116; vault burials, 123-8 inn names, ornithological, 70 inoculation, smallpox, 121 insect remains, from Crescent Copse, Shrewton, 78 Ireland, 10, 239, see also Belfast; Campbell College; Knowles collection INDEX iron objects, 261; Roman, 222-3, 227; Romano-British, 185, 198; Saxo-Norman, 198; medieval, 29, 198; post-medieval, 198; modern, 140 iron slag, 181, 189, 191, 197, 202 iron smelting, ?Saxon, 183, 191, 197 Isle of Wight see Newport Italy see Milan; Ticinum Jackson, Gwyneth F., work reviewed, 267-8 Jacquin, Josef, 122 Jacquin, Nikolaus, 121 Jamaica, 15, 16, see also Haughton Court; Holland; Llanrhumney; Lyssons; Sauls’ River James, Henry, 266 James, M. K., 181 jars: Romano-British, 94; Late Saxon, 196; medieval, 31, 35, 37 Jatt, Thomas, 53,55 Jefferies, Richard, 266 Jersey see St Clement Jerveys, Isabelle, 86 Jerveys, William, 86 jewellery see beads; brooches; rings Jews, in Wilton, 183 Jope, E. M., 7 Jordan, Temys, 125 Joseph I], Emperor, 126 jugs, medieval, 33, 35 Keiller, Alexander, 6-7, 131, 149, 151, 269; and Kendall, 132-4 Kelly, S. E., work reviewed, 265 Kelston (Avon), 265 Kemp, Mr, 13 Kendall, H. G. O., 131; biographical notes, 132-4 Kennet, River, 108, 115, 257 Kennet Valley, pottery, 243, 245, 246 Kent see Canterbury; Great Chard; Romney Marsh; Sheerness; Wye Kent, Duchess of, 12, 15 Kew Gardens, 18 Keynsham (Avon), 220 Kidston, G. J., 249, 253, 254 kilns: Romano-British, 94, 147; medieval, 30— 1, 36, 243, 244-5; post-medieval, 35 Kilvert, Francis, 266 King, Mr, 68 Kings Somborne (Hants), 202 Kingston Deverill: Court Hill Plantation, 264; The Park, 264 Kingston upon Thames (Surrey), 181 Kington Langley, 102 Kirby, Colin, 255 knife finials: horse-head, 248; monkey-head, 248-9 knives, 198; Neolithic, 134, 149-51, 152, 153; Beaker, 151; Roman, 227; medieval, 29; 16th century, 248-9 Knook: Knook Castle, 261; pottery, 35; Quebec Barn, 261;Willis’s Field Barn, 261 Knowles collection (Ireland), 134 Lacock: kilns, 244—5; Naish Hill, 38, 243, 245, 246, 257; Showell Nursery, 233 Lake District, 265 Lakenheath (Suffolk), 227 Lamb, George, 16 Lamiaceae (mints), seeds, 170 Lancaster, Duke of, 111 Lancastrians, 83, 84, 85, 87 Langley Burrell Without, 67 Lansdown, Benjamin, 272 Lansdown, Charles, 272 Lansdown, Dorothy, 272 Lansdowne, Ist Marquis of see Petty, William, 1st Marquis of Lansdowne Lansdowne, 3rd Marquis of see Petty- Fitzmaurice, Henry, 3rd Marquis of Lansdowne Lansdowne family, 16, 124 Lansdown, Leonard, 272 Lansdown, Michael, obituary, 272 La Plante, Linda, 19 Lark Hill (Worcs), 225 Lascaux (France), 271 Latton: Latton Lands, 259; The Street, 259 Laverstock: kilns, 30-3, 195; pottery, 35, 37, 193, 196, 243, 245, 246 Lavis, Peter, work noted, 268 Lavoisier, Antoine Laurent, 121 Lawrence, D. H., 269 Lawrence, Margarett, 54 Lawrence, Sir Thomas, 15 lead objects, medieval, 29 leather, medieval, 39, 198 Legge, A. J., 165 Leicester, University, 1 Lemna spp. (duckweeds), charred seeds, 200 Leonard, William, 253 Leopold, King, 16 LEstrange, Household book, 65 Leyden (Netherlands), 120 Liber Niger (1455), 53 Liddington Castle, 264 Lincoln, 90 Lincolnshire see Torksey linears, 92, 257; prehistoric, 261; Neolithic, 139-40; Bronze Age, 141, see also ditches lingulae, Roman, 225 Linnean Society, 63—5 Linum usitatissimum (flax): seeds, 42; uses, 44 Listener, The, 269 Litten, J., 123 Little Bedwyn, Chisbury, 115 Littleton Drew—Chippenham gas pipeline, excavations, 90-104 Little, William, 54 Llanrhumney (Jamaica), 12 Loader, Emma, notes on finds at Ivy Street/ Brown Street, Salisbury, 29, 37-9 Locking (Avon), 228 Lodge, Sir Oliver, 18 London, 120, 121, 125, 126, 254; British Museum, 225; Cavendish Square, 12; Cenotaph, 210; Charing Cross, 122; Cheapside, 65; Drapers’ Hall, 126; Elephant and Castle, 269; Holland House, 16; Horse Guards, 16; House of Commons, 10, 12, 16; Knightsbridge, 16; Lambeth, 9; Lincoln’s Inn, 10, 83; Lords, 269; Newgate Prison, 16; Oval, 269; Royal Academy, 209, 213; St James Palace, 15; Dil. St James Street, 15; Soho, 270; Southwark, 240; Surveyors’ Institute, 206; Theatre Royal (Covent Garden), 10; University College, 168; University of, 271;West End, 269; Westminster, 83, 206; Westminster School, 16; Whites’ Club, 15 London, Hugh, 86 Longbourne, David, 266 Longbridge Deverill: Crockerton, 35, 36, 193, 195, 196, 243, 245, 246; Hill Deverill, 83 Long family, 87 Long, Henry, 83, 84, 85 Look, 270 Loos (France), 206 Louis the Dauphin, 108 Louis XVIII, King, 16 Louvain, University of (Belgium), 120 Low Countries, 65 Luckett, Larry, report on excavations at Euridge Manor Farm, Colerne, 218-32 Ludgershall, 83; Castle, 107 Ludlow family, arms, 86 Ludlow, William, 83,86 Lugdunum (?France), 230 Lychnis flos-cuculi (ragged robin), 44; charred seeds, 200 Lyme Regis, 266 Lyneham: Hillocks Wood, 116; pottery, 245; Tockenham Court, 249 Lyons (France), 230, 240 Lyssons (Jamaica), 12 Lywood, E., 68 MacGregor, A., 39 Machin, Blaise, obituary by, 270-1 Machin, Eve, obituary, 270-1 Machin, Max, 271 Machin, Noel, 271 Machin, Tess, 271 McKinley, Jacqueline, 81 Mackreth, D. F., note on finds from Euridge Manor Farm, Colerne, 220-5 MacNeice, Louis, 270 Maerla, barrow of, 108 magnetometer surveys, 264 Magnus Maximus, 229 Maiden Bradley: Church Street, 259; High Street, 259; manor, 86, 87 Maiden Castle (Dorset), 223 Malmesbury, 268; Cam’s Hill, 108, 117; Castle, 114; Swan, 70 Malmesbury Abbey, cemetery, 114 Malus spp. (apple), seeds, 42, 44, 169 Man, 132 Mann and Rodway, 249 Maria Theresa, Empress, 121 marine shells, from Ivy Street/Brown Street, Salisbury, 45 Markes, Edmund, 54 Market Lavington, 65, 66, 68; pottery, 35, 196 Marks, Mr, 55 Marks, Thomas Chafin, 54 Marlborough, 266; Bath Road, 205; Castle, 108; Chandler’s Yard, 259; High Street, 259; pipemakers, 38; pottery, 77 Marlborough College: Cloistered Garth, 209; College Chapel, 207, 209; Council, 207 9, 211, 213; Marlburian Club, 209; 278 Memorial Gardens, 211; Memorial Hall, 205-17; Old Marlburians, 205, 206-10, 211, 213; Roll of Honour, 212; war casualties, 206; War Memorial Committee, 207-9 Marlborough Downs, 79, 132, 260 Marlburian, The, 206, 209, 210, 213 Marshall, Ruth, work noted, 268—9 Marshfield (Avon), Ironmonger’s Piece, 225 Marshman, Michael: obituary by, 269-70; reviews by, 265—6, 267; work noted, 269 Martin family, 267 Martin, Mary, 53 Martin, Thomas, 53 Mary Rose (ship), 49 Maton, G., 67 Maton, Martha, 55 Matthews, Rev. Murray, 68 Maundrell, Henry, 122 May, Thomas, 219 Meaden, Terence, work noted, 269 meat, processing, 131, 166-7 Melbourne, Lord, 16, 18 Melksham, King’s Arms, 252 Membury, hillfort, 116 memorials, war, 205-17 Mentha cf aquatica (water mint), charred seeds, 200 Mepham, Lorraine: note on excavations at Vale’s Lane, Devizes, 241-8; notes on finds from Ivy Street/Brown Street, Salisbury, 29-37, 39; report on excavations at St John’s Hospital and South Street, Wilton, 181-204 Mercury, Temple of, 107 Mere: Mere Down Farm, 264; papers, 266-7; Swan, 70 Mere Historical Society, 266 Mervyn, 85 Mervyn, John, 84 Mespilus spp. (medlar), 45 metalwork: Romano-British, 198; Saxo- Norman, 198; medieval, 29, see also arrowheads; blades; copper alloy objects; gold objects; iron objects; knives; lead objects; nails; steel objects Methuen family, 16 mice, bones, 45, 48, 50 Middlesex see Hadley (Middlesex) Milan (Italy), 230 Milbanke, Anne, 16 Mildenhall, 85; Werg Mill, 259-60, see also Cunetio Milligan, Max, work noted, 269 Millington, William, 272 mill leat, post-medieval, 108 Mills, John, 53 Milvus migrans (black kite), bones, 49 Milvus milvus (red kite), bones, 49 Minety, pottery, 243, 245, 246, 257 minimum number of anatomical units (MNAU) method, 155-6 minimum number of individuals (MNI) method, 155-6 Mitchell, A., 55 Mitchell, Mrs F., 55 MNAU method, 155-6 MNI method, 155-6 THE WILTSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY MAGAZINE mollusc remains: Crescent Copse, Shrewton, 78; Windmill Hill, 166, 168 Mompesson, Henry, 87 Mompesson, John, 84—5 Moncaster [Muncaster], Mrs, 253, 254 Montacute (Somerset), 112 Montagu, 67 Moore, George, 55 Moore, John, 266 Moore, Thomas, 15, 16 Moorhead,T. S. N., note on coins from Euridge Manor Farm, Colerne, 228-30 Morales, A., 45 Morgan, John, 38 Morres, A. P., 68 Morris, Johnny, 269 Morrison, H., 219, 220,231 Morrison, Mrs, 220 mortar, 198 Mortimer, Ralph of, 115 Morus nigra (mulberry), 45 Morvan (France), 228 mottes, 108-16, 116-17; use of term, 107 Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus, 120 Muncaster [Moncaster], Mrs, 253, 254 Murray, Lynda J., work noted, 269 Mustin, George, 53, 54 Mustion, Elizabeth, 53, 54 Myulus edulis (mussel), 45 Nadder, River, 181, 183, 201 nail cleaners, Roman, 225 nails, medieval, 29, 198 Naish, W., 52, 55 Napoleon I (Bonaparte), 16 Napoleonic Wars, 12 National Trust, 256 Naturaliste (ship), 70 Naturalist, The, 270 needles, medieval, 29 Nesovitrea hammonis (mollusc), 78 Netherlands, The, 126, see also Breda; Leyden Nettleton, 223, 225;The Gibb, 102; Nettleton Shrub, 90 Neville, George, 85 Newbury (Berks), 245 New Delhi, 63 New English Weekly, The, 269 New Forest (Hants), pottery, 103, 227 Newmarket (Suffolk), 250 Newport (Isle of Wight), 12 New Sarum see Salisbury New Statesman, The, 269 Newton, John, 249 Newton, William, 211 New Zealand, 70 NISP method, 155-6 Norborne, Mary, 125 Norborne, Walter, 125, 126, 128 Norfolk see Grime’s Graves; Houghton Hall; Hunstanton Normans, 112, 114, 115 North America, fungi, 80 Northampton, 197 Northants see Sulgrave North Perrott (Somerset), 253 Northumberland see Carrawburgh; Vindolanda North Wraxall, 103; Truckle Hill, 90 Norwood, Cyril, 211 Nottingham High School, 210 number of individual specimens (NISP) method, 155-6 nuts, remains, 169, 172 Oaksey, Norwood Castle, 111 Odontites verna (red bartsia), seeds, 43 Ogbourne St Andrew: Barbury Castle, 260; Coombe Down, 264; Dean Bottom, 73, 79; mound, 116; Smeathe’s Plantation, 264; Smeathe’s Ridge, 264 Olivier, Edith, 266 organic materials, 198, 202 ornithology, and inn names, 70 Orwell, George, 269-70 Ostrea edulis (oyster), 45 Otis tarda (great bustard): decline, 66—8; protection, 65; reintroduction, 68; scarcity, 63-5; sightings, 70; in Wiltshire, 63—70 ovens, Romano-British, 258 Owlesbury (Hants), 228, 229 Oxford: Ashmolean Museum, 134; defences, 201; Lady Margaret Hall, 271; Magdalen College, 126; St Mary’s Hall, 10; University, 15 Oxford Archaeological Unit, 259 Oxfordshire: pottery, 196, 219, 227, 228; tile industry, 37, see also Abingdon; Cowley; Wayland’s Smithy Oxychilus alliarius (mollusc), 78 palace, Saxon, 108 palaeoenvironmental materials, Beaker, 78—9 parenchyma, remains, 171 Paris (France), 120, 121 Parker Pearson, M., 7 Parliamentary Reform Bill (1832), 16, 18 Passmore, A. D., 134 Peacock, Thomas Love, 16 pebble hammers, 100, 103 Pecten spp. (scallop), 45 Pembroke, Earl of, 65 Pennant, Thomas, 66 Penruddocke family, 66 Penryn (Cornwall), 10 Penselwood (Somerset), Balland’s Castle, 112 Percy family, 83, 85, 86 Percy, Katherine, 83, 85 Percy, Sir William, 85 Petty-Fitzmaurice, Henry, 3rd Marquis of Lansdowne, 127 Petty, George, 54, 55 Petty, Lord Henry, 122 Petty, Richard, 54, 55 Petty, William, 1st Marquis of Lansdowne, 120, 1122; 1233124, 125, 126 Pevsner, Nikolaus, 210 Phillips, Bernard, 257, 258, 262; note on ring from Froxfield, 239-41 Phipps, T. H., 15 photosynthesis, Ingen Housz’s studies, 120, 121 Pierce, Dr, 126 piercers, Neolithic, 149 pigs: bones, 45, 48, 49, 50, 51, 59, 79, 157, 160-5, 166, 198; teeth, 155, 160, 162, 165 INDEX pinbeaters, Late Saxon, 197 Pinckney, Erlysman, 254 pins: Roman, 225, 227; medieval, 29 pipemakers, 38 Pisum sativum (pea), remains, 43 Pitman, William, 252 pits, 235; Neolithic, 79, 151-3, 233; Early Neolithic, 131, 140, 141-4, 151, 154, 165, 166, 167, 168, 173-4, 175-6; Late Neolithic, 131, 141, 144, 154-5, 165, 166, 167, 169, 174, 176-7, 233; Beaker, 71- 81; Bronze Age, 259; Early Bronze Age, 79, 233; Late Bronze Age, 261; Late Bronze Age/Early Iron Age, 262; Middle Iron Age, 233; Romano-British, 94, 99, 102; Late Saxon, 191; Saxo-Norman, 191; medieval, 22-4, 26-7, 42-3, 189, 191, 243, 255; post-medieval, 27, 39, 243, 247; 18th century, 191; 19th century, 27; 20th century, 27; plant remains in, 173-4; stone destruction, 1, 4, 6; test, 137, 140-1, 148— 54, see also cess pits; ditches; postholes Pitt, William, the younger, 10 Plantago major (greater plantain), seeds, 170, 174 plant remains: from Crescent Copse, Shrewton, 78; from Ivy Street/Brown Street, Salisbury, 39-45, 59; from St John’s Hospital and South Street, Wilton, 199— 200, 202; from Windmill Hill causewayed enclosure, 168-75, 175-6 plants: applications, 44—5; burning of, 173 Plymouth (Devon), 50 Poa spp. (meadowgrasses), seeds, 170 Pobeman, William, 53 Polden Hills (Somerset), 220 Pollard, Joshua: note on worked sarsen at Windmill Hill causewayed enclosure, 154; report on excavations at Beckhampton Avenue, 1-8 pondweeds, uses, 44 Ponting, C. E., 209 Poole (Dorset), 70 Poore, Sir Edward, 15 Porpoise, The (yacht), 250 Portugal, 16 postholes: Neolithic, 152; Late Neolithic, 144, 233; Early Bronze Age, 233; Late Bronze Age, 261; Late Bronze Age/Early Iron Age, 262; Romano-British, 99; Saxon, 188-9, 200-1; Saxo-Norman, 191; medieval, 26, 27; post-medieval, 243, 259; modern, 137, see also pits; stakeholes postpipes, 144 Potamogeton spp. (pondweeds), seeds, 43 Potamogeton polygonifolius (bog pondweed), 44 Potter, Mr, 18 pottery: prehistoric, 71, 147, 191, 192, 256; Neolithic, 4, 261; Early Neolithic, 141, 144-6, 147, 175; Late Neolithic, 146-7, 148; Beaker, 73, 74-7, 79, 261; Bronze Age, 77, 233, 234, 235, 236; Early Bronze Age, 261; Middle Bronze Age, 261; Late Bronze Age, 147, 148, 261, 263; Iron Age, 90, 94, 102, 103, 259, 260; Late Iron Age/ Romano-British, 255; Roman, 219, 220, 227-8, 263; Romano-British, 92, 94, 103, 147, 185-6, 191, 192, 196, 200, 233, 236, 255, 256, 257, 261, 262, 264; Saxon, 255; Late Saxon, 181, 189, 191, 192-3, 195-6; Saxo-Norman, 189, 191, 192-3, 195-6, 201-2; medieval, 6, 22, 24, 26, 27, 29-37, 108, 147, 189, 190, 191, 195, 195-6, 202, 243-5, 246, 247, 256, 257, 258, 259, 262, 264; post-medieval, 6, 24, 26-7, 29, 35-7, 102, 147, 195, 245-6, 258, 259; 17th-18th century, 24, 27, 28; Black Burnished Ware, type 1, 227; Bristol-type slipwares, 36; Cheddar type, 192, 193, 196; chronologies, 36-7; classification, 30; coarse redwares, 36; coarsewares, 30, 31—3, 33-5, 36, 192, 195; Crockerton type, 193, 195, 196, 243, 245, 246; Dorset black burnished ware, 94; finewares, 33, 36, 192, 245; ?Frechen ware, 36; German wares, 36; Grooved Ware, 4, 6, 77, 144, 146-7, 148, 154; industrial wares, 36; Kennet Valley wares, 243, 245, 246; Laverstock type, 30-3, 36, 37, 193, 195, 196, 243, 245, 246; New Forest ware, 103, 227; North Gaulish roughcast wares, 192; Oxfordshire ware, 94, 103, 219, 227, 228; Peterborough ware, 77; Raeren ware, 36; Samian, 94, 100, 103, 192, 219, 227, 261; Savernake ware, 94, 100; slipwares, 36; Staffordshire-type slipwares, 36, 195; stonewares, 36; tinglazed earthenwares, 36; “Tudor Green’ ware, 35, 37, 196, 245, 246; Verwood type, 31, 35-6, 37, 195, 196, 246; Westerwald ware, 36; ‘Wiltshire Brown’ ware, 35, see also beakers; bowls; clay pipes; cups; dishes; jars; jugs; kilns; saucers; tiles Powys see Clyro Powys brothers, 265 Prehistoric Society of East Anglia, 134 Prestatyn (Clwyd), 220 Priestley, Joseph, 121 Primary Health Care Centres (Amesbury) Ltd, 255-6 Pringle, Sir John, 120 Prothero, R. E., 206 Prunus spp. (plum/sloe), stones, 42, 44, 169, 170 Pteridium aquilinum (bracken), 42 Puckeridge (Herts), 223 Pudding Brook, 237 Puddlehill (Beds), 165, 167 Punctum pygmaeum (mollusc), 78 Pupilla muscorum (mollusc), 78 Purbeck (Dorset), 31 Purbeck, Eliza, 253 Purbeck Marble, 22, 38 Purpose, 269 Pympol, Richard, 53 Queensberry, Duke of, 66 querns: Neolithic, 154, 176; Eaily Neolithic, 141; Middle Bronze Age, 261; ?Romano- British, 197, 261; Saxon, 189 rabbits, bones, 45, 51 radiocarbon dating, Avebury area, 131—2, 175 Rajasthan, great bustards, 63 Ralf, 115 Ramilisonina, 7 279 Ramsbury, Littlecote Estate, 239 Ranunculus spp. (buttercups), charred seeds, 200 Rattew, George, 55 Rawlings, Mick, report on excavations at Ivy Street/Brown Street, Salisbury, 20-62 Rayner, Alan, 80 Rayner, Louise, 268 recipes, fish, 50 Reece, Richard, 230 refuse disposal, medieval, 50-1 resistivity meters, 139 ridge and furrow, medieval, 4 Ridgeway (Dorset), 132 rings: Roman, 225; Romano-British, 239-41 ringworks, 107-8, 108-16, 116-17; use of term, 107 roads: Roman, 90, 112, 256, see also trackways robber trenches, 19th century, 191 Robertson, A. S., 225 Robinson, A. M., 31 Robinson, Paul, note on knife finial from ‘Trowbridge, 248-9 Rochester, Bishop of, 267 Roche, Walter, 83 Rogers, A. G., 134 Rogers, Kenneth: note on Cumberwell, 249— 54; obituary by, 272 Romney Marsh (Kent), 70 Romsey (Hants), 202; faunal remains, 49 Rosaceae, seeds, 170 Roseaman, Judith, note on fieldwork at Euridge Manor Farm, Colerne, 220 Rosenlund, K., 45 Rous, William, 85 Route, John, 53 Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England, 260 Royal Historical Society, 265 Royal Institute of British Architects, 211 Royal Navy, 15 Royal Signals, 272 Royal Society, 121 Royal Volunteers, 250 Rubus spp. (blackberry/raspberry), seeds, 42, 44 Rumex spp. (dock), seeds, 170 Rundell, Mary Ann, 254 Rusteshale, Alice, 52, 53 Sagittaria sagittifolia (arrowhead), 171 St Albans (Herts), Verulamium, 227, 240 St Barbara, 248 St Clement, Jersey, 70 St Joseph, J. K. S., 140, 219 St Lawrence, 248 Salisbury, 67, 83, 84, 134, 193, 195, 196, 197, 202, 245, 246, 250, 266; medieval, 52-3; post-medieval, 53-5; modern, 55-7; Antelope Chequer, 21, 51, 52, 54, 56; Balle’s Place, 52; Barnwell Cross, 53; Bird in Hand, 70; Blue Lion, 51, 53,54; Brown Street, 20-62; Catherine Street, 52; Chough, 70;The Close, 53, 54, 261; cloth trade, 53; Colletts Garage, 57; Dairyhouse Bridge, 260; Dairy Meadow Lane, 260; East Harnham, 86, 87; Falcon, 70; Faraway Garage, 55, 57; Fisherton Anger, 86; 280 Fisherton Manor Middle School, 260-1; Gigant Street, 49, 53; Guilder Lane, 31; Harnham Bridge, 183; High Street, 260; itinerant mission, 268; Ivy Street, 20-62; kilns, 30-1; London Road/Rampart Road, 30-1; Maiden Head, 51,53; Market ward, 52; Martins ward, 51, 55; Milford Bridge, 30; New Street, 51, 52, 53; Nyweton Westyate, 260; Old Livestock Market, 260; Old Sarum, 35, 107, 117, 181, 183, 260; Pheasant, 70; pipemakers, 38; Poultry Cross Market, 65; Queen Arms Inn, 51, 53, 54, 55, 56-7; Red Lion, 67; Rollestone Street, 52; St, Martin’s Street, 52; St Thomas, 51, 54; Spread Eagle, 70; Swan, 70;Three Swans, 70;Victorian, 268; White Bear, 51; White Swan, 70; Winchester Street, 52 Salisbury, Bishop of, 267 Salisbury Cathedral, 87; Archives, 51; Dean and Chapter, 51, 52, 53, 57; Ecclesiastical Commissioners, 55 Salisbury City Council, 51 Salisbury District Council, 21 Salisbury Local Studies Library, 51 Salisbury Museum, 248 Salisbury Plain, 262; great bustards, 63, 65, 66, 68, 69, 70 Salisbury Plain Training Area, excavations, 71-81, 261 Salisbury and South Wiltshire Museum, 68, 239, 268 Sambucus nigra (elder), 172, 200 Sandford, 219 Sandy Lane, 103, see also Verlucio Santo Domingo slave uprising (1797-1804), 12 sarsen stones, 1-2, 7, 141, 144, 176, 256; grinding, 173; worked, 154 Sassoon, Siegfried, 205, 214 saucers, medieval, 33 Sauls’ River (Jamaica), 10 Savernake Forest, 108, 245; kilns, 94, 147, 227; Knowle Farm, 132-4 Savory, William, 122 Sawyer, P. H., 265 Scammell, E. L., 55 Scammell, Mrs, 55 Scandix pecten-veneris (shepherd’s needle), 44 scanning electron microscopy, plant remains studies, 168, 170 Scotland see Edinburgh; Fettes School; Glasgow Scott, Peter, 270 scrapers: prehistoric, 90; Mesolithic, 257; Neolithic, 134, 153; Early Neolithic, 149, 151; Late Neolithic, 149; Beaker, 77-8; Early Bronze Age, 149 sculpture: Roman, 219, 220; Romano-British, 240 Seaford (East Sussex), 12 Secale cereale (rye), charred grains, 43 Second World War see World War II seeds: charred, 42, 43, 44, 45, 168-75, 263; identification, 42 Segrim, Dr, 15 Selby, John Prideaux, 67 Seles, Geoffrey de, 267 250) THE WILTSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY MAGAZINE Sellars, Warren, 256 SEM, plant remains studies, 168, 170 Semington, 269 Senior Officers’ Training School, 18-19 settlements: Late Neolithic, 237; Bronze Age, 233-8; Late Bronze Age, 237; Iron Age, 90; Romano-British, 90, 103, 233-8; Anglo-Saxon, 260; Saxon, 256; Late Saxon, 107, 181-204; Saxo-Norman, 196; medieval, 20-62, 241-8, 256-7, 257-8; post-medieval, 241-8, see also castles; enclosures; villages Severn Valley, 222 Sewell, Andrew, work noted, 269 Seymour, Hugh, 219, 220 Shaftesbury Abbey (Dorset), charters, 265 Shakespeare, William, 265 Shaw Mellor, Alfred, 219, 227 sheep: bones, 45, 48, 49, 50, 51, 59, 96, 155, 157, 160—5, 166, 198; Leicester Longwool, 51; Southdown, 51; teeth, 162 Sheerness (Kent), 250 Shelburne family, 124 Shelburne, John, Earl of, 125 Shelburne, Lord, 121 Shelburne, William, 2nd Earl of, 125 Shelley, Percy Bysshe, 270 shells (marine) see marine shells Sherrington: church, 115; motte, 114-15, 117 shoes, medieval, 39 shovels, Roman, 227 Shrewton, 68; Bustard Inn, 68, 69; Crescent Copse, 71-81; Maddington, 84 (Manor Farm, 68); Old Coal Yard, 262; Robin Hood’s Ball, 77, 79, 80, 153; Rollestone Bake Farm, 68 Shuter, Thomas, 54 sickles, Roman, 227 Sidmouth, Lady, 15 Sidmouth, Lord, 15 S., J., 67 skates/runners, medieval, 197 Slater, William, 127-8 slavery: end of, 15; public opinion, 12 slaves, treatment of, 12 Small, Doug, work noted, 269 smallpox, inoculation, 121 Smart, Wake, 270 smelting, iron, 183, 191, 197 Smith, A: 'C:; 132 Smith, Cecil, 68 Smith, Charles, 10 Smith, I. F., 6-7, 77 Smith, John, 9 Smith, Joshua, 9-10, 12, 19 Smith, Mr, 126 Smith, Rachael Seager, report on excavations at St John’s Hospital and South Street, Wilton, 181-204 Smith, Stephen, 68 Society of Friends, 271 soils, buried, 200 Solent (Hants), 50 Somerset, 84, 225; great bustards, 68; pottery, 195, see also Bishops Lydeard; Bruton; Charlton Musgrove; Donyatt; Downside School; Farleigh Hungerford; Montacute; North Perrott; Penselwood; Polden Hills; ‘Taunton; Wanstrow Soper, Thomas, 54 Sorley, Charles Hamilton, 206, 266 Southampton (Hants), 59, 197; Brokage Books, 50; faunal remains, 48, 50; Lower High Street, 50; port, 50; University, 1 South Cerney (Glos), 111 South Wales, 239 South Wraxall, 87, 249, 250, 252 Spain, 16, 271; great bustards, 65 Sparsholt (Hants), 228 spatulas, medieval, 197 Sphagnum spp. (bog moss), 44—5 Spoerry, P. S., 31 spoons, 248 Staffordshire, slipwares, 36, 195 stakeholes, 235, 236, 263; ?modern, 137, see also postholes Stanton St Bernard, Manor Farm, 262 Stapleford, 115; ringwork, 111 Staples, Samuel, 254 stater, gold, 103 statues, Romano-British, 240 Staverton, Nestlé at, 268 Steedman, Mrs, 67 steel objects, medieval, 29 steelyards, Roman, 227 Stellaria spp. (chickweeds), charred seeds, 200 Stephen, King, 111 Stephens, Robert, 53 Stephens, Widow, 54 Steuart, George, 9-10 Steward, Charles, 249, 254 Steward, Jane, 249 Steward, Richard, 249 Stickler, Tracey, notes on animal bone from Littleton Drew—Chippenham gas pipeline, 96, 100-1 Stock, Jan, 63 Stokes, Eleanor, 126 Stokes, Judith, 125 Stokes, Richard, 125, 126 stone circles, 269 Stonehenge, 6, 15, 65, 76, 79, 132, 153, see also Amesbury stones: burial of, 1, 4, 5, 7; Chilmark, 188; destruction, 7; rubbing, 154, 176; sockets, 6, 7, see also sarsen stones stones (fruit) see fruit stones stonework: Early Neolithic, 154; ?Bronze Age, 100, 103; Roman, 219, 220; Late Saxon, 197; medieval, 38, 197, see also querns; sculpture Stourton with Gasper, Castle Orchard, 111— 12 Street, A. G., 266 Street, George, 18 strip brooches: Roman, 223; medieval, 197—8 Struthionidae, 63 studs, Roman, 225 Stukeley, William, 1, 2, 6, 7 Suffolk see Hurst Fen; Newmarket; West Stow Sulgrave (Northants), 114 Surrey, 271, see also Charterhouse; Cranleigh; Guildford; Kingston upon Thames susceptibility meters, 139 Sussex, knife finial, 249 Lakenheath; INDEX Sutton Benger High Street, 262 Sutton, James, 53 Sutton Veny, Littkecombe Down, 264 Svein, 115 Swindon, 84 Swindon Borough Council, 260 Swindon Museum, 134 Swinstead, J. Howard, 268 Sydling St Nicholas (Dorset), 253 Tahiti, 12 tanning, evidence for, 24 Taunton family, 254 Taunton, Mrs, 253 Taunton, Robert, 253 Taunton (Somerset), 68; cess pits, 45 Taunton, Thomas Pile, 253 Taunton, W. L.T. P., 254 Taylor, Anna Susanna, 12 Taylor, Sir John, 12 Taylor, John, 55 Taylor, Simon, 12 Taylor, Simon Richard, 12 Taylor, Sir Simon Richard Brisset, 12 Taylor, Simon Watson, 18 tea, infusions, 44 Tede, Dominique, 121, 122 teeth: cattle, 102, 155, 160, 162, 165; deer, 101; goats, 162; pigs, 155, 160, 162, 165; sheep, 162 : temples, Romano-British, 90 tessellation, Romano-British, 240 Tewkesbury (Glos), 84 Thackeray, William Makepeace, 16 Thomas, 2 Thomas, Dylan, 270 Thomas, Edward, 266 Thomas Hardy Society, 270 Thomas, James, paper on great bustard in Wiltshire, 63-70 Thompson, Luigi, 240 Ticinum (Italy), 230 Tidworth, Tedworth House, 18 Tighe, M. F., work reviewed, 266-7 tiles: Roman, 220; Romano-British, 92, 96, 103, 147, 233, 256; Late Saxon, 196-7; medieval, 24, 26, 27, 37-8; floor, 38; ridge, 37-8; roof, 37 Till, River, 71, 111 Tilshead, 66, 67, 262; Breach Hill, 262; Copley Down, 261; Foxtrot Crossing, 261; Horse Down, 261;Tilshead Down, 261 Timby, Jane: note on pottery from Chippenham Western Bypass, 236; notes on pottery from Littleton Drew— Chippenham gas pipeline, 94—5, 100 Times, The, 206 Time and Tide, 269 Tocotes, Sir Roger, 85, 86 Tolhurst, Peter, work reviewed, 2605-6 Tollard Royal, 86 tombs, chambered, 131 tools, 198; Neolithic, 134; Roman, 227; flint, 236, 257 Torksey (Lincs), 228 trackways, medieval, 259 Transco, 90, 92 ‘Treadgold, Mr, 66 tree holes, 2modern, 189 Trevelgue (Cornwall), 228, 229 Trier (Germany), 230 Triticum spp. (wheat), charred grains, 42, 43 Triticum aestivum (bread wheat), charred grains, 200 Triticum dicoccum (emmer wheat), grains, 169, 173 Triticum monococcum (einkorn wheat), grains, 169 Triticum spelta (spelt), charred grains, 200 Tropenell, Agnes, 83, 86 Tropenell Cartulary, The, 87 Tropenell, Christopher, 87 Tropenell, Edith, 83 Tropenell family, arms, 86 Tropenell, Henry, 83 ‘Tropenell, Margaret, 83, 86, 87 Tropenell, Thomas, career of, 82—9 Tropenell, Walter, 83, 85-6 Trowbridge, 86, 249, 268-9, 270, 272; Bellefield House, 254; Bustard Club, 68; Castle, 107; Fore Street, 250; George and Woolpack, 252; Hilperton Road, 254; knife finial from, 248-9; Lloyds Bank, 250; pottery, 193, 196; St James’s Church, 272; Swan, 70; White Swan, 70 Trowbridge Advertser, 272 Trowbridge Boys’ High School, 272 Trowbridge Chronicle, 272 ‘Trowbridge Civic Society, 272 Trowbridge Museum, 272 Trowbridge Orchestra, 272 Trowbridge Philharmonic Choral Society, 272 Trowbridge Reference and Local Studies Library, 51 Tso-Hsin, Cheng, 68 tubers, 168-75 ‘Tweeddale, 7th Marquis of, 16 Tweeddale, 8th Marquis of, 18 Underwood, Thomas, 253 United States, 270 University of Sheffield, Department of Archaeology and Prehistory, 155 Upavon, 67; Widdington Farm, 262 Urtica spp. (nettles), charred seeds, 200 Urtica dioica (stinging nettle), uses, 44 US Air Force, 260 vault burials, 123-8 Vellonia costata (mollusc), 78 Verlucio, 103 Vernon, Elizabeth, 126 Verulamium (Herts), 227, 240 Verwood (Dorset), pottery, 31, 35-6, 37, 195, 196, 246 Vicia faba (broad bean), seeds, 42, 43 Victoria History of Wiltshire, 268 Victoria, Queen, 12, 15, 16 Vienna (Austria), 121, 122, 270-1 Vikings, 112 villages: medieval, 259, 264; deserted, 257 villas; Roman, 218-32; Romano-British, 90, 103, 239-41 Vindolanda (Northumberland), 240 Vinynge, George, 53, 54 Vitis vinifera (grape), seeds, 43, 44 Viveash, Samuel, 122 Vousden, Aaron, 55 Vousden, Ann, 55 Vulpes vulpes (red fox), 68 Waddon Hill (Dorset), 223 Wales, University, 1 Walker, Graeme, note on flintwork from Chippenham Western Bypass, 236 Walker, Heneage, 249 Walker-Heneage family, 249 Walker, John, 249 Walker, Mary, 249 walls: Roman, 220; Saxon, 188; ?medieval, 191; medieval, 26, 28; post-medieval, 24, 191 Walpole, Sir Robert, 12 Walters, Bryn, 220; note on Euridge Manor Farm, Colerne, 231 Walton family, 266 Walton, Isaak, 50 Wanborough, Earlscourt Manor, 262 Wanstrow (Somerset), 36 war memorials, 205-17 Warminster, 54, 68, 84; Battlesbury Bowl, 262-3; Battlesbury Camp, 262; Battlesbury Hill, 263; Battlesbury Wood, 263; Boreham Farm Bungalow, 263; Brick Hill, 263; Cock, 70; Emwell Street, 245; Furnax Lane, 263; Harman Lines, 262; market, 67; Middle Hill, 263; pottery, 35; Swan, 70; White Swan, 70 Warmwell, William, 52, 57 War Office, 19 War Report, 269 Warriner, Mr, 15 Warwickshire, 265 Waterloo (1815), 67 Waters, John, 67 Watson, Anna Susanna, 12 Watson, George, 10 Watson Taylor family, 18 Watson Taylor, George, 9, 10-16, 18 Watson, William, 121 wattle and daub, 197, 198, 201 Wayland’s Smithy (Oxon), 131 Weeks and Son, Messrs, 55, 56 wells, 27; Romano-British, 99, 100; ?post- medieval, 24, 51 Wessex, 183, 239, 270; literature, 265-6 Wessex Archaeology: evaluations, 71, 259, 260-1, 264; excavations, 233 (Amesbury, 255; Avebury, 256; Devizes, 241-8; Salisbury, 20-62; Salisbury Plain, 261; Warminster, 262-3; Wilton, 181—204) Wessex, King of, 181 Wessex Water, 255 Westbury: chalk pit, 263; Northacre Business Park, 263-4 Westby, Gregory [George], 85 West Dean: Bentley, 66; church, 111; earthwork, 111, 117 Western Front, 206 West Indian Planters and Merchants, 12, 18 West Indies, 12 West Lavington, 67; Littleton Pannell, 115 Westminster Press, 272 West Stow (Suffolk), 197 West Sussex see Findon; Houghton 282 West Tisbury, Pythouse, 53 West Wickham (Cambs), 70 Weyhill Brewery, 55 Wheatley, David, report on excavations at Beckhampton Avenue, 1-8 Wherwell (Hants), 66 whetstones, 100 Whipsnade Wildlife Park, 68 White, Gilbert, 66 Whittle, Alasdair, 1, 7; report on excavations at Windmill Hill causewayed enclosure, 131-80 Whittokesmede, John, 83, 84 Wigmore, Thomas, 55 Wilkes, Elizabeth, 53 Wilkes, John, 53, 55 William IV, King, 15 Williams, Alfred, 266 Williamson, Henry, 266 Williams, Widow, 55 Wilsford cum Lake, 67 Wilson, Wynne, 206 Wilton, 65, 87; Bull Bridge, 189; church, 183, 189, 202, 203; Cross Bridge, 202-3; Ditchampton, 185, 202; fortifications, 108; Kingsbury Square, 183, 202; legal status, 181-3; Market Place, 183; Netherwells Lane, 185; North Street, 202; Russell Street, 202; St John’s Hospital, 181-204; South Street, 181-204; West Street, 185, 202 Wilts and Berks Canal, 269 THE WILTSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY MAGAZINE Wiltshire: early castles, 105-19; tile industry, 37 Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Magazine, 105, 134, 219 Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Society, 87, 134, 228, 271; Archaeology Field Group, 220 Wiltshire County Archaeological Officer, 183, 241 Wiltshire County Council: Archaeological Service, 92, 233; Environmental Services Department, 233; Local Studies Library, 270 Wiltshire Gazette, 18 Wiltshire Record Society, 272 Wiltshire Rescue Archaeology Project, 256 Wiltshire and Swindon Record Office, 51, 249, 270 Wiltshire Times, 272 Winchester (Hants), 66, 183, 193, 196, 202; bishops of, 86 windmills, 116 Wingfield: Church Lane, 264; Stowford, 265 Winterbourne, Figsbury Rings, 266 Winterbourne Bassett, 132 Winterbourne Monkton: Hackpen Hill, 132, 134; Millbarrow, 131 Winterbourne Stoke, 67; Hill Farm, 264 Winterslow: Easton Down, 80, 131, 132; Winterslow Hut, 66-7 Wodehull, John, 86 Woodcutts (Dorset), Down Farm, 166, 167, 168 wooden objects, Saxo-Norman, 198 Woodham Ferrers (Essex), 70 Woodhouse, Bill, 268 Woodspring Museum (Avon), 228 woodwork, medieval, 39 Woolf, Virginia, 266 Wootton Bassett, pottery, 257 Worcester, cess pits, 45 Worcestershire see Lark Hill Wordsworth, William, 265 World War I, 268; casualties, 206; memorials, 205-17 World War II, 18; anti-aircraft gun pits, 260; memorials, 205 Wroughton: Barbury Castle, 260; Overtown House, 264 Wye (Kent), 70 Wyles, Sarah F., note on marine shells from Ivy Street/Brown Street, Salisbury, 45 Wylye, River, 115, 181, 183, 201, 263 Wylye Valley, 261, 268 Wyndham, Rev., 67 Yarrell, William, 63—5, 67 Yatton Keynell, 103; Church Farm, 264; Grove Farm, 101; Park Farm, 92 York, 44 Yorkshire, great bustards, 68 Zeals, 267-8; Bypass, 267; Zeals House, 268 WILTSHIRE HERITAGE ia = MUSEUM GALLERY LIBRARY Published by The Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Society ISSN 0262 6608 WILTSHIRE HERITAGE MUSEUM GALLERY LIBRARY Published by The Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Society ISSN 0262 6608