Coldharbour Quarry, Thorpe

Project type: Excavation

Archaeology South East, was commissioned by RMC Ltd to undertake archaeological excavations at this site during November 2005. The site is situated on the outskirts of Thorpe village (NGR TQ 026 689), on an area of flat ground, at heights varying from 13.20m to 13.90m A.O.D. The geology across the site was consistent. It was mainly composed of compact gravels described on the British Geological Survey Sheet 288 (solid & drift edition) as Thames Terrace Gravel (Shepperton Terrace). However, some areas of brickearth were also encountered.

The site comprises a large sealed land fill and large areas left open from previous gravel extraction. It is bounded on all sides by previous gravel extraction, except to the south. To the south, behind the current bund was open land and then housing fronting onto Coldharbour Lane .

A prehistoric ring ditch thought to be a barrow was excavated by SCAU (2001) in the land to the west of the site. Two crouched inhumations were discovered in the ditch of this barrow. Other remains included a field system of Roman date and an area of intercutting pits of Anglo-Saxon origin.

The excavation revealed a total of 16 features: 4 large pits, 5 smaller pits, one structure and 7 ditches. The earliest identifiable features were dated to Late Bronze Age. Four large pits were excavated and sampled. Similar examples from other Bronze Age sites have previously been interpreted as waterholes. All of these waterholes are considered to have originated in the Late Bronze Age. Late Bronze Age dating evidence was retrieved from two waterholes. Such finds included; pottery sherds, mandibular cattle bones and broken quern stones. One waterhole contained Roman tile and a cattle skull in the uppermost fill. This pit seems to have been re-cut during the Roman period, but was likely to have originated in the Late Bronze Age.

Most of the field ditches excavated on site are thought to be associated with the Roman ditches located in the earlier phase of work to the west of the site (SCAU), but they may have had an earlier Bronze Age origin. A Roman ‘corn' dryer was also recorded and sampled. This ‘corn' dryer was of the ‘T'-shaped variety sometimes found on rural Roman sites. This structure contained collapsed flues made from roughly dressed chalk and flint blocks with tile inclusions.

Project Officer: Paul Riccoboni
Client: RMC Ltd
Project type: Excavation