© Robert J S Briggs 2012 - http://surreymedieval.wordpress.com - email
[email protected] THE “SURREY FENS” CAUSEWAYS: LORDS, CHARTERS AND THE EARLY- MEDIEVAL LANDSCAPE Robert Briggs The likelihood of an early medieval date of construction for the two causeways carrying the present-day A 247 and B 367 roads across the River Wey floodplain south of Old Woking and Pyrford Village respectively was first brought to wider attention by Richard Savage in a presentation to the June 2010 meeting of the Surrey Archaeological Societyʼs Medieval Studies Forum; the term “Surrey Fens” to describe this particular section of the Wey valley is one borrowed from it.1 He proposed their creation, which may or may not have occurred as part of a single project, must have taken place at some point between the mid-tenth and later-twelfth century, but was unable to offer a more exact dating on account of a lack of relevant evidence. It was for this reason that I took up the challenge to find an answer, beginning with a rigorous analysis of two reliable deeds of the second half of the tenth century (a royal diploma and a monastic memorandum) pertaining to the locality. Anyone with even a passing knowledge of Anglo-Saxon written records related to Surrey will be aware that they are relatively few in number, and some of these are of spurious authenticity or outright forgeries, so to have a pair of reliable muniments concerning contiguous Surrey estates-cum-parishes, Pyrford and Send, therefore is a rare thing indeed (even more so since neither is associated with the minster at Chertsey).