Surrey Archaeological Collections 99

This article presents the results of excavations at Hampton House, 20-21 Albert Embankment, Lambeth, which uncovered buildings, kilns and flues associated with Henry Doulton's Terra Cotta Works, constructed in 1876-7. In the 1870s, Doulton began to expand their range of terracotta architectural mouldings, and by the 1880s had emerged as the leading manufacturer in London (Stratton 1986, 198). This boom in Doulton's business was demonstrated in three new buildings: a headquarters building on Black Prince Road, a showroom and offices for the Terra Cotta Works, built on the newly created Albert Embankment. To the south of the Terra Cotta Works offices the circular bases of two downdraught kilns were uncovered, each with a substructural exit flue leading towards a chimney located outside the site. Other flues show the works were modified during their lifetime; originally there were four kilns but by 1892, two smaller ones had been replaced with a third large kiln. It is not known when terracotta was last manufactured on the site, although research shows the lease on the works ran out in 1939. It had been assumed the final clearance of the site was linked to Doulton ceasing all production in London by 1956.The subsequent demolition of Doulton's works and the kilns to ground level means that there is no reliable chronological relationship between the finds and the kilns at this site. The most reliable indications of the products used and made at the Terra Cotta Works are the kiln furniture, terracotta, faience and tiles found as wasters in the backfill of flues and demolition deposits. Some demolition material appears to contain a variety of Doulton material from across the site and products of the stoneware pothouse, further to the north. Some fragments of faience, tiles and terracotta are likely to be from the facade and interior of the Doulton offices and showrooms on Albert Embankment, which were built as new offices and also as a showcase for Doulton's architectural ceramics.

A programme of archaeological evaluation was undertaken at Monkton Lane, Farnham in 2010 in advance of a proposed development of a multi-sports and leisure club facility. The evaluation revealed evidence of prehistoric, medieval and post-medieval agricultural occupation. The majority of the features were linear ditches, possibly suggesting field boundaries and/or drainage ditches. A single human cremation burial dating to the Late Iron Age/early Roman period was uncovered. Geoarchaeological investigations were also carried out as part of the work.

Analytical survey of the two Middle Iron Age hillforts located on the greensand ridge of western Surrey at Holmbury and Hascombe after vegetation clearance has added detail to pre-existing knowledge of their morphology and will serve as a baseline against which any further damage can be assessed.

Excavations revealed evidence of intermittent human activity over a considerable timespan. Residual flint artefacts of Mesolithic and Neolithic date, and a small number of Neolithic/Bronze Age features including postholes, were found. The most significant prehistoric evidence was the remains of a Neolithic/Bronze Age ring ditch, a monument type rarely recorded in the area. A small Iron Age artefact assemblage was also found, as was evidence for drainage ditches from that period. Drainage and boundary ditches formed much of the evidence for later activity on the site, which is located outside the centre of Staines-upon-Thames but close to the probable line of a Roman road. Roman occupation debris and agricultural features of 2nd-3rd century AD date were found, and there was a suggestion of continuity of occupation into the 4th century AD. There was no evidence for Saxon or early medieval activities, but the remains of later medieval rectilinear buildings, a well and ditches were found. Post-medieval features included a double horse burial of 17th or 18th century date.

It is commonly stated that the main pre-Norman Conquest use of the Weald was for transhumance - the grazing of certain pastures, to and from which livestock were moved over substantial distances at the beginning and end of a defined season. Often suggested to have been a phenomenon with prehistoric roots, in several ways transhumance seems to have been most important as a socio-economic institution in the earlier medieval centuries. Integral to such conjectures are those Wealden landholdings often known as denns, which are understood to have functioned as seasonal pastures for pigs or swine - the terms are interchangeable (Bennett 1970, 223) - at a considerable geographical remove from the associated estate centres (notably by Witney 1976 and Everitt 1986). While there is ample evidence that, at the time they emerge into documented history, many of these holdings were being used as swine pastures, the contemporary direct testimony for seasonal usage is slight at best, while the inherent problems surrounding any possible transhumance of swine appear great. Altogether, these call into question the validity of previous conjectures. By looking at a broader range of material, textual and landscape evidence, it can be demonstrated that the denns of Surrey did indeed operate as part of a seasonal grazing regime involving movement of swine into and out of the Weald. Further, there are hints that the regime involved some swine remaining in the Weald after the majority had been driven back to the estate centres, implying the benefit of year-round settlement at the wood pastures for the swineherds.