6/ei 11-61-A-44 SOUTH MIDLANDS ARCHAEOLOGY The Newttettet o6 the Councit tiot Bkitizh Anchaeotogy Reg,ionat Gnoup 9 (8ed6ond4hine, Buckinghamshine, 4onthampton4hine, OxtioAdzhite) NUMBER 17, 1987 CONTENTS' Page Bedtiond.shine 3 :County Harming Deparament 3 - ManAhead:Anchaeotogicat'Society 12 Kennett,42A.. Socketed Axez g Late Btonze Age Hoand/s 15 Kennati D.H. Gneenz, Miyatz g the Gteat Houze: a4pect6 o6 th03edtiondzhae Landzcape in the 17th.Centuny 20 Buckinghamzhine 33 County Muzeum 33 Aytezbum Pazt Ptoject 35 Mitton Keynes.Anchaeotogy Unit 37 Oxiondshine 49 DepaAtment oi Muzeum Setvicez 49 -Abingdon Anea AtchaeotOgicat g Hiztonicat Society 76. South. Ox46Ad41viJte Atchaeotog4:zat.-.Gnoup 78 Ox6ond Anchaeotogicat Unit 79 Summen Fietds SchoOt'Atchaeotogicat Gnoup 101 Bai.nez A.H.J. WyAttAuma g Wyntwata 102 EDITOR: Andnew Pike' CHAIRMAN: Ange-ta Simco Coanty.Muzeum Ptanning Dept; _.Churtch Stteet-.: County Hatt, Aytezbuny; Buckz HP20 2Qp Bed6ond MK42 9AP HON.SEC: TREASURER: Bob Zeepvat Catot Andenzon, Mitton Keynez Atchaeotogy Unit Dept.o4 Muzeum Senvicez 16 Eitica Road, Stacey Buzhez, Ox6ond4h/(.ne County Mitton Keynez MK12 6PA Muzeum, Ftetchee4 Howse, Woodztock 0X7 1SN Ptinted-by Centkat Pit.LritLrig Section, Buckz. C. ISBN 0308,-2067 EDITORIAL This year's volume of South Midlands Archaeology is, I regret later than ever. It seems that a deadline for contributions from the units and societies in the early spring is no longer feasible. Even now, some units have been unable to provide material for this issue. Still, we do appear within the year of publication, as shown on the cover and title-page! Financially we are still holding our heads above water - just. Your committee would still welcome suggestions for improving South Midlands Archaeology and would like ideas on holding other events like the successful seminar on Recording Historic Buildings, held by the Group earlier this year. There have been suggestions that we try to publish an index for the first fifteen issues of the Newsletter/South Midlands Archaeology. If anyone knows of someone who might be prepared to undertake this, would they let the Editor know? Please try to sell copies of this issue to your friends, other societies, local libraries etc. The Treasurer will supply iurther copies on request. Please could I have your contributions for the 1988 issue by 1 February 1988? Articles from our smaller member societies will, as always, be particularly welcome. If you want to contribute something but cannot make the deadline on 1 February, please let me know so that I have some idea of how many articles to expect and can draw up some sort of timetable. Andrew Pike September 1987 -2- Bedfordshire County Planning Department 1986 The report on 1986 has to be-somewhat Abbreviated due to a combination of staff illness'ind major field projetts at the critiCel deadline for copy. It is hoped tUinclUde more material on general metters, historic buildings, and excavation and post-excavation work in the report on 1987. David Baker Preservation;-SuryeY and SMBR Bridges *Repair programmes'undertaken by the County SUrveyor'S Department continued at Bromham and Great Barford bridges,-whilst new projeetS were begun at liledford, Harrold and.6uttOn packhorse bridge. Detailed,recOrding has.been .cerried out by'Peter McKeegue on the fabric of these' Scheduled Ancient' Monuments,.withAgrant aid from HBMC, and with the helP of photOgrammetric surveys comMisSioned by the-CciuntY-Surveyor. * At Sutton'excavation of the bridge foundations revealedthat the super- structure rested Upon a timber raft set into the streim bed. .Simples have been subMitted for tadioCarbon dating.': Work at Harrold bridge-showed that the surviving foot:causeway formed the earliest structure sOUth of the main riverbridge. Originally vehicular traffiC had to cross the.broad. flood plain at ground level, only'.climbing on:tti the bridgeat the river abutMent. At*BroMham, a series:of limestone invertS under:the flood erches.was recorded prior to-their reOeir andnensolidation. Bedfordshire Excavation Index The compilation of the Excavation Index for Bedfordshire was completed in the Spring by Stephen Coleman on behalf of RCHME. Records of 228 excavations on 197 sites were compiled, giving details of location, type and period of each site, excavator and date, funding, nature and location of site archives, location of finds and bibliographic information. Some of the general points to come out of this survey are summarised below. The earliest investigation of archaeological sites in Bedfordshire which can be described as excavations date from the 1820s-1840s: Thomas Inskip investigated several sites in the area around Shefford. During the second half of the 19th century several more antiquaries (chiefly drawn from the landed gentry or the church) undertook brief investigations on several sites scattered across the county. There was a bias towards Roman sites and a concentration on the maximum recovery of objects rather than detailed stratigraphic recording. There.was more scientific approach from the beginning of the present century, including the work of W.;G. Smith and F.G.-Gurney in the Dunstable/Luton/ Leighton Buzzard area.. Smith's most outstanding contribution was the excavation and recording of the Puleeolithic flintworking*site at Caddington, -3- a site of national, if not internatioh, importance. In parts of north and mid-Bedfordshire around Bedford F.W. Kuhlicke and the Bedford Modern School Field Club were soon active. The number of excavations in the county increased tremendously after the Second World War. In particular many were carried out by or with the assistance of newly established local archaeological societies. Since the early 1970s most of the excavation in Bedfordshire has been carried out by professional bodies, chiefly the County Council's Archaeological Field Team, in response to specific threats to sites. The distribution of sites excavated in Bedfordshire during the present century is not the distribution of archaeologically significant sites in the county; it reflects the locations of active individuals orsocieties and their particular interests. There is a concentration of excavated sites, especially of the prehistoric period, in south Bedfordshire. This is chiefly the result of the work of James Dyer (Luton Grammar School/South Bedfordshire Archaeological Society) in the Luton/Streatley/Barton area, and of Les Matthews with the Manshead Archaeological Society in the Dunstable/Houghton Regis/Totternhoe area. The Manshead Archaeological Society has mainly been involved in responding to threats from quarrying and urban development. Apart from the work of Kevan Fadden with the Ampthill and District Archaeological and Local History Society, and one or two individuals, few sites have been excavated in mid-Bedfordshire. However, to the north-east there is a concentration in and around Sandy (including several by David Johnston on Roman sites in the 1950s), whilst C.F. Tebbutt was active in the Cambridgeshire/ Bedfordshire border area a little earlier. In the later 1960s and early 1970s large scale redevelopment in Bedford led to the excavation of many medieval and post-medieval sites in the town (D. Baker et al) whilst in the same period-there was a concentration of excavation activity in north-west Bedfordshire, especially on prehistoric and Roman sites (Dring, Hall, Hutchings, Tilson, North Bedfordshire Archaeological Society, etc). Since the early 1970s the emphasis has been on rescue excavation: this has resulted in a bias towards the excavation of river valley sites in advance of gravel extraction, especially along the Great Ouse throughout north Bedfordshire. Very few Bedfordshire excavations have been carried out by individuals or bodies from outside the county. A notable exception was Sir Mortimer Wheeler's excavation of one the Five Knolls barrows near Dunstable in the 1920s. The finds from Bedfordshire excavations are chiefly in Bedford and Luton Museums or still in the excavators' possession. The Cambridge University Museum also has the finds from several significant sites. Very little excavated material seems to have left or strayed far from the county. A more major problem is the site archives: these are mostly still in the hands of individuals or societies, with the exception of the more recent professionally dug sites. Parish Survey The latest publication in the 'Bedfordshire Parish Surveys: Historic Lanscape and Archaeology' is of Chalgrave, near Toddington. It is available for 25.25 (including postage) from County Hall, Cauldwell Street, Bedford MK42 9AP. Field-Walking An area south of Biddenham, confined by a large loop of the River Ouse, west -4- FIG. 1 GANNOCKS CASTLE, Tempsford Bedfordshire TL 160529 \\MITIIIIITTPITT\dC" aw. - . ) 1. Ow.. Omam. ab.. 0.... ,.., Om. : % ..... ....... ......... ,...... ... ... p ... .. y t % ...I ' 11, A 4 = ... 6'...". me 11'.....s - 11. .4 11%0.4 ..1o 44." e. " : 11, 1...... ........ ". " . ' .. .iiiiiii I i /111111111111 i 11 0....... 1....... " . ... fffffffffffffffffffffff .1 .1 1 r 1 f f f I i 1 ' 1 1 4 , 1 A I I I f I I I I 'I I I / I I I I i f 1 I i . 44 . - . 2orn 9 AHS SRC PM 11.86 -5- of Bedford, has long been known to produce Roman finds. Field-walking in the spring enabled an area of occupation to be defined, including a few flue-tile fragments. At Colmworth, a field-walking grid was laid out for a local farmer on another Roman site. He has since'surveyed it in detail with fellow- members of an archaeology evening'class. Earthworks