Archaeological Research in Binsted, Kingsley and Alice Holt Forest, Hampshire 9781407310732, 9781407322537

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BAR 574 2012 LYNE ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESEARCH IN BINSTED, KINGSLEY AND ALICE HOLT FOREST

B A R

Archaeological Research in Binsted, Kingsley and Alice Holt Forest, Hampshire Malcolm Lyne with contributions by

C. R. Cartwright, A. J. Clark, A. Graham, D. Graham, D. F. Mackreth and D. F. Williams

BAR British Series 574 2012

Archaeological Research in Binsted, Kingsley and Alice Holt Forest, Hampshire Malcolm Lyne with contributions by

C. R. Cartwright, A. J. Clark, A. Graham, D. Graham, D. F. Mackreth and D. F. Williams

BAR British Series 574 2012

ISBN 9781407310732 paperback ISBN 9781407322537 e-format DOI https://doi.org/10.30861/9781407310732 A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

BAR

PUBLISHING

Contents Introduction and Acknowledgements..............................................................................................................................1 Part 1: Landscape and Buildings Surveys, Documentary Research and Minor Excavations..........................................2 1: Geomorphology of the Landscape...............................................................................................................................2 1.1: Introduction..........................................................................................................................................................2 1.2: The 1981 Esso pipeline section through the Third Terrace gravels of the Godalming Wey in Alice Holt Forest..................................................................................................................2 1.3: The Esso pipeline section through the Northern Wey river terraces at Neatham................................................2 1.4: The 1975 road-cutting section across the Kingsley Stream valleysouth of Dean Farm......................................3 2: The Mesolithic period..................................................................................................................................................6 3: The Neolithic period....................................................................................................................................................8 4: The Early and Middle Bronze Ages...........................................................................................................................12 5: The Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age..................................................................................................................14 5.1: General...............................................................................................................................................................14 5.2: ?Religious sites..................................................................................................................................................14 5.3: ?Pottery production sites....................................................................................................................................14 5.4: The earliest hedgerow boundaries in the present landscape..............................................................................15 6: The Middle and Late Iron Ages.................................................................................................................................17 6.1: The Binsted ‘oppidum’,.....................................................................................................................................17 6.2: Occupation sites outside the ‘oppidum’.............................................................................................................18 6.3: Middle and Late Iron Age pottery production sites...........................................................................................19 7: The Roman period.....................................................................................................................................................26 7.1: Communications................................................................................................................................................26 7.2: The pattern of Roman settlement.......................................................................................................................28 7.3: The Alice Holt potteries.....................................................................................................................................37 8: c.AD 420-to-750/80.39 8.1: The Place Name evidence..................................................................................................................................39 8.2: The Archaeological evidence.............................................................................................................................41 8.3: The origins of the Hundred of Neatham and its constituent components..........................................................43 9: c.AD 750/80-to-1150.46 9.1: The Documentary evidence...............................................................................................................................46

i

9.2: The Archaeological evidence.............................................................................................................................48 9.3: The origins of the common field systems of Binsted and its satellite settlements............................................50 10: c.AD 1150-1350.52 10.1: The Documentary evidence.............................................................................................................................52 10.2: The vills within Alton Westbrook....................................................................................................................55 10.3: The Ecclesiastical administration....................................................................................................................55 10.4: The Royal Forest of Alice Holt and Woolmer.................................................................................................55 10.5: The Archaeological Evidence..........................................................................................................................58 10.6: The Black Death epidemic of 1348-49 and its effect on the area....................................................................64 10.7: Standing Buildings surveys.............................................................................................................................66 11: c.AD 1350-1550.79 11.1: The Documentary evidence.............................................................................................................................79 11.2: The Archaeological evidence...........................................................................................................................81 11.3: Standing Buildings surveys..............................................................................................................................81 12: c.AD 1550-1700.110 12.1: The Documentary and Archaeological evidence...........................................................................................110 12.2: The Civil War.................................................................................................................................................112 12.3: Standing Buildings surveys...........................................................................................................................113 12:4 Epilogue..........................................................................................................................................................129 Part 2: The Excavations...............................................................................................................................................131 13: Excavations on Alice Holt Waster Dump AH.5 in 1974...................................................................................131 13.1: Introduction and Acknowledgements............................................................................................................131 13.2: The Excavation..............................................................................................................................................131 13.3: The Pottery Assemblages...............................................................................................................................134 14: Excavations on Alice Holt Waster Dump AH.52 in 1977-79................................................................................136 14.1: Summary........................................................................................................................................................136 14.2: Introduction and Acknowledgements............................................................................................................136 14.3: The Excavation..............................................................................................................................................138 14.4: Potters’ Equipment.........................................................................................................................................157 14.5: Miscellaneous Finds......................................................................................................................................161 14.6: The Imported Pottery.....................................................................................................................................162

ii

14.7: The Local Pottery...........................................................................................................................................164 14.8: The Pottery Assemblages...............................................................................................................................166 14.9: Charcoal Samples. (C.R. Cartwright)............................................................................................................220 14.10: Preferred pot sizes.......................................................................................................................................220 14.11: Adjustments to Lyne and Jefferies 1979 vessel type date-ranges...............................................................224 14.12: Petrological Examination of Iron Age and Roman Pottery from Alice Holt. (D.F.Williams).................................................................................................................224 14.13: Archaeomagnetic dating report (A.J.Clark)................................................................................................226 14.14: The Alice Holt Kiln Firing Experiments.....................................................................................................226 15: Test-pitting on Kiln Waster Dump AH.46 in advance of the widening of the A325 in 2003...............................................................................................................................................238 15.1: Introduction....................................................................................................................................................238 15.2: Methodology..................................................................................................................................................238 15.3: The Pottery Assemblages...............................................................................................................................238 16: Note on a Water Pipeline Trench cut through Waster Dump AH.28 in June 2011 (D.Graham, A.Graham, M.Lyne)...........................................................................................................................240 16.1: Introduction....................................................................................................................................................240 16.2: Description.....................................................................................................................................................240 16.3: The Pottery.....................................................................................................................................................240 17: Finds from and Excavations at Holt Pound, Binsted (D.Graham, A.Graham, M.Lyne).......................................243 17.1: Introduction....................................................................................................................................................243 17.2: Conclusions....................................................................................................................................................243 17.3: The Finds.......................................................................................................................................................243 17.4: Note (Valery Rigby, pers.comm.1985)..........................................................................................................243 17.5: The history of Holt Pound.............................................................................................................................245 18: A Forestry Drainage Ditch Section through Waster Dumps AH.91A and 91B in Abbotts Wood made in March 2003....................................................................................................246 18.1: Introduction....................................................................................................................................................246 18.2: Methodology..................................................................................................................................................246 18.3: Observations..................................................................................................................................................246 19: A Late Roman Assemblage of Miniature Pottery Vessels from Excavations at the Kingsley Country Market site in 1980....................................................................................248 19.1: Introduction....................................................................................................................................................248

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19.2: The Pottery.....................................................................................................................................................248 20: Excavations at St.Nicolas Chapel, Kingsley 1984-5.............................................................................................250 20.1: Introduction....................................................................................................................................................250 20.2: Documentary references................................................................................................................................250 20.3: The Excavation..............................................................................................................................................250 20.4: The Pottery.....................................................................................................................................................261 20.5: The ?Saxon Rood fragment...........................................................................................................................266 20.6: The Small Finds............................................................................................................................................266 21: Excavations to the north-east of St.Nicolas Chapel in 1979..................................................................................268 21.1: Introduction....................................................................................................................................................268 21.2: The Excavation..............................................................................................................................................268 21.3: The Saxon and Medieval Pottery...................................................................................................................273 21.4: The Small Finds.............................................................................................................................................275 22: Excavations at Lode Farm, Kingsley 1985-87.......................................................................................................276 22.1: The Excavation..............................................................................................................................................276 22.2: The Pottery.....................................................................................................................................................280 22.3: The Small Finds.............................................................................................................................................285 23: Excavations at the house called Cobdens in Binsted Street, Binsted in 1983.......................................................287 23.1: The Excavation..............................................................................................................................................287 23.2: The Pottery.....................................................................................................................................................290 24: Excavations in and around Goose Green Lodge and Park at the southern end of Alice Holt Forest...............................................................................................................................................293 24.1: Introduction....................................................................................................................................................293 24.2: Documentary evidence..................................................................................................................................293 24.3: A section made across the moat on the east side of Goose Green (Forest) Lodge in 1977...........................293 24.4: A section made across the road leading west from Goose Green Lodge in 1974..........................................295 Appendix 1. Tables......................................................................................................................................................296 Appendix 2. Pottery fabrics.........................................................................................................................................307 Bibliography................................................................................................................................................................309 Plates............................................................................................................................................................................313

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List of Figures Fig.1.

Map of south-central England showing position of area of study.................................................................4

Fig.2:

A. Section through the 295’ terrace north of the River Wey at Neatham. ....................................................5 B. Section through the 310’ terrace south of the River Wey at Neatham. ....................................................5 C.Section through the river terraces at Neatham...........................................................................................5 D. Cut through Kingsley stream valley sediments south of Dean Farm....................................................... 5

Fig.3:

Mesolithic sites in Binsted and Kingsley parishes........................................................................................7

Fig.4:

Neolithic sites in Binsted and Kingsley parishes........................................................................................10

Fig.5:

Grimsgrove Neolithic-to-Roman ritual site (N.11/R.11)............................................................................. 11

Fig.6:

Early to Middle Bronze Age sites in Binsted and Kingsley parishes..........................................................13

Fig.7:

Late Bronze Age and Iron Age sites in Binsted and Kingsley parishes......................................................16

Fig.8:



A.Late Bronze Age and Late Iron Age pottery from production sites IA.1B, IA.25 and IA.28. ...............19 B. Sections across Roman road 1................................................................................................................19

Fig.9:

Site IA.23 Middle Iron Age pit kiln in Binsted with pottery and quern fragment...................................... 21

Fig.10:

Site IA.24 Late Iron Age kiln at Binsted, with pottery................................................................................22

Fig.11:

Roman sites in Binsted and Kingsley parishes............................................................................................ 25

Fig.12:

A. Roman sites R2 and R3 at South Hay. ...................................................................................................29 B. Roman sites R5A,B,C and D above Reynolds Hanger at South Hay. ................................................... 29 C. Roman site R21 at South Hay. ...............................................................................................................29 D. Roman site 40 south of the Telegraph House in Binsted........................................................................29

Fig.13:

The Alice Holt Roman potteries.................................................................................................................. 30

Fig.14:

Roman pottery production site AH.87 beside Cradle Lane at Frithend...................................................... 38

Fig.15:

Binsted and Kingsley during the period c.AD 420-1150/1200+..40

Fig.16:

A. The Royal Manor or In-Hundred and the Out-Hundred of Neatham. ...................................................44 B. The position of the hundred in Hampshire............................................................................................44

Fig.17:

Binsted and Kingsley during the period c.AD 1150/1200-1350.................................................................53

Fig.18:

Plan of the Great Lodge Park in Alice Holt................................................................................................59

Fig.19:

Plan of the site of the medieval Great Lodge on the north side of Great Lodge Park................................63

Fig.20:

Cobdens, Binsted. Plan and elevations. Phases X and 1............................................................................. 65

Fig.21:

Cobdens. Binsted. Plan and elevations. Phase 2......................................................................................... 67

Fig.22:

Cobdens, Binsted. Plan and elevations. Phase 3......................................................................................... 69

Fig.23:

Roxford’s and Church Cottages, Binsted. Plan and elevations. ................................................................. 71

Fig.24:

Roxford’s House, Binsted. Plans, elevations and transverse assemblies....................................................74

Fig.25:

West Court Barn. Plan, elevation and transverse assemblies......................................................................76 v

Fig.26:

Plan of Old Close and Goose Green parks at southern end of Alice Holt showing positions of 1974 and 1977 trenches...........................................................................................................82

Fig.27:

King’s Farm Stables, Binsted. Plan, elevation and transverse assemblies..................................................83

Fig.28:

White Hart,Binsted. Plan, elevations and transverse assembly...................................................................86

Fig.29:

Blackhouse,Binsted. Plan and transverse assemblies..................................................................................88

Fig.30:

Camices,Binsted. Elevation from the north and transverse assemblies......................................................90

Fig.31:

Wheatley End Cottage, Binsted. Plan, elevation and transverse assemblies.............................................. 92

Fig.32:

Lode Farm, Kingsley. Plan, elevation and transverse assemblies...............................................................94

Fig.33:

Isington Close, Isington. Plan, elevation and transverse assembly............................................................. 97

Fig.34:

Eggars cottages, Isington. Plan, elevation and transverse assemblies........................................................99

Fig.35:

Millcourt Barn, Isington. Plan, elevations and transverse assembly.........................................................101

Fig.36:

Hoggatts, Wheatley. Phased plan, elevation from east and transverse assemblies...................................105

Fig.37:

South Hay House, South Hay. Plan, elevation and transverse assembly...................................................106

Fig.38:

Colesons Cottage, South Hay. Phases 1 and 2 plans and elevation...........................................................109

Fig.39:

Stubbs Farmhouse, South Hay. Plan, elevation and transverse assembly................................................. 114

Fig.40:

Stubbs Farm Barn. Plan, elevation and transverse assembly.................................................................... 115

Fig.41:

Barnfield House,Wheatley, Phased plans, elevations and transverse assemblies..................................... 118

Fig.42:

Hoggatts Cottage,Wheatley, Phased plan, north wall elevation from south and transverse assembly..... 120

Fig.43:

Sickles Farmhouse, Kingsley. Plans and Phase 1 north wall elevation from south.................................. 122

Fig.44:

Crossways Cottage, Blacknest. Plan, elevation from north, transverse assembly and brand marks from beams in Phase 2 Bay CC-DD.....................................................................................124

Fig.45:

Chapel Cottage, Blacknest. Plan, elevation fron south and transverse assembly......................................126

Fig.46:

Kites Cottage, Frithend. Plan, elevation and transverse assembly............................................................ 128

Fig.47:

The Pheasantry, Isington. Plan, elevation from north and transverse assembly........................................130

Fig.48:

A. Pottery production site AH.5 Excavation plan..................................................................................... 132 B. Trench B sections.................................................................................................................................. 132

Fig.49:

A. The positions of the excavation trenches on waster dump AH.52....................................................... 137 B. The positioning of the trench sections..................................................................................................137

Fig.50:

Sections............................................................................................................................... between 138-139

Fig.51:

Plans..Phases 1 and 1A, 3 and 3A.............................................................................................................139

Fig.52:

Plans. Phases 3B, 3C and 3D -3E..............................................................................................................142

Fig.53:

Plans. Phases 3F, 3G and 4- 4A.................................................................................................................144

Fig.54:

Plans. Phases 5, 6 and 7A..........................................................................................................................146

vi

Fig.55:

Plans. Phases 8, 8A and 9A- 9B................................................................................................................149

Fig.56:

Plans. Phases 10, 10A and 10B-10F..........................................................................................................151

Fig.57:

Plans. Phases 11-11A and 11B-11C..........................................................................................................154

Fig.58:

Plan. Phase 11D......................................................................................................................................... 156

Fig.59:

Potters’ equipment and kiln furniture........................................................................................................ 158

Fig.60:

Kiln furniture and small finds................................................................................................................... 160

Fig.61:

Cu.alloy brooch ........................................................................................................................................163

Fig.62:

Pottery from Phases 1 to 3G contexts.......................................................................................................168

Fig.63:

Pottery from Phases 3A to 3G contexts.....................................................................................................173

Fig.64:

Pottery from Phases 4 to 7A contexts........................................................................................................178

Fig.65:

Pottery from Phases 4 to 7A contexts........................................................................................................180

Fig.66:

Pottery from Phases 4 to 7A contexts........................................................................................................182

Fig.67:

Pottery from Phases 8 to 9B contexts........................................................................................................187

Fig.68:

Pottery from Phases 8 to 9B contexts........................................................................................................190

Fig.69:

Pottery from Phases 8 to 9B contexts........................................................................................................192

Fig.70:

Pottery from Phases 10 to 10C contexts....................................................................................................197

Fig.71:

Pottery from Phases 10 to 10C contexts....................................................................................................199

Fig.72:

Pottery from Phases 10 to 10C contexts....................................................................................................201

Fig.73:

Pottery from Phase 10D............................................................................................................................ 205

Fig.74:

Pottery from Phase 11 contexts................................................................................................................. 209

Fig.75:

Pottery from Phase 11 contexts................................................................................................................. 211

Fig.76:

Pottery from Phases 11A to 11D contexts................................................................................................. 216

Fig.77:

Pottery from Phases 11A to 11D contexts................................................................................................. 218

Fig.78:

Pottery from Phases 11A to 11D contexts................................................................................................. 219

Fig.79:

Histogram showing changes in the percentages of fabric types and firing techniques by phase..............223

Fig.80:

Thermocouple readings for the 1st and 2nd experimental kiln firings with plan and elevation of the kiln...................................................................................................................................227

Fig.81:

Thermocouple readings for the 3rd and 4th experimental kiln firings with plans and elevations of the kilns................................................................................................................................ 230

Fig.82:



A.Thermocouple readings for the 5th experimental kiln firing with plan and elevation of the kiln. .......232 B. Comparative thermocouple readings for the first five experimental kiln firings.................................232

Fig.83:

A. Location plan showing course of pipeline through waster dump AH28 at Goose Green Farm. ......... 241 B. Kiln 3: Schematic section (Measurements in cm.)...............................................................................241

vii

Fig.84.

The small finds from Holt Pound..............................................................................................................244

Fig.85:

The cu alloy eagle from Holt Pound.........................................................................................................245

Fig.86:

A. The drainage ditch section....................................................................................................................247 B. Plan of waster dumps AH91A and B in Abbotts Wood........................................................................247

Fig.87:

Miniature pottery vessels from Kingsley Country Market site................................................................. 249

Fig.88:

St.Nicolas chapel, Kingsley. Plans of Phases 1 and 2 chapels with Phase 2 elevation of west end of south wall........................................................................................................................... 252

Fig.89:

St.Nicolas chapel, Kingsley. Plans of Phases 3 to 6.................................................................................. 255

Fig.90:

Plan and elevation of east wall of chapel with elevation of south-east corner from the south.................257

Fig.91:

Elevation of west wall of chapel with west section of Trenches E and F (Reversed)...............................259

Fig.92:

Plan of baptistery and Trenches E and F...................................................................................................260

Fig.93:

Axonometric view of late 12th-13th c. parallel-rafter assemblies at the western end of the chapel.........262

Fig.94:

14th c. Phase 4B belfry inserted through parallel-rafter assemblies......................................................... 263

Fig.95:

The pottery and ?chalk rood fragment from St Nicolas Chapel................................................................ 265

Fig.96:

The tub font, ‘lepers’ door and piscina......................................................................................................267

Fig.97:

Map showing position of site and plan of the Phase 2 features in the 1979 Kingsley sand-pit excavation.................................................................................................................... 269

Fig.98:

Plan of the Phase 3 features in the Kingsley sand-pit excavation.............................................................270

Fig.99:

Plan of the Phases 4 to 6 features in the Kingsley sand-pit excavation....................................................272

Fig.100:

The Pottery from the 1979 Kingsley sand-pit excavation.........................................................................274

Fig.101:

A. Plan showing positions of trenches B,C and D at Lode Farm, Kingsley.............................................. 277 B. Successive phase plans for Trench C.................................................................................................... 277 C:Trench C sections.................................................................................................................................. 277

Fig.102:

Lode Farm Trenches B and D: Plans of Roman to Medieval features and features contemporary with ‘King John’s room’ house Phase 1................................................................................................... 279

Fig.103:

A. Lode Farm Trenches B and D: Plan of features contemporary with Phases 2 and 3 of house. ...........281 B. Trenches B and D sections....................................................................................................................281

Fig.104:

The Medieval pottery from Lode Farm..................................................................................................... 282

Fig.105:

The Post Medieval pottery from Lode Farm.............................................................................................284

Fig.106:

The small finds from Lode Farm............................................................................................................... 286

Fig.107:

Plan showing positions of Trenches A,B,C,D,E,F and G at Cobdens, Binsted......................................... 286

Fig.108:

The pottery from Cobdens.........................................................................................................................291

Fig.109:

A. Section and plan of trench cut across moat at Goose Green Lodge, Alice Holt in 1977.....................294 B. Section and plan of trenches cut across the 16th c. access road to Goose Green Lodge in 1974........ 294

viii

Plates (pp. 313-350) Plate 1: Air photograph of putative henge at Millcourt with north-west side of Late Iron Age ‘oppidum’ to south. Plate 2: Neolithic Site N.11 with henge N.11A visible within it. Plate 3: Complex of intersecting hollow ways associated with Middle Bronze Age site MBA 1 north of Millcourt henge. Plate 4:

Massive ditch with internal bank around north-west corner of ‘oppidum’ enclosure cut on south by road from Neatham to Binsted.

Plate 5:

Middle Iron Age pit kiln (Site IA.23) sectioned by Esso pipeline in 1981.

Plate 6:

Infra-red photograph of Iron Age ditched enclosure (Site IA.26) cut by later Roman or Medieval rectangular enclosures in Bullinghurst Meadow north of Straits enclosure.

Plate 7:

Air photograph of Roman road 1 east of River Hill, Binsted.

Plate 8:

North east edge of Roman road agger with drainage ditch sectioned at SU80124090 west of the present Bentley to Frithend road.

Plate 9:

Roman road 1 crossing Goose Green and Abbotts Wood enclosures in Alice Holt Forest.

Plate 10: Badly-ploughed trapezoidal villa compound of site R2 at South Hay, with house site in north-east corner. Plate 11: Rectangular livestock enclosure R3 at South Hay with access road coming in from north Plate 12: Stockyard with heavily-ploughed building R5D in south-east corner and hollow way descending north-west from middle of the west side of the stockyard. Plate 13: Infra-red photograph of Roman temenos enclosure R.11 superimposed on prehistoric henge monument N.11, with Romano-Celtic temple and ?priest’s house within it. Plate 14: Infra-red photograph of site R.21 at South Hay showing parallel trenches running at 90 degrees to road leading to building at its northern end Plate 15: Air photograph of Roman Site R.40 south of Telegraph House in Binsted. Plate 16: Air photograph of King John’s Hill, East Worldham showing D-shaped bailey on north side. Plate 17: A. Reused ?aisle post of Anglo-Norman type at Cobdens, Binsted looking east with frame of Phase 1 east window in background. B. Close up of top of ?aisle post Plate 18: View of smoke-blackened Phase 1 roof at Cobdens looking west showing Phase 2 yoke and purlins in foreground over inserted tie-beam. Plate 19: Smoke-blackened gablet at east end of Phase 1 roof at Cobdens. Plate 20: Fragment of south-east corner of Phase 3 roof inside Phase 4 one at eastern end of Cobdens. Plate 21: Eastern end bay of West Court barn showing top of arch cut into the underside of the southern aisle plate Plate 22: Transverse assembly D at Westcourt Barn showing south aisle post resting on large squared malmstone block. Plate 23: Mortices for removed passing braces at Westcourt Barn.

ix

Plate 24:

A.Smoke-blackened roof at South Hay house showing collar-purlin, ridged collar and hipped west end of original house inside later roof. B.View east from 22A showing continuation of collar-purlin and remains of smoke-hood with later chimney-stack inserted through it.

Plate 25: Infra-red air photograph showing Civil War fortifications in Isington. Plate 26: Navy Board brand marks on timbers in Blacknest Ale house (Crossways). Plate 27: A. Rooms 1 and 2 of the waster dump AH52 Phases 3D and E building viewed from the north-east. B. Rectangular hearth 219 in north-east corner of Phase 3D Room 2 Plate 28: The Phase 4 kiln in waster dump AH52 viewed from the north-east. Plate 29: A.View of Phase 5 building in waster dump AH52 from the east. B. Vertical shot of the west corner of the same building against temporary section CH. Plate 30: Flagon top set in clay floor A252 of the Phase 6 building in waster dump AH52. Plate 31: A. The intact Phase 10 kiln flue from the west before emptying. B. The part excavated flue showing the constricted inner half plugged with clay. Plate 32: The Phase 10D oven floor showing the interior end of the Phase 10 west flue half-sectioned and broken off above the oven floor. The dark stains on the Phase 10D oven floor mark the positions of pot-stands. Plate 33: The curved south flue of the Phase 11 kiln looking east into the oven. Plate 34: Remains of jar (Fig.76,760) blocking north flue of the Phase 11D kiln. Plate 35: A. The 6th firing of the experimental pottery kiln in progress. B.The turf-faced kiln used in the 7th experimental firing. Plate 36: The south-east corner of St. Nicolas chapel, Kingsley. Plate 37: The tub font, St.Nicolas chapel, Kingsley Plate 38: Plinth of the east wall of the Late Saxon chapel showing entrance into demolished chancel and patterned stonework. Plate 39: West door of St.Nicolas chapel, Kingsley Plate 40: Piscina in east wall of St.Nicolas chapel, Kingsley Plate 41: Westernmost parallel rafter roof assembly at St. Nicholas chapel viewed from south-east with later belfry inserted through it. Plate 42: Parallel rafter roof assembly east of that depicted in Plate 41 viewed from inside belfry. Plate 43: ?Roman road surface cut by later post pits in Trench C at Lode Farm, Kingsley. Plate 44: Remains of stone fireplace at east end of Trench C. Plate 45: Phase 2 drain exposed in Trench B at Lode Farm.

x

Introduction and Acknowledgements

An interim publication on the Alice Holt Roman potteries (Lyne and Jefferies 1979) contains a short section on the contemporary landscape, accompanied by a rather rudimentary map of the distribution of Roman sites in Binsted and Kingsley parishes between Alton and the Hampshire/Surrey county boundary in north-east Hampshire (Ibid.Fig.4). The ten years following this publication saw an intensive programme of landscape study in order to explore and understand the changing pattern of human settlement and land utilisation within the area over the last 10000 years or so.

dump excavations took place during the 1970s before the quantification of pottery assemblages by Estimated Vessel Equivalents (EVEs) based on rim sherds had come into general use: that by minimum numbers of vessels per form and fabric was used instead. No environmental samples were kept, although samples of charcoal were retained: those from AH 5 have been published previously (Pratt 1979), and those from AH 52 are published below (Cartwright, p220). This work could not have been carried out without the permission of various landowners to examine their lands. Foremost among these were The Forestry Commission, David Comber, Tony Hicks, Mr and Mrs Doggerill, the Retallick brothers, Mr.Lamport, Major Pilcher, Frank, John and Robert Stephens, Mr Young, Tony Holmes, Mr Maclean, Mr and Mrs Cawley and Mr Pritchard. Numerous other people allowed the late Tom Maile and myself to survey their houses: these people are acknowledged separately against the individual surveys below. The Forestry Commission, Mr and Mrs Turner, Mr Hicks of Mowlands Farm, Mr Cawley of Woodlands Farm and Mr Young of Lode Farm also permitted excavation on their lands, which in the case of scheduled pottery waster dumps AH5 and AH52 in and around Alice Holt Forest was also authorised by English Heritage. The Surrey Archaeological Society loaned much of the equipment used in the excavations on pottery waste dumps AH 5 and AH 52.

This publication deals with the archaeological and documentary evidence for mans’ activities in Binsted and Kingsley during this period between the last Ice Age and the post-medieval period. Conclusions are based on seven years of field-walking between 1981 and 1988, as well as some carried out during the early 1970s and first published elsewhere (Lyne and Jefferies 1979,14-17). All but about half a dozen of the arable fields within the 42 square kilometres of land encompassed by the two parishes were walked and most of the permanent pasture and woodland was also examined. This fieldwork was backed up by the survey of a number of vernacular buildings dating from before AD1300 to c.AD1700. Five flights were also carried out between 1981 and 1983 for the purpose of air photography, using handheld cameras from a Cessna 172 high-wing monoplane piloted by ‘Tiny’ Whitney to take infra-red, black and white and coloured prints, as well as colour slides: a number of black-and-white air-photographs taken by RCHM and the Forestry Commission were also examined, as were some taken by local residents. Examination of large numbers of medieval and later documents held in the Public Records Office, British Library, Hampshire Records Office, Huntington Library and elsewhere supplied a great deal of information concerning land utilisation, local administration and other activities during the last 1200 years.

I must also acknowledge the contributions made by numerous individuals in carrying out this work, foremost among which were Rosemary Jefferies (between 1971 and 1978), Philip Harris of Farnham Potteries, Felix Holling of Guildford Museum, Dr A.J. Clark of the Ancient Monuments Laboratory, Viscountess Hanworth, John Hampton of the Royal Commission, Alan Crocker, Jack Rider and Eric Worpe of the University of Surrey, Maureen Dale and members of the Alton and Basingstoke Archaeological Societies. The work was carried out without financial assistance, other than a grant from Hampshire County Council to help pay for work along the line of the June 1981 Esso pipeline from Neatham to Gatwick.

Excavations were carried out on Alice Holt Roman pottery waste dumps AH 5 and AH 52 and other sites of all periods in and around the forest. Unfortunately, the two kiln waster

1

Part 1: Landscape and Buildings Surveys, Documentary Research and Minor Excavations 1. Geomorphology of the Landscape 1.1. Introduction

The exposure of the Third Terrace deposits of the Godalming Wey in Abbot’s Wood, Alice Holt (Farnham Terrace A) has been discussed elsewhere (Thurrell et al 1968) but the pipeline section furnishes some new information. The terrace deposits belong to the period of the Anglian glaciation and before, average 390’ above sealevel in Abbott’s Wood and are heavily solifluxed by later periglacial activity.

The area covered by this study lies in the extreme northwest corner of the Wealden anticline east of Alton, bounded by the River Wey on the north, the Hampshire/Surrey county boundary on the east, longitude SU 4145/3700 on the west and SU 7500/8170 on the south (Fig.1). The solid geology of the area consists of successive outcrops of later and later formations as one moves west and north, with the infertile Folkestone sands of the Lower Greensand being the oldest and giving rise to the sandy heathlands of the southern part of Kingsley parish. These sands and the later Gault clay and Upper Greensand are fairly thin geological formations and normally have narrow outcrops around the edge of the Weald: local crustal warping has, however, led to their exposures in Binsted, Kingsley and Alice Holt being much more extensive than elsewhere and has given rise to distinctive local landscapes.

The gravels are mainly made up of iron-stained flint with pockets of orange pebbly sand, but at the western end of the pipeline section, in Goose Green car park (SU 80404160), there is almost total lateral replacement of the gravels by thick deposits of false-bedded orange and white wind-blown sand. The most likely explanation for this phenomenon is that prevailing easterly winds blowing across the flood-plain of the Godalming Wey piled up dunes of Folkestone Beds derived sand against the eastern edge of the Upper Greensand escarpment during a cold, dry period at a time when the edge of that escarpment lay as much as 800 m. further east than it does now.

The whole of Alice Holt Forest in the east of the region is underlain by stiff Gault clay, with the higher ground in the north and east of the forest owing its elevation to being capped by thick Pleistocene gravels. The successive bands of hard clunch rock and soft clayey sands of the enlarged Upper Greensand exposure beneath Binsted village and its satellite hamlets of Isington, Wheatley, South Hay and Wyck to the west of Alice Holt have resulted in a desiccated plateau landscape edged by steep to near vertical wooded hangers and cut into by the steep-sided valleys of the Ludden stream and its tributaries.

1.3. The Esso pipeline section through the Northern Wey terraces at Neatham Four successive terraces were cut by the pipeline on the south side of the valley of the river Wey (Fig.2C, Fig.3, Section A-B). The 362’ and 350’ terrace deposits probably equate with post-Anglian terrace B (400,000 BP) and Wolstonian Interglacial terrace C (200,000 BP) respectively at Farnham (Oakley 1939). Both of these terraces were poorly exposed and truncated by erosion but a good section was obtained through the 310’ terrace at SU 752411 (Fig.2B): this probably equates with the Early Devensian terrace D at Farnham (100,000-70,000 BP). The brickearth above the basal gravels is converted loess and was deposited during a dry cold period at the onset of the last Ice Age. It is followed by earthy gravels, which may belong to the Chelford Interstadial, and then by another layer of brickearth; all of which grade into frost-shattered Upper Greensand scree at the back of the terrace.

This solid geology has been heavily modified by periglacial activity during successive ice-ages and deposition of terrace deposits in the Wey valley on the northern edge of the area of study and plateau gravels over the high ground in the extreme east of the region. The laying of the Esso fuel pipeline from Neatham to Gatwick in June 1981 and the construction of a road diversion across the valley of a tributary of the Kingsley stream in Kingsley village during 1975 furnished a number of sections through such superficial deposits: several of these sections were recorded by the author (Fig.2) and provide useful information about successive Pleistocene and early Holocene modifications to the local landscape.

The lowest, Late Devensian, terrace is at 295’ above sea level, just above the bottom of the present valley, equates with terrace E at Farnham (70,000-13,000 BP) and was sectioned on both sides of the river (Fig.2A). It shows the river valley to have been c.480 m. wide at the time of the Upton Warren Interstadial: the sequence of terrace deposits indicates an increasingly cold climate with a brief warm interlude. Frost-shattered Upper Greensand scree and gravel deposits with a silt-filled river channel

1.2. The 1981 Esso pipeline section through the Third Terrace gravels of the Godalming Wey in Alice Holt Forest The pipeline cut a complete east-west section through these gravels between SU 80304162 and SU 82004180.

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Archaeological Research in Binsted, Kingsley and Alice Holt Forest, Hampshire sectioned in their surface (?Windermere Interstadial) are followed by wind-deposited loess converted into brickearth, laid down under very cold dry conditions, and then by solifluxed gravel trail. As with terrace E at Farnham, there is Mesolithic flint-knapping debris on the surface of these gravels.

composed of thin alternating streaks of yellow sand and brown sandy clay, totalling 0.20 m. in thickness (Layer 3A). These deposits are overlain by just over 1.00 m. of orange-brown sand with some clay and clunch fragments (Layer 4). It is probable that the wide channel came into being as the permafrost melted at the end of the last ice-age and the stream began to drain south from the spring-line at the foot of the Upper Greensand hanger at South Hay. The reverse stratification of alluvium with Upper Greensand rock fragments below redeposited Gault clay of earlier geological date is probably due to the liberation of vast quantities of sediment as the permafrost melted. As the Upper Greensand escarpment was eroded back, the stream cut down into the earlier Gault clay. The varves belong to a further brief cold dry period when deposition of blown sand in the winters alternated with deposition of sediment by melt water during the summers. The uppermost channel deposit consists of blown sand containing Mesolithic microliths (Layer 6): this brings us to the earliest period of post-glacial human occupation in the area.

1.4. The 1975 road cutting section across the valley of a tributary of the Kingsley stream south of Dean Farm (SU 783375) A diversion in the road between East Worldham and Kingsley opposite Dean Farm exposed a section through a series of periglacial deposits filling a much wider version of the stream valley than exists today (Figs.2D and 3, Section C-D). The Folkestone Sands cut through by the valley (Fig.2D,Layer 1) are overlain by 0.38 m. of brown sand in the bottom of the channel with rolled pebbles of Upper Greensand clunch rock (Ibid. Layer 2). This is, in turn, overlain by 0.60 m. of stiff blue-brown redeposited Gault Clay (Layer 3) and then by a sequence of 6 varves

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Malcolm Lyne

Fig.1: Map of south-central England showing position of area of study.

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Fig.2: A. Section through the 295’ terrace north of River Wey at Neatham. B. Section through the 310’ terrace south of the River Wey at Neatham. C. Section through all of the river terraces at Neatham. D. Cut through the Kingsley stream valley sediments south of Dean Farm.

Archaeological Research in Binsted, Kingsley and Alice Holt Forest, Hampshire

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2. The Mesolithic Period (Fig.3)

Fieldwork and excavation by Rankine and others during the 1940s and 1950s brought to light a series of both large and small Mesolithic hunters’ encampments on the Lower Greensand heathland within the south-eastern part of the area under study and beyond. These seasonal encampments of both Early and Late Mesolithic date are strung out along the sand hills overlooking the River Slea/Kingsley Stream and its southern tributaries, as well as around meres such as Frensham, Whitemoor and Oakhanger ponds and are characterised by scatters of flint debitage and finished tools. The repeated visits by hunter-gatherers to these sites over several thousand years has in some cases caused the successive flint scatters to merge into very large concentrations indeed; such as that explored by Rankine at Oakhanger pond. Other sites are very small and localised, although it is difficult to determine the true extents of most of them from surface indications because of the obscuring effect of wind-blown sand. The following sites are shown on Fig.3: MES.1. SU 81303890. Ranks Hill, MES.2. SU 80663800. Trottsford Farm (Rankine 1953,157), MES.3. SU 80003865. Malthouse Farm, MES.4. SU 79703855. Kingsley Coldharbour, MES.5. SU 79533807. Gold Hill (Rankine 1953,169), MES.6. SU 79013779. Fir Hill (Ibid.), MES.7. SU 78303800. Dean Farm, MES.8. SU 77903790. Kingsley Sandpit and MES.9. SU 78103765. Oxney. Of these sites, all but Site 7 are of Late Mesolithic date: Dean Farm has a mixture of both Early and Late Mesolithic material.

Greensand malmstone plateau beyond. The junction between the impermeable Gault clay and the base of the Upper Greensand above forms a springline with numerous small natural meres dotted along the base of the escarpment between East Worldham and Isington. One of these small meres, at the foot of Reynolds Hanger in Wheatley (SU 78653988) has a scatter of Late Mesolithic flintwork around it (Site MES.10), indicating visits by hunter-gatherers but not on the scale associated with the heathland ones to the south. Penetration of the headwaters of the River Wey by Early Mesolithic hunters in the Neatham area is indicated by the exposure of a flint-knapping floor in the cut for the 1981 Esso pipeline from Neatham to Gatwick on the south bank of the river at SU 75204150 (Site MES.11). There may well have been other Mesolithic sites in the Wey valley west of Farnham but the predominance of permanent meadow and resultant lack of soil exposures makes this uncertain. The Neatham site is at the junction of the Wey and one of its minor southern tributaries with its source in the hills north of Binsted Wyck. There was a dense concentration of Late Mesolithic finished tools at this source (SU 75504040, Site MES.12), indicating regular visits by hunters to take game and wildfowl drinking at the spring. The lack of flint-working waste does, however, indicate that the visits were of a transitory nature. The rest of the Binsted plateau has very little evidence for human activity during this period, other than a few worked flints discarded by occasional visitors.

Forays by Mesolithic hunter-gathers beyond the limits of the Lower Greensand heathlands are indicated by a thin scatter of stray worked flints extending across the Gault clay to the north and north-west and on to the Upper

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Fig.3: Mesolithic sites in Binsted and Kingsley parishes.

Archaeological Research in Binsted, Kingsley and Alice Holt Forest, Hampshire

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3. The Neolithic period (Fig.4)

The pattern of Primary and Secondary Neolithic occupation contrasts with the Mesolithic one in being most intense on the Lower Chalk/Upper Greensand boundary in Neatham and the western part of Binsted parish. There is a string of six areas of intense Neolithic flint scatter running north from Binsted Wyck to Millcourt: N.1. SU 75554040, N.2. SU 75754030, N.3. SU 76054050, N.4. SU 76104072, N. 5. SU 75804095 and N.6. SU 75724135. The first and southernmost of these marks a continuation in use of Mesolithic Site MES.12 at the headwaters of the stream joining the River Wey at Neatham: the others are strung out along the eastern side of that stream.

A further, smaller, concentration of Neolithic flint scatters lies in and around the former medieval open field of Binsted known as Burgh or Burrow Field; bounded on the west, south and north by steep-sided ravines containing rivulets fed by springs: all draining west into the valley of the Ludden stream. The two main concentrations of flintwork (Sites N.8A and 8B) are near a spring at the northern end of the field and a long east-west orientated patch of gravel. This may be the ploughed out remnants of a long barrow, from which the later common field could have acquired its name and been the focus for this concentration of both Primary and Secondary Neolithic activity.

The sites, for the most part, are probably connected with agrarian activity rather than hunting, but Sites N.4 and N.5 are characterised by abnormally large numbers of leafshaped arrowheads and are in close proximity to the source of a stream which flows south into the headwaters of the Kingsley stream at East Worldham. The material retrieved from Site N.5, around the spring itself, consists almost entirely of 14 leaf-shaped arrowheads and must surely represent hunting activity.

There is evidence for small-scale Neolithic activity elsewhere on the Binsted plateau and particularly around springs at SU 76704130 (Site N.9) and SU 77104165 (Site N.10). The wooded Gault clay and the sandy heaths of Kingsley saw very little penetration by Neolithic folk, but stray transverse and leaf-shaped arrowheads indicate that individuals hunted in the area. An important but poorly understood site lies below Home Hanger on the east side of the Upper Greensand plateau (Site N.11) and may have its origins in the Neolithic period. The site appears to be of a ritual nature and lies on illdrained malmstone landslip and Gault Clay at the source of the Northbourne Stream. This is a major tributary of the River Slea/Kingsley Stream and became the main source of water for the Iron Age and Roman Alice Holt potteries downstream at a later date.

At the northern end of this chain of sites is a hill at Millcourt, broken away on its north side by a sheer rock face overlooking the valley of the River Wey. Air photography has indicated a large, circular ditched enclosure centred on SU 75754148 at the highest point of the hill (Plate 1). None of the photographs taken so far are entirely satisfactory but the enclosure is approximately 150 m. in diameter and surrounded by a wide ditch with external bank (Site N.7). Central to this enclosure is what appears to be a very-large filled in hole with a suggestion of a ring of postholes around it. The site appears to be a substantial henge monument of some description. Other air photographs suggest two concentric circular ditches around this site, the outermost of which on the south side can be seen to be cut by the Late Iron Age ‘oppidum’ ditch (Plate 4). None of the photographs showing these ditches are particularly clear and it is possible that what we are looking at are geological features where hard rock bands come to the surface. It was, however, noticed that the inner ditched enclosure appeared to be discontinuous at two points south and north-west of the henge: this raises the possibility that we are dealing either with a causewayed camp or an enclosure associated with the Middle Iron Age activity in the vicinity of the henge (Site IA.18, Fig.7). All of the Neolithic sites to the south of this feature show evidence of both Primary and Secondary Neolithic occupation and some have Early and Middle Bronze Age flint tools as well. Another concentration of Neolithic flintwork (Site N.12) lies in the Wey valley to the west of Site 7, coinciding with the earlier Mesolithic Site MES.11.

One major problem with Site N.11 is that it lies in permanent pasture with hardly any soil exposure, meaning that most of the information about it comes from air photographs (Plate 2, Fig 5). There are several components making up the site, the core of which is a large circular embanked enclosure with an avenue entering it from a south-easterly direction. When a gas pipeline bisected the site in June 1985, masses of burnt earth and fragments of Late Iron Age and Roman pot were found to the south-east of the enclosure on the line of the avenue: more Roman pottery was present within the enclosure. The Iron Age and Roman pottery relates to later activity on the site but the burnt earth could well be of earlier prehistoric origin. It is unfortunate that I was obliged to hand the finds over to the pipeline archaeologist: attempts to locate them since have failed. Site N.11A, within the embanked enclosure, consists of a circular ditched enclosure 54 m. in diameter on the south side of the source of the stream, around what appears to be a ring of closely spaced postholes (SU 78954194). One air photograph shows the whole feature fairly clearly and 8

Archaeological Research in Binsted, Kingsley and Alice Holt Forest, Hampshire another shows only the north-west quadrant: part of the south-west quadrant is overlain by a later Romano-Celtic temple. A soil exposure at the original source of the stream, close to the north side of the circle had large quantities of calcined flint as well as a small axe-shaped implement made from a flint flake (Fig.5). Plate 2 shows what may be a second circle within the main enclosure on the north side of the source of the Northbourne stream. This, however, is uncertain and can only be confirmed by excavation or geophysical survey.

defunct Bordon light railway. This enclosure differs from normal henge monuments in having its ditch external to the bank but does appear to have a slightly off-centre smaller circular enclosure within it. The resolution of the photograph is not sufficiently good for the detection of any postholes that may lie within this inner circle. A further photograph covering an area to the south-east of Site 11C and centred on SU 79154198 shows the northern end of a long cigar-shaped esrthwork with its southern part obscured by the houses and gardens of the hamlet of Blacknest (Site N.11D). This 70 m. wide earthwork is aligned at an angle of 320 degrees, survives for a length of 200 m. and looks suspicially like the northern end of a cursus: other interpretations are, however, possible as the western side of the feature formed the edge of Alice Holt forest from the late 12th century until 1812.

A still extant long mound (Site N.11B) survives in a hedgerow 75 m. north of circle N.11A. This possible long barrow is aligned at 195 degrees and is at least 60 m. long. The wider and higher south-western end is 20 m. and the north-eastern end 10 m. across. The mound may, however, be a more recent landscape feature. A Romano-Celtic temple was constructed at a later date over the south side of the circle (p32): its presence indicates that the site had ritual significance for at least 4000 years and highlights a problem. The putative long barrow may well be Neolithic in date but the circle could easily have been constructed during the Early Bronze Age. The miniature flint axe and two possible beaker sherds appear to support this idea but could equally well be indicative of the continuing use of the site.

Awareness of the former existence of a pagan ritual complex appears to have persisted into the medieval period. Home Hanger, to the west of Site 11 is described as the ‘hill above Grimsgrove’ in the Alice Holt Forest perambulation of 1171 (HRO 23M49/1A). Grim was used by medieval Christians as an alternative name for the pagan god Woden and was taken up as an unusually early surname at the beginning of the 13th c. by a family of freeholders living at a house on the site of the present Isington Close (p.98). Isington Close lies a short distance to the north-west of Grimsgrove and it is probable that the family took up the name because they held land close to or within the pagan site as part of their freeholding.

Another infra-red photograph has revealed a further circular embanked enclosure a short distance to the east of the main one. Site N.11C is roughly 75 m. in diameter and has its eastern edge cut away by the line of the now

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Fig.4: Neolithic sites in Binsted and Kingsley parishes.

Malcolm Lyne

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Fig.5: Grimsgrove Neolithic-to-Roman

ritual site

(N.11/R.11). (See also Plates 2 and 13 )

Archaeological Research in Binsted, Kingsley and Alice Holt Forest, Hampshire

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4. The Early and Middle Bronze Ages (Fig.6)

The second group of ?3 ploughed out tumuli lies in a field formerly known as Roundhams (SU 77704015) and was accompanied by a localised scatter of 33 Early and Middle Bronze Age worked flints and a potsherd of similar date (Site EBA.6). Only 300 m. to the east was a further concentration of 18 similarly dated flints, including a thumbnail scraper (Site EBA.7). The barrows in Roundhams are around a spring at the head of a rivulet descending in a ravine into the Ludden stream valley and are fairly close to the Neolithic site and putative long barrow in Burgh Field: they may be associated with a continuation of that occupation.

Far less flintwork can be attributed to these periods: much of it is of very poor quality and reflects the rapid replacement of flint artefacts by those of copper and bronze. During the Early Bronze Age, however, when metal was still in relatively short supply, flint knappers produced some very fine implements such as pressure-flaked daggers, barbedand-tanged arrowheads and thumbnail and discoidal scrapers. A plot of the distribution of these items on and around the Binsted plateau shows a ring of sites around the periphery of it and not much going on in the centre. Heavy concentrations of Early and Middle Bronze Age flintwork on the north-west side of this ring of sites indicates that the Millcourt henge monument was still acting as a focus of activity: there is a particularly dense scatter of inferior quality Middle Bronze Age flintwork immediately to the north-east of it (Site EBA.1). A further dense scatter of Early and Middle Bronze Age flintwork is present around a spring in the northern part of Crocken Field (Site EBA.2).

A further two possible round barrows have been located on the high gravels in the north of Alice Holt Forest, within what later became the Great Lodge park or chase during the 14th century. The first of these tumuli lies at SU 79684265 on top of a hill overlooking a steep ravine immediately to the south, the headwaters of the Northbourne stream to the south-west and the Grimsgrove ritual site only one kilometre away in that direction. The feature (Site EBA.8) measures 20 m. in diameter and has an elevation of approximately 1.5 m., although it may have lost some of its height due to disturbance during tree felling and replanting. The other tumulus (Site EBA.9) lies at SU 79804235 on the crest of another hill to the south of EBA.8 and the ravine, with a similar view to the southwest and less than 700 m. from the Grimsgrove site. This is a larger tumulus, measuring almost 50 m. in diameter with an elevation similar to that of EBA.8 but, like it, probably lessened by disturbance during successive tree fellings and replantings. There is a grave-robbing pit in the centre and the remains of a trench driven west from it to the edge of the barrow. A letter written to Major A.W.G.Wade by C.Uchter Knox in 1950 refers to his grandfather Clement Milward Q.C., tenant of the Great Lodge, having excavated this barrow sometime before 1890 and not finding anything.

The Early and Middle Bronze Ages also saw the penetration of the wooded Gault clay of Kingsley down stream valleys draining south from the spring line under the Upper Greensand malmstone hangers of Wyck and South Hay. There are foci of occupation in these stream valleys at SU 770880 (Site EBA.3) and SU 782384 (Site EBA.4) and a thin scatter of flintwork across the rest of Kingsley parish. This stray material includes a very fine yellow chert dagger from near a spring at SU 797390. Air photography has revealed two groups of ploughedout round barrows on the Binsted plateau. The first group consists of a north-south alignment of five tumuli east of Millcourt running from SU 76604218 to SU 76624195 on top of a west-facing slope overlooking the valley of a small tributary of the River Wey (Site EBA.5). The second tumulus from the southern end, and the largest, was still sufficiently visible during the 17th/18th centuries for a new east-west field enclosure hedge bank to kink around its southern edge. Whereas most of the sites of these ploughed tumuli produced little or no flintwork, the site of this tumulus yielded a small scatter of worked flints during field-walking, including two discoidal scrapers and a plano-convex knife of Early Bronze Age date.

A recent LIDAR survey shows these tumuli very clearly but without any indication of ditches around them. They are both associated with ponds where earth has been extracted, raising the possibility that they are not prehistoric but postMedieval ‘follies’ and part of the landscaping of the Great Lodge park, known to have taken place during the 18th century when the park was turned into a pleasure garden. Close examination of the east side of EBA.9 where it passes under a forest ride does, however, show a wet reedy strip where such a barrow ditch would have been. These two tumuli may well have been utilised and enhanced as garden features during the 18th century but are probably much older and part of the still-functioning Neolithic Grimsgrove complex (Site EBA.10).

Air photography shows an intersection of ploughed out hollow ways across the stream valley to the west of these tumuli, with one running east towards the bottom of the valley and ending in a small circular feature and another running north-west to a once substantial earthwork but now with its western half largely ploughed out (Plate 3). These features all seem to be part of Site EBA.1, the flint scatter of which lies immediately to the west of and overlaps the earthwork. 12

Fig.6: Early to Middle Bronze Age sites in Binsted and Kingsley parishes.

Archaeological Research in Binsted, Kingsley and Alice Holt Forest, Hampshire

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5. The Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age (Fig.7)

5.1. General

at the junction of the Gault and Upper Greensand. The field slopes down gradually to the east with traces of a ploughed Celtic field-system all over it and a hollow way leading to the site from the east.

The continuing decline in the use of flint tools during the Middle and Late Bronze Age and the poor, low temperature-fired nature of most contemporary ceramics does not help in the detection of sites of these periods through field-walking. This problem is compounded on the Binsted plateau by intensive cultivation of much of the area of thin malmstone soil from Roman times to the present day. As a result, we only have a sparse scatter of sherds from the more robust and thick-walled Late Bronze Age vessels. These few fragments could be from burial urns shattered by centuries of ploughing, field-marling or occupation sites.

Site IA.4 (SU 77123940) consists of three grass-brushed sherds with coarse calcined-flint filler from a field just north of the Lower Greensand/Gault clay boundary and adjacent to flooded Roman clay pits at the source of a small rivulet draining east into the Northbourne tributary of the River Slea/Kingsley Stream. These fragments are not closely datable but the filler and surface treatment suggests an Early Iron Age date. Site IA.5 (SU 77123940) consists of another cluster of sherds from the edge of a wet clayey hollow (? spring) at the top of the hanger in South Hay. The sherds are in a black-cored orange fabric with profuse up-to 3.00 mm. crushed calcined-flint filler and seem to be of Late Bronze Age-to-Early Iron Age date. Site IA.6 (SU 78254230) is represented by five similar sherds from the Gault clay/ Upper Greensand boundary in the field south of Kings Close, Isington. One fragment is from a jar rim of Early Iron Age of Park Brow-Caesar’s Camp type (Cunliffe 1991,Fig,A:8-12), dated to c.500-200 BC.

The situation on the wooded clays and sandy heathlands of Kingsley is somewhat clearer, however, as many of the fields remained permanent pasture until recently and some sites have only been disturbed by ploughing within the last 30 years. The distribution of these sites indicates that much of Kingsley was colonised for the first time by settled farmers during the earlier part of the first millennium BC. There are two post-Deverel-Rimbury Late Bronze Age/ Early Iron Age occupation sites so far discovered in Kingsley. Site IA.1A (SU 76883795) comprises an intense concentration of sherds at the east end of Green Street, close to the Middle Bronze Age Site EBA.3. The fragments all come from calcined-flint-tempered hole-mouthed vessels with vertical external furrowing and smearing: vessels of this type are paralleled at Winnall Down, Grange Road, Gosport (Timby 1995, Fig.12-10,13) and elsewhere and dated to c.900-600 BC.

5.2. ?Religious sites There is a badly ploughed oval earthwork with two concentric banks and ditches on the lower slopes of the malmstone escarpment in Burtons Field, Wheatley at SU 78803980 (Site IA.7). An infra-red air photograph suggests that the earthwork was similar to Goosehill camp on Bow Hill in Sussex, both in form and positioning on a slope. There was no associated pottery but Goosehill camp is dated by sherds to the Early Iron Age (Boydon 1956) and is thought to have served a ritual function (Hamilton and Manley 1997,101).

Site IA.2 (SU 81303888) was disturbed by a fox earth on top of a low sandy bluff overlooking the River Slea. The 30 sherds retrieved from the earth are in a variety of fabrics, including crushed calcined-flint-tempered and haematite-coated fine wares of Early Iron Age date (Lyne and Jefferies 1974, 37). Assessment trenches dug by the Oxford Archaeological Unit in the field to the north of this site ahead of sand extraction discovered further Early Iron Age sherds and some fragments from hole-mouthed vessels similar to the Late Bronze Age ones from Site 1B (Moore 1988). A date-range of c.900-300 BC is indicated for the site.

5.3. ?Pottery production sites Field-walking in Kingsley revealed two possible Late Bronze Age/Early Iron Age pottery production sites. The earliest of these is situated a short distance to the north-east of Site IA.1A (Site IA.1B, SU 77023805) in a meadow newly ploughed during the early 1980s and comprises an oval patch of calcined flints and potsherds measuring 25 m. from north to south and 20 m. from east to west, with a further small concentration of sherds immediately to its north. The pottery is similar to that from Site IA.1A only 150 m. away and includes fragments so underfired that one can make finger-nail impressions in them.

Other occupation sites within Binsted and Kingsley appear to have originated slightly later during the Early Iron Age. Site IA.3 (SU 75753870) is situated on the East Worldham/ Binsted parish boundary at Wyck. The site produced freshlooking sherds in coarse calcined-flint tempered fabric and lies at the foot of the malmstone hanger on the spring-line 14

Archaeological Research in Binsted, Kingsley and Alice Holt Forest, Hampshire Fig.8A-1: Rim fragment from hole-mouthed jar in lumpy handmade grey-black fabric with profuse ill-sorted