Surrey Archaeological Collections 100

Between 30 July and 12 August 2008 a team from Surrey Archaeological Society undertook a training excavation in the form of an evaluation, on the site of one of the former iron- and copper-working mills at Downside, Cobham, operated by Alexander Raby between 1770 and 1806. Two trenches were opened to investigate the nature and survival of the mill structure, search for evidence of possible medieval utilisation of the site, and ascertain the precise location of the large dwelling house (set in pleasure grounds) shown on a plan of c 1798. The search for the house was unsuccessful and no evidence was recovered for medieval activity on the site. However, the work revealed remains of substantial exterior walls of the targeted former mill with some internal features, together with the filled-in courses of the former millraces that channelled water to the waterwheels. Significant concentrations of demolition material were recovered, particularly from one of the filled-in millraces, including large quantities of metallurgical industrial residues. Specialist analysis of the large pieces of slag in the demolition material from Downside Mill and of rectangular slag blocks from Coxes Lock has suggested these came from reverberatory furnaces used for reheating iron and recycling scrap iron for the manufacture of iron hoops, iron bar, iron plate and tinned iron plate. The slag masses lining the tail-race and river at Downside Mill were from chafery hearths. Documentary sources suggest that the copper foundry may have been used for the manufacture and recycling of copper sheet for sheathing naval ships. The site archive will be deposited at Elmbridge Museum under accession no 1.2017.

Rescue excavations in advance of sand quarrying recovered evidence for a series of phases of activity of mainly prehistoric and Roman date on two adjacent sites. On Site 1, a closely concentrated group of three phases of pits was associated with a dense concentration of lithic material. These phases comprise a group of pits of possible late Mesolithic date; three pits of considerable importance containing large quantities of Late Neolithic Grooved Ware, the first large group from Surrey; and a group of Late Bronze Age cremation pits. On Site 2, a metalled trackway of Late Bronze Age date with associated wheel ruts and stake line was also found and this may have a ceremonial explanation. On Site 2 also a series of conjoined enigmatic enclosures dating to the 1st and 2nd centuries AD may be domestic but seem more likely to have had a non-domestic function, perhaps as a shrine.

On 21 April 1918 Thomas Cecil (2nd Lord) Farrer addressed the Surrey Archaeological Society’s AGM on the theme of ‘Patriotism in Things of Beauty’. In the context of sacrifice and shortages in the fourth year of war, he sought to protect scenes of natural beauty in Surrey and their historical associations. Liberty, historical continuity, local patriotism and incessant watchfulness were his abiding points of reference in war and peace in defence of an older England in the open spaces and villages of Surrey. His public social action was historically minded, steeped in place-awareness and acknowledged that landscape preservation could memorialise the fallen of the Great War. Examples of preservationist and access issues involving documentary records, material culture and historic buildings and monuments will be explored. These will illuminate Lord Farrer’s activism in the Surrey Archaeological Society, the National Trust, the Commons and Footpaths Preservation Society and the County Ancient Monuments Committee. Being rooted in the past and by walking the ground, Lord Farrer valued everyday scenes in mid-Surrey which all were entitled to enjoy amid intact, but often endangered, landscapes in the aftermath of war. His practical liberal mindedness was consistently evidenced in 40 years of public engagement, but after 1918 the urgent quest for peace and quiet in the countryside had a deeper resonance for lovers of Surrey. As an ‘old Liberal’, who believed in peace, retrenchment and reform, Farrer strove to make sense of the conflict between beauty and utility amid history and nature near metropolitan London.

In 2015 the Lithics section of the Prehistoric Group of Surrey Archaeological Society assessed and listed a collection of flint artefacts found by the Rev H R Huband and presently held at Guildford Museum. Further research has established the exact provenance around Farnham of five of the Lower Palaeolithic handaxes so that the river terrace of the Wey where they were found can be identified. This is significant because Lower Palaeolithic finds from the area are frequently not provenanced beyond the name of the town. These handaxes are considered and their Farnham river terrace contexts described. A summary of the collection is provided in the Appendix, including a note on an unusual Neolithic core that was made on a fragment of a ground axehead.

Minor excavations across the moat and on the island in advance of development of Cranleigh Rectory in 1985 produced evidence of pre-moat occupation throughout the 12th century and of construction of the moat during the early 13th century. It seems likely that the island has been lowered, probably during construction of the Victorian rectory in 1863, and that this, together with 19th century cleaning of the moat, had removed evidence of later medieval or post-medieval occupation. The suggestion is made that this was the site of the manorial caput first of ‘Cranleigh’ and later of the Rectory Manor.