July 2005 saw the first stage of an archaeological project on Farthing Downs, a steep sided chalk ridge that overlooks the modern settlement of Coulsdon.
The Anglo-Saxon archaeology of the Downs is relatively well known. All 16 of the barrows were excavated in 1871 by John Wickham Flower and again in the 1940s by Brian Hope-Taylor who discovered a number of burials around at least one of the barrow groups. Less well known is the earlier system of enclosures, dating for which is based largely upon a handful of features recorded by Hope-Taylor.
Unfortunately Hope-Taylor died before he was able to fully publish his work but using information from his notes we targeted a series of trenches across some of the earthworks.
Excavation of one of the enclosure boundaries showed that it had been constructed by scraping up loose chalk into a bank along a natural ridge. The eastern side of the droveway was constructed in a similar manner whilst along the western side a ditch had been dug and material cast up to form a more substantial bank. An unexpected discovery was the remains of cart ruts which ran along the alignment of the droveway.
The Anglo-Saxon barrows appear to have been built up in much the same way; a grave had been cut into a natural rise in the chalk and covered with a mound of loose chalk rubble which was then topped with turf. This rubble was probably taken from the earlier enclosure boundaries which are much lower in
the vicinity of the barrows.
In two of the barrows, the nineteenth century excavation trench was located and re-excavated in the hope of finding the human remains that Wickham Flower was thought to have re-interred. Although no complete skeletons were found some disarticulated bone was discovered in both trenches which will be used for radiocarbon dating.
The next stage is to produce a report of the excavations and publish an article on the Saxon burials. Once this has been done we will try and learn more about the enclosure system by using geophysics to see what lies beneath the ground. [I think this has now been done - I will see if I can find them - MegP Ed]
Source: Historical excavations on Farthing Downs by Amy Gray Jones & Barry Taylor. Amy Gray Jones works for the Museum of London Archaeology Service, Barry Taylor for English Heritage London Sites and Monuments Record.
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