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STAINES CAUSEWAYED ENCLOSURE

ALTERNATIVE NAME:

YEOVENEY LODGE CAUSEWAYED ENCLOSURE

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The site of an Early Neolithic causewayed enclosure beside the Thames and just south of Yeoveney Lodge at Staines. Substantial lengths of ditch plus areas of the interior were excavated under rescue conditions in 1961-3 in advance of gravel extraction. The site was quarried away in 1963-4 and today coincides broadly with the M25 (junction 13 roundabout) and the eastbound A30(T). The cropmark evidence was transcribed and interpreted by RCHME in 1997 as part of the Industry and Enclosure in the Neolithic Project. Situated among various channels of the Colne Valley delta near the north bank of the Thames, the site comprised two concentric circuits of interrupted ditch. Although first recognised as a cropmark on an air photograph taken in 1959, an RAF photograph taken in 1946 under low-level lighting conditions shows the enclosure then to have been just visible as a slight earthwork. The maximum dimensions of the enclosure were about 175 metres by 151 metres, enclosing an area of about 2.4 hectares. The two circuits were an average of 25 metres apart. The interior proved to contain a range of features presumed to be contemporary with the enclosure, including pits, gullies, postholes and stakeholes, plus quantities of flint and pottery.
Several spatial interpretations have been proposed, both in terms of seeing a division of the interior into two distinct halves, similar to that of the causewayed enclosure at Etton. Later prehistoric, Roman, Saxon and Medieval finds were also present. A small polygonal enclosure plus other linear ditches, probably representing field boundaries, seem likely to be of Romano-British date. Research into the dating of causewayed enclosures tentatively suggests that the ditches were dug probably sometime in the late 37th to early 34th centuries cal BC (about 3630 to 3375 BC).

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Sec. Neo. Peterborough pottery was only found in one section of the outer ditch. (1)

TQ02407260 Causewayed Camp, Beaker and Roman occupation. (3)

Excavated by R. Robertson-MacKay for the MPB&W, 1961-3, after its discovery as markings on an AP (2) taken for Bucks CC. The concentric, causewayed ditches had inner banks which had been ploughed flat. The ditches, flat-bottomed, averaged 4 1/2-5 1/2 feet deep and 8 1/2-13 feet wide. A large complex of Sy Ce post-hole, pits and palisade trenches was found within the interior and all contained typical Windmill Hill potsherds and flints. (4)

A single flat <> grave found in the interior contained an unaccompanied contracted inhumation burial. The finds included leaf-arrowheads, polished axes, stone axes, saddle querns and an hour-glass mace-head. RB occupation of 1st C. AD overlay the whole site. (4-5)

The site lies within extensive disused gravel workings and is now completely destroyed. (6)

Additional bibliography. (7)

An 1:2500 scale, level 3, photogrammetric survey was carried out in the vicinity of the Staines causewayed enclosure by the Aerial Survey section of RCHME in February 1997. The site comprises two concentric interrupted ditch circuits which lie 10m to 15m apart forming a roughly `D' shaped enclosure. The ditches are smoothly curved around northern half of the enclosure whereas the south-eastern side of the enclosure is straight. The enclosure is very irregular in its overall construction, individual ditches varying from 5m to 50m in length and causeways from 0.5m to 6m. Excavations undertaken between 1961 and 1963 (9) established that on average, the outer ditch was 1.2m wider than the inner ditch and 0.35m deeper. Despite these variations, the ditches run parallel to each other, suggesting that they were laid out at the same time.

The excavations identified twenty individual causeways, thirteen of which were suggested to be entrances to the enclosure through a combination of strands of evidence including artifact deposition, width and shape. Approximately two thirds of the assumed complete enclosure is visible on the photographs. The south-western third of the enclosure lies in a separate field to the rest of the enclosure. The County Boundary Ditch meanders across this field and the thick alluvial deposits associated with it have masked all archaeological features in this area. During the excavations two trenches were placed in this south-west sector in order to establish the original extent of the enclosure. A ditch preserved under the modern field boundary was considered to be the remains of the inner ditch and a portion of the outer ditch was located immediately adjacent to the silted up channel of the ditch. From this excavation evidence, the maximum dimensions of the enclosure were estimated at 174.6m by 151.4m, enclosing an area of around 2.4 hectares. (8)

Additional references. (10-11)

Research into the dating of causewayed enclosures tentatively suggests that the ditches were dug probably sometime in the late 37th to early 34th centuries cal BC. (12)

SOURCE TEXT

(1) Oral information, correspondence (not archived) or staff comments

(2) Aerial photograph

A.P.,Fairey Air Survey No.1594/002 8.7.59 [In London Mus.]

(3) Field Investigators Comments

F1 JNH 15-AUG-63

(4) Department of the Environment Archaeological excavations

Ministry of Works: Excavations 1963. 1964 Page(s)9

(5) General reference

Press Notice, MOW 37/62.EG. 154/1. 25.3.62

(6) Field Investigators Comments

F1 PAS 14-APR-70

(7) by David Longley 1976 The archaeological implications of gravel extraction in NW Surrey

Research volumes of the Surrey Archaeological Society1 (1974) - Page(s)8

(8) RCHME/EH Aerial Photographers Comment

Carolyn Dyer/18-FEB-1997/RCHME: Staines Causewayed Enclosure Project

(9) Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society

Roberston-Mackay, R. The Neolithic Causewayed Enclosure at Staines, Surrey: Excavations 1961-63. 53, 1987 Page(s)23-128

(10) Lithics : the newsletter of the Lithic Studies Society

Healey, E and R Robertson-Mackay. The lithic industries from Staines Causewayed Enclosure and their relationship to other Earlier Neolithic Industries in Southern Britain. 4, 1983 Page(s)1-27

(11) London and Middlesex Archaeological Society Transactions of the London and Middlesex Archaeological Society

Robertson-Mackay, R et al. A group of Saxon and Medieval finds from the site of the Neolithic causewayed enclosure at Staines, Surrey, with a note on the topography of the area. 32, 1981 Page(s)107-31

(12) Alasdair Whittle, Alex Bayliss and Frances Healy 2011 Gathering Time: Dating the Early Neolithic Enclosures of Southern Britain and Ireland

Chapter 8.1, Yeoveney Lodge Farm, Staines 1 Page(s)388-393

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