Sussex Archaeological Collections 126

Forest composition stages for the past 6000 years have been identified for a small catchment in East Sussex. Palynological analysis supported by radiocarbon measurements of two sites within the valley has been undertaken in order to examine the relationship between changes in forest composition , including clearance phases, and valley sedimentation. A variety of causes exist for alterations to the forest , ranging from natural edaphic changes on the valley floor to widespread anthropogenic clearance, the latter predominant from the Iron Age. Archaeological investigations have shown that the Combe Haven valley was a centre for the early iron industry. Anthropogenic forest clearance from approximately 2900 b.p. was responsible for the formation of the present floodplain when biogenic sediments were replaced by minerogenic deposits as a result of slope wash. A major decline in arboreal pollen frequencies on both pollen diagrams corresponds closely with the deposition of minerogenic sediments in the valley bottom. However, the initiation of forest clearance and slope wash appears to be diachronous within the valley.

Traces of three Anglo-Saxon inhumation burials were found during a rescue excavation in 1985 at Stafford Road, Brighton. One largely in situ male burial contained a knife and buckle of 7th-century date, while another male grave, badly disturbed by builders, appears to be of the 6th century. Skeletal evidence from this burial shows that the man died from a severe head wound, probably inflicted by a sword blow, but had survived a previous traumatic head wound which had partially healed. Two button brooches and other objects indicate that the third burial was a woman's grave of the 6th century.

The church of St Peter, West Blatchington, restored from a ruin in 1890, has been shown by archaeological excavation and structural analysis to have been originally a pre-Conquest building. Ecclesiastical history and the history of the liturgy have been cited to show that the church belongs to a type being built in Sussex in the 10th century by local thegns on their estates. The Saxon estate has been identified from Domesday Book and on the ground. The building was re-modelled after the Conquest to become a Norman manorial church.

A detailed study of the tower and spire in 1984, supported by documentary research and scientific dating evidence, has permitted a better understanding of the dates of their construction. The west end of an Anglo-Saxon church was heightened to form a tower at the end of the 11 th century when a tower arch was inserted incorporating earlier decorated stones as imposts. Various alternative reconstructions for the roof on the original tower are proposed but it seems most likely that the original roof was in the form of a helm spire, supported on either wooden or the present masonry gables. The present helm spire was built in the first quarter of the 14th century, possibly as a result of the church being taken over by the Knights Hospitaler. Later alterations and repairs are noted.

The theme of this article on Ashdown Forest is the long term causes of the disturbances following the commencement of enclosures in the Forest in the seventeenth century. The principal concern was the validity of common rights: accordingly, development in rights of common and their origin are investigated.

Prehistoric Flintwork from the Midhurst area, West Sussex; A Fieldwalking project at Pyecombe: Interim Report; Bronze Age awl from Plumpton, East Sussex; An estuarine mollusc from Bishopstone village; An Iron Age Silver Coin found at Ditchling; The Chichester to Silchester Roman Road at Brook Farm, Stedham-with-lping, West Sussex; Two Roman Shoe fragments from Sedlescombe; Roman Burials at Portslade; A Roman Grave Group from Fulking Corner, Portslade; Two 9th-Century Anglo-Saxon Strap-Ends from East Sussex; A Saxon Coin-Brooch from Alfriston; The Medieval Farm on Bullock Down; Finds of Pottery and Glass at Thakeham; Trial Excavations in Horsham, West Sussex, 1987; Two Post-Medieval sword-belt fittings from Pyecombe, West Sussex; The Evolution of Warlege; Building Practices in the Eastern Weald around 1700; Catholicism at Patching, Sussex 1713-14; Old Erringham 'Chapel' - a correction; The Old Workhouse, Mouse Lane, Steyning; Willingdon Village Pump, Willingdon, near Eastbourne, East Sussex.