The Weald

We begin with the Weald, perhaps the most neglected zone in the study of Sussex prehistory.

Cecil Curwen was well aware of this void in our knowledge for he discussed the paucity of information on inland exploitation compared with the Downland data. He records meticulously the known inland Bronze Age metalwork finds but can cite only one settlement at Playden near Rye which, while technically on the Weald, lies close to the coast bordering the Romney Marsh (1937, 200). That habitation was later reinterpreted as a ploughed out ring barrow (Cleal 1982) but the associated rectangular enclosure surrounded by traces of a wattle fence and a shallow ditch on the site are of interest (Curwen 1937, 201). At the time of Curwen’s work, permanent Bronze Age settlements were unknown in the Weald. He could only surmise that the presence of barrows/barrow cemeteries gave some indication of Bronze Age exploitation.

Fifty years later the continuing limitations in archaeological knowledge of the Weald prompted the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission to fund a new survey of this inland area. The resultant research and fieldwalking programme provided another review – this time on the eve of commercially funded work. Mark Gardiner in the synthesis notes again that in general the archaeology of South East England to a large degree has been written from excavation work on the North and South Downs. Whilst the coastal plain had started to attract attention, the Weald remained little studied by archaeologists (Gardiner 1990).

For Gardiner, there was growing evidence for Wealden agriculture in the Bronze Age reflected in a limited number of environmental studies (Scaife and Burrin 1983; 1985). Tebbutt’s investigation of the prehistory of the Ashdown Forest offered one of the few examples of intensive

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Figure 6.1 Geology of Sussex and site distribution

localised research within the Weald (Tebbutt 1974). The synthesis, by Gardiner, concluded that there is an impression of extensive Wealden use, with farmsteads being established in areas of cleared woodland (1990, 42). He suggested that the era of greatest exploitation may have been during the late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age, with settlement subsequently retreating as the soils became exhausted (ibid. 43). It is large-scale commercial work that has confirmed Gardiner’s suspicions of inland exploitation during later prehistory. The increasing number of client reports and research projects which

have produced Bronze Age finds now enables us to analyse the major topographical zones of the Sussex portion of the Weald. We shall start with the Wealden Greensands before examining the Bronze Age evidence emerging for both the Low and High Weald.

6.2.1 The Weald – Wealden greensands

The Wealden greensands comprise a narrow strip of land running at the foot of the steep escarpments of the North and South Downs (Figures 6.1 and 6.2). Wooldridge and Linton back in 1933 suggested

The Sussex Coast, Downlands and Weald 45

Figure 6.2 Sussex: The Weald. 1. Midhurst Pond. 2. Burton Millpond. 3. Fitzleroi Farm, Fittleworth. 4. Waltham Brooks. 5. Lickfold Farm, Pulborough. 6. Dean Way, Storrington. 7. Billingshurst Western Bypass. 8. London Road, Ashington. 9. America Wood, Ashington. 10. Furners Lane, Henfield. 11. Asda, Crawley. 12. Gatwick Airport. 13. Friars Oaks, Hassocks. 14. Hammonds Mill Farm, Hassocks. 15. Wakehurst Place, Ardingly.

16. Barcombe Roman Villa. 17. Sharpsbridge. 18. Stream Farm, Chiddingly. 19. Shinewater. Site details in Table 6.1

that these light loamy soils would have been ideal for early settled farming. Commercial work may well prove their hypothesis. The most interesting commercial site on the greensands is at Dean Way, Storrington. During Phase 1 of the site, intermittent domestic and agricultural activity occurred over an extended period and a number of linear boundary features in this phase were interpreted as being at least as early as the Late Bronze Age/Early Iron Age (Howard-Davis and Matthews 2002a, b). The dating of these land divisions is not conclusive.

The site is located close to the River Stor, a tributary flowing into the River Arun. Just over three kilometres to the north-west lies Lickfold Farm, Pulborough, where Wessex Archaeology collected Late Bronze Age pottery in evaluation work. It suggested more occupation close to the River Arun (Wessex Archaeology 1991a).

Further north over the River Arun towards Petworth, again on the greensands, there has been a significant metalwork discovery at Fitzleroi Farm, Fittleworth. The rich assemblage of Late Bronze Age goldwork, scrap and pennanular rings suggests a degree of wealth accumulation off the Downs (Kenny 1995).

In addition to this riverine clustering of finds, environmental sampling also suggests that these greensands were attracting permanent settlers. Two independent researchers have noted

significant woodland clearance in this zone around the River Arun during the Later Bronze Age; at Waltham Brooks (Turner 1998) and at Burton Mill Pond close by the River West Rother (Evans 1991). In both locations the felling of lime trees provided access to highly fertile soils. The environmental data, metalwork and settlement finds suggest that penetration of the rivers into the Weald is significant in some locations.

Westward along the River West Rother at Midhurst, on the greensands, Royal Holloway College sank an auger core through a 10,000 year old, 4.2m deep, pollen sequence at Peate Moore.

The site provided an invaluable record of changing local vegetation and environment during much of later prehistory. Just as at Waltham Brook and Burton Pond there are very significant changes in the Middle to Late Bronze Age. Scaife records a substantial clearance of woodland, clearly marked in the Peate Moore profile from the start of zone 4 where ling and heathers became important. A radiocarbon date of 1000–400 cal. BC (RCD-2321; 2610±100 BP) has been obtained for the transformation to a heathland environment (Scaife 2001, 101). After this initial clearance there were few changes in the overall character of the local environment at Midhurst during the Iron Age and Romano-British periods (ibid. 102).

The available environmental evidence of the

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woodland clearances may reflect the demand for prime land during the Later Bronze Age. That evidence, together with possible land divisions at Storrington; settlement at Pulborough; and rich metal deposition at Fittleworth, suggests that a form of farming was practiced on the greensands at the foot of the chalk escarpment (Con Ainsworth cf.). The siting of earlier barrow groups, for example at Duncton, reinforces this interpretation (Field 1998, 313).

6.2.2 The Weald – Low Weald

We now head deeper into the Weald, examining the evidence for both the Low and High Weald (Figure 6.2). Developer-funded work has made two critically important Wealden discoveries – a Late Bronze Age settlement at Ashington just beyond the downland escarpment and a Late Bronze Age enclosed settlement with a substantial boundary ditch at Gatwick Airport. Cremations and ceramics are also encountered on a number of multi-period projects.

In the Low Weald it was commercial archaeology that produced the first Late Bronze Age pottery assemblage. Work at America Wood associated with the Ashington by-pass discovered a small 9th century BC pit and a possibly associated small enclosure. Late Bronze Age pottery was later collected downslope in a second investigation ahead of bypass work (Priestley-Bell 1994; John Mills pers. comm.). Ashington provided the first direct evidence of apparent Late Bronze Age settlement on the Wealden clays. It is by a major modern road connecting the North and South Downs.

6.2.3 The Weald – towards the High Weald

Deeper into the Weald (Figure 6.2), a most exciting discovery has been made on the fringes of the High Weald at Gatwick Airport. Framework Archaeology excavated a 5500 sq m area within a 2.87 ha site west of the River Mole (a tributary of the River Thames flowing from Gatwick down past Box Hill towards the Thames at Hampton Court).

They discovered a series of prehistoric features dating from the Late Bronze Age (Framework Archaeology 2002). An enclosed settlement, comprising a roundhouse with a curvilinear ditch, was recorded on slightly higher ground to the surrounding flat area. A group of tree throws and postholes were excavated to the NE, 27m from

the roundhouse and were also dated to the Late Bronze Age. Broadly contemporary with these features is a large NNW – SSE boundary ditch.

Occupation was for a relatively short period with no subsequent Iron Age occupation. This is an unparalleled discovery deep inland within Sussex showing the gains of large area excavation. In the next stage of this airport development an attempt will be made to understand both the environment and economic activities of this settlement. It is not the only evidence for Later Bronze Age people from Crawley. A Late Bronze Age sword was found just to the immediate south of the site, in close proximity to the Polesfleet Stream which runs into the River Mole (West Sussex SMR 4011).

Cremations have been discovered on a number of Wealden sites including a Late Bronze Age burial on the Ardingly sandstones at the Millennium Seedbank in Wakehurst Place (Stevens 1998).

The Weald is poorly drained and the topography of small and numerous steep valleys does impede communication but it is clear that the resources of this inland zone were being exploited in the Later Bronze Age. The instances of bounded landscape gravitated south, close to the downland escarpment, but the Gatwick discovery suggests the likelihood of more settlement finds possibly of individual enclosed compounds. These results have started to transform our knowledge of lifestyles and settlement density in the depths of Sussex.