Sussex Archaeological Collections 156

An archaeological evaluation in 2016 by Oxford Archaeology picked up a section of the entrenchment ditch known as EWJ at Graylingwell, north of Chichester. Organic remains from a lower fill in the feature produced an early/mid-Roman radiocarbon date. Excavations in 1998 by Southern Archaeology on an adjacent site revealed part of the same entrenchment. Pottery from a middle fill of the ditch indicates that it was backfilling in the same period. This article combines the results of both excavations and discusses their wider implications.

Archaeology South-East was commissioned to carry out an archaeological excavation situated at the junction of Preston Road and Springfield Road, Brighton. The site has been known since the 1870s to contain one of Brighton’s most well-known archaeological monuments, the Springfield Road or Preston Roman villa. Excavations in the early 20th century uncovered a number of walls relating to at least five rooms, some of which contained tessellated floors. The excavations reported here located a small surviving area of Roman stratigraphy including walls, a chalk-lined well, rubbish pits and a burial. Two stone wall foundations were identified, although one had been severely truncated by 19th- century pitting, and the other survived mainly as a robber trench. Several possible floor deposits of mortar were recognised, together with a very small surviving patch of coarse tessellated floor. An important assemblage of artefacts and pottery sheds some light on the activities of the inhabitants. The new findings are considered in relation to the previous work undertaken at the site and an updated overview of the villa plan is presented.

An archaeological excavation was undertaken in January and February 2016 at Goddards Green, Burgess Hill, West Sussex. The excavation identified two phases of archaeological activity, the first dating to the early/middle Roman periods and the second to the late medieval/early post-medieval period. The Roman period activity comprised boundary ditches, pits, post-holes and ovens. A large assemblage of pottery was recovered; the majority is broadly Roman in date, with more closely-dated forms suggesting an early/middle Roman date for the assemblage as a whole. Plant macrofossils recovered from the ditches indicate that crop processing was taking place nearby. Late medieval/early post-medieval activity comprised four kilns. No artefacts were recovered, and radiocarbon dating was undertaken to confirm the dating of these features. Large amounts of bracken and beech charcoal were identified within the bulk soil samples, suggesting the use of these kilns for potash production as part of the wider potash/lye industry in the area.

During 2017, the Lewes Archaeological Group’s finds archive was moved to new premises in Hailsham, the finds being re-bagged, and re-boxed. The author took this opportunity to analyse pottery that had been recovered by C. E. Knight-Farr in 1979. The pottery assemblage showed that the intention of the potters was to produce a hard-fired vessel by using a reduced-firing kiln and to cause the vitrification of the clay matrix. This innovation improved the quality and durability of the pot.

The magnificent brass of Thomas Nelond, prior of Lewes 1414–32, in Cowfold church in Sussex is widely known (Fig. 1). This article places him in the context of his family, first encountered in 1296 at a typical Wealden farm in East Grinstead in the north of the county but rising to considerable wealth and local status through some 150 years. His work as prior is not treated, apart from one recent discovery of evidence of it in that parish. The article also cites some earlier dates for the name than given by the English Place-Name Society, interprets the road passing the eponymous farmstead as an ancient droveway from Hamsey to the Surrey border that became the highway from Lewes to East Grinstead and London, and advances an explanation of the presence of the brass at Cowfold.

During the summer of 2011, Archaeology South-East (UCL Institute of Archaeology) carried out a complex phase of excavation at Stanmer House, Stanmer, East Sussex. The fieldwork, commissioned by ABIR architects, took place in advance of construction of a new rear wing to the building. This occupied the footprint of the earlier northern wing of Stanmer House which had been demolished in the 1960s. The excavations revealed archaeological evidence largely supporting the known historical development of the building. Remains included an Elizabethan or Jacobean manor house, a country residence built in the reign of Queen Anne and details of the Palladian rebuild designed and overseen by the architect Nicholas Dubois.

In 1752 Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown was commissioned by the 2nd Earl of Egremont to transform Petworth Park in the new style of the English landscape garden. Brown’s association with Petworth left a lasting legacy, a landscape which 250 years on retains at its heart his vision for a perfected, romantic version of nature. Over the course of a decade Brown utterly transformed Petworth Park. Through the prism of three years of archaeological research at Petworth Park it is possible to discuss in depth the scale and execution of his designs there, to examine how these fit into the wider context of the park’s development before Brown and also the changes which were made after his departure. Brown’s creation at Petworth is one of contrast and sometimes contradiction which can be read in different ways: was he a visionary, a vandal, or both?

Supplement for Archaeological investigations at Preston Roman Villa, Springfield Road, Brighton, 2002 and 2004. Archaeology South-East was commissioned to carry out an archaeological excavation situated at the junction of Preston Road and Springfield Road, Brighton. The site has been known since the 1870s to contain one of Brighton’s most well-known archaeological monuments, the Springfield Road or Preston Roman villa. Excavations in the early 20th century uncovered a number of walls relating to at least five rooms, some of which contained tessellated floors. The excavations reported here located a small surviving area of Roman stratigraphy including walls, a chalk-lined well, rubbish pits and a burial. Two stone wall foundations were identified, although one had been severely truncated by 19th- century pitting, and the other survived mainly as a robber trench. Several possible floor deposits of mortar were recognised, together with a very small surviving patch of coarse tessellated floor. An important assemblage of artefacts and pottery sheds some light on the activities of the inhabitants. The new findings are considered in relation to the previous work undertaken at the site and an updated overview of the villa plan is presented.