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Abinger Hammer
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The site, within the grounds of the former Barnwood School, was investigated by trial trenching in 1994 and 1997, and by area excavation, in advance of housing development, in 1998. Occupation began in the late 1st or early 2nd century AD, and the earliest substantial features were a post-built structure and a boundary ditch. The area was laid out anew around the mid-late 2nd century, with the construction of an aisled agricultural building, containing a T-shaped corn drier, set within a complex of ditched and fenced enclosures. The aisled building was demolished in the later 3rd century, but significant activity clearly persisted until the early 4th century. It is almost certain that the excavated site forms part of a complex associated with the villa on nearby Broad Street Common, which was identified in the 19th century. The emergence of this settlement on the London Clay may be associated with more developed exploitation of the woodland and pasture resources on that geology, for which the postulated creation of a road, linking settlements at Neatham, Hampshire and Ewell and passing nearby, may have acted as a catalyst.