Bedfordshire Archaeology Volume 22 1996

An obituary of Les Speed

Extension of the existing chalk quarry at Kensworth was preceded by the implementation of an agreed programme of archaeological investigation. Previous archaeological fieldwork in the Chilterns region had suggested that the area of the quarry extension might have been a preferred settlement location in the Neolithic and Bronze Age periods. It was also believed that the Clay-with-flints overlying the Chalk might be a source of Palaeolithic artefacts. Bedfordshire County Archaeology Service was commissioned by Rugby Cement to carry out an archaeological field evaluation in accordance with a specification, drawn up by the County Heritage Officer. A fieldwalking survey recovered a considerable quantity of later prehistoric worked flint. However, the assemblage did not appear to represent a distinct or discrete phase of domestic activity or settlement. The results of the survey are complementary to work carried out elsewhere on the Chiltern ridge in S Bedfordshire.

Archaeological evaluation and subsequent excavation as part of a mitigation strategy under PPG 16 revealed the remains of buildings dating to the medieval period adjacent to the site of Kempston Manor Although not the main manorial structures, the buildings excavated indicate the presence of the manor in the 10th century and give some indication as to how this might have shifted to the north in the 13th century.

Evidence for medieval leets, bridge abutments and post-medieval blocking of one of two parallel stream courses running south of Elstow Abbey was recorded during drainage widening works. A geophysical survey of the whole site added to information obtained from excavations between 1965 and 1972.

A plan of Pulloxhill church prepared before the building of the present nave and tower in 1845-6 shows that only the ancient chancel remained in the ruined shell of the mediaeval church. The nave and tower were virtually abandoned after the chancel was adapted for use as a church in about 1745. Research in 1980 showed the history of the building during the two centuries following the collapse of the tower in the 1650s to be particularly well documented in a range of archival sources. This account draws on those sources and a study of the physical evidence of the building to chronicle the disaster and subsequent attempts at repair The case is interesting in the more general context of illustrating the problems faced by the ecclesiastical authorities and parish officers in maintaining church buildings in the period before the religious revival of the nineteenth century.

Review of Excavations on Medieval Sites in Milton Keynes 1972-1980, by DC Mynard (Buckinghamshire Archaeological Society Monograph Series No 6, 1994)