T H A M E S V A L L E Y

S E R V I C E S

ARCHAEOLOGICAL

Camp End Manor, Tor Lane, St. George’s Hill, Surrey

Archaeological Watching Brief

by Aiji Castle and Tim Dawson

Site Code: CEM12/193

(TQ 0855 6165)

Camp End Manor, Tor Lane, St George’s Hill, Weybridge, Surrey

An Archaeological Watching Brief

For Herakles Estate Ltd

and Herakles Estate II Ltd

by Aiji Castle and Tim Dawson

Thames Valley Archaeological Services Ltd

Site Code CEM 12/193

January 2014

iThames Valley Archaeological Services Ltd, 47–49 De Beauvoir Road, Reading RG1 5NR

Tel. (0118) 926 0552; Fax (0118) 926 0553; email tvas@tvas.co.uk; website: www.tvas.co.uk

Summary

Site name: Camp End Manor, Tor Lane, St. George’s Hill, Surrey.

Grid reference: TQ 0855 6165

Site activity: Watching Brief

Date and duration of project: 25th November to 3rd December 2013

Project manager: Steve Ford

Site supervisor: Tim Dawson

Site code: CEM 12/193

Area of site: approx 900 sq m within a site of 0.5ha

Summary of results: A single undated but probably modern gully or garden feature was the only feature observed.

Location and reference of archive: The archive is presently held at Thames Valley Archaeological Services, Reading and will be deposited at Elmbridge Museum in due course.

This report may be copied for bona fide research or planning purposes without the explicit permission of the copyright holder. All TVAS unpublished fieldwork reports are available on our website: www.tvas.co.uk/reports/reports.asp.

Report edited/checked by: Steve Ford� 14.01.14 Steve Preston� 14.01.14

Camp End Manor, Tor Lane, St George’s Hill, Surrey An Archaeological Watching Brief

by Aiji Castle and Tim Dawson

Report 12/193b

Introduction

This report documents the results of an archaeological watching brief carried out at Camp End Manor, Tor Lane,

St George’s Hill, Surrey (TQ 0855 6165) (Fig. 1). The work was commissioned by Mr Andrew Paulson of Lees

Associates, Lancaster House, 38-40 Southwark Street, London, SE1 1UN on behalf of Herakles Estate Ltd and

Herakles Estate II Ltd, 4th Floor, West Wing, Trafalgar Court, Admiral Park, St Peter Port, Guernsey, GY1 2JA.

Amended planning permission has been gained from Elmbridge Borough Council (appln. no. 2012/3360)

for the demolition of an existing house, cottage, garage and swimming pool and the construction of a new house

with a basement in their place. As the site lies within a Scheduled Ancient Monument (23001) it required

Scheduled Monument Consent to be granted from the Department of Culture, Media and Sport, in addition to the

planning permission, before any groundworks could commence on site. The consent (S00052003) was subject to

a condition requiring a programme of archaeological works, which was determined should take the form of a

watching brief.

This is in accordance with the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act (1979) and Elmbridge

Borough Council’s policies on archaeology. The field investigation was carried out to a specification approved

by Mr Paul Roberts, Inspector of Ancient Monuments at English Heritage, the archaeological advisers to the

Secretary of State. The fieldwork was undertaken by Tim Dawson between 25th November and 3rd December

2013 and the site code is CEM 12/193. The archive is presently held at Thames Valley Archaeological Services,

Reading and will be deposited at Elmbridge Museum in due course.

Location, topography and geology

The site consists of an irregularly shaped plot of land on the far south-western extent of St George’s Hill, which

lies to the south of the River Thames and the town of Weybridge. The site formerly consisted of a house and

cottage, with a garage to the north and swimming pool to the south, set in approximately 5000 sq m of gardens

(Fig. 2). These gardens are bordered to the south and west by the ramparts of the hillfort, within the site itself.

The remainder of the site is level, although whether this is natural or the result of landscaping (ancient or

modern) is unknown. There is a steep drop below the south-western rampart to the property beneath. The

1

majority of the site is located on Plateau Gravel with Barton Beds beneath the site’s south-east boundary (BGS

1981). It is at a height of approximately 78m above Ordnance Datum.

Archaeological background

The archaeological potential of the site stems from its location within the southern part of the large multivallate

hillfort on St George’s Hill. The hillfort encloses c. 5.5ha of the hilltop, with the ramparts following the contours

of the hill, leaving an irregular ground plan. The 75m contour ramparts generally consist of an inner bank with

an external ditch and outer, counter-scarp, bank, although the more accessible area to the west contains three

banks and two ditches. Most of the banks of the hillfort have survived, although many of the ditches are partially

or completely infilled. A desk-based assessment (Dawson 2012) summarized the known archaeological resource

for the hill. In summary, excavations in the early 20th century (Gardiner 1911) located Iron Age pottery

confirming the date of the site, whilst subsequent work also found Early and Late Iron Age pottery and iron slag

(information from the Schedule of Monuments). Recent fieldwork has also uncovered the sequence of

construction of the ramparts (Poulton and O’Connell 1984), and a shallow linear feature was found immediately

to the south-west of the hillfort (Hawkins and Douglas 1999). Several other archaeological observations within

the ramparts, however, have failed to record any finds or deposits of archaeological interest (Hayman 1994;

Poulton 2001; Anthony 2002; Milbank 2009; Dawson 2011, Bray and Dawson 2012) suggesting that the interior

may not have been occupied. A field evaluation (Bray and Dawson 2012) carried out at The Ramparts to the

north of Camp End Manor only identified modern garden features.

Objectives and methodology

The aims of the project were to excavate and record any archaeological deposits affected by the new construction

work. This involved examination of areas of topsoil stripping, landscaping, ground reduction for the basement

and the digging of trenches for strip foundations and services as necessary.

Bulk groundwork excavation was to be carried out by a 360° type machine fitted with a toothless ditching

bucket under archaeological supervision. Any archaeological deposits which were threatened by the

groundworks were to be excavated and recorded with sufficient time allowed within the construction workers’

schedules.

2

Results

The groundwork comprised two areas, the house and the driveway/garage (Fig. 3).

House and Basement area strip ( Pl. 1)

This area was reduced to a depth of 0.95m and formed the bulk of the development area. The stratigraphy

consisted of 0.4m of mixed topsoil and demolition rubble under which lay 0.55m of light grey silty sand subsoil.

The natural dark yellow-brown sand geology was reached at 0.95m. No archaeological features were observed

during this phase.

Garage and Driveway ramp strip

The garage area was also reduced to a depth of 0.95m, with the stratigraphy consisting of demolition rubble

directly on top of the natural sand. A small flat based gully (1) was observed aligned NW–SE from the ramp,

under the footprint of the old annexe and into the garage area. An excavated slot just south of the annexe showed

it was 0.45m wide and 0.12m deep and consisted of a single fill of loose light grey silty sand with frequent flint

inclusions (Fig. 4, Pl. 2).

The driveway and ramp was stripped to a depth of 0.86m with the natural sand reached at 0.56m. Above

this lay 0.36m of subsoil and 0.20m of modern made ground. The gully (1) was seen continuing into this area,

cutting the subsoil but sealed by the made ground. It was 0.66m deep and 0.45m wide and exhibited vertical

sides and a flat base, with the same fill characteristics as the slot investigated to the south (Fig. 4). This suggests

the feature is relatively modern, possibly dug by a machine and is of no archaeological significance.

Finds

No finds of archaeological interest were uncovered during the groundworks.

Conclusion

The only feature observed within the development area was a straight-sided flat based gully which was likely to

have been excavated by machine and is probably of modern date. Previous fieldwork within the ramparts of the

hillfort has revealed very little archaeological evidence for occupation of the site, and this investigation has

added to these negative results for a large part of the southern extent of the monument.

3

4

References Anthony, S, 2002, ‘Brindle Crest, Camp End Road, St George’s Hill, Weybridge, Surrey: An archaeological

evaluation’, Thames Valley Archaeological Services unpubl rep 02/01, Reading BGS, 1981, British Geological Survey, 1:50000, Sheet 269, Solid and Drift Edition, Keyworth Bray, D and Dawson, T, 2012, ‘The Ramparts, Tor Lane, St George’s Hill, Weybridge, Surrey, an archaeological

evaluation, Thames Valley Archaeological Services unpubl rep12/24b, Reading Dawson, T, 2011, ‘Caesar’s Cottage, Camp End Road, St George’s Hill, Weybridge, Surrey: An archaeological

watching brief’, Thames Valley Archaeological Services unpubl rep09/51b, Reading Dawson, T, 2012, ‘Camp End Manor, Tor Lane, St Georges Hill, Weybridge, Surrey: an archaeological desk-

based assessment’, Thames Valley Archaeological Services unpubl rep12/193, Reading. Gardiner, E, 1911, ‘The British Stronghold of St George’s Hill, Weybridge’, Surrey Archaeol Collect 23, 40–55 Hawkins, D and Douglas, A, 1999, ‘Archaeological investigations of land at Ravenscroft Road, St George’s Hill,

Weybridge’, Surrey Archaeol Collect 86, 210–14 Hayman, G. N, 1994, ‘An archaeological evaluation near The Ramparts, St George’s Hill, Weybridge’, SCAU

unpubl rep, Kingston-upon-Thames Milbank, D, 2009, ‘Caesar’s Cottage, Camp End Road, St George’s Hill, Weybridge, Surrey: An archaeological

evaluation’, Thames Valley Archaeological Services report 09/51, Reading NPPF 2012, National Planning Policy Framework, Dept Communities and Local Govt, London Poulton, R, 2001, ‘An archaeological watching brief at The Ramparts, St George’s Hill, Weybridge’, SCAU

unpubl rep, Kingston-upon-Thames Poulton, R and O’Connell, M. G, 1984, ‘St George’s hill fort: excavations in 1981’, Surrey Archaeol Collect 75,

275–80

TQ 08000 09000 CEM 12/193b

Reproduced from Ordnance Survey Explorer 160 at 1:12500Ordnance Survey Licence 100025880

Staines

Guildford

Egham

Woking Weybridge

ReigateAldershot

Redhill

GodalmingFarnham

SITE

SITE

Camp End Manor, Tor Lane, St George's HillWeybridge, Surrey, 2014

Archaeological Watching BriefFigure 1. Location of site within St George's Hill and Surrey.

61000

62000

63000

TQ 08500 08600

61600

61700

SITE

N

CEM 12/193b

Reproduced from Ordnance Survey Digital Mapping under licence.Crown copyright reserved. Scale 1:1250

Camp End Manor, Tor Lane, St George's Hill,Weybridge, Surrey, 2014

Archaeological Watching BriefFigure 2. Detailed location of site off Tor Lane.

CEM 12/193b

Figure 3. Location of groundworks observed.

Camp End Manor, Tor Lane, St George's Hill.Weybridge, Surrey, 2014

Archaeological Watching Brief

0 25m

N

Tor Lane

Ondine

Ravenspoint

Camp End Manor

Radleigh House

Tor Point

House (demolished)

Garage (demolished)

Annexe (demolished)

Summer house (demolished)

Pool (infilled)

Planneddevelopment

Ramparts

Ramparts

Ramparts

Ramparts

1

TQ 08550 08600

61600

61650

61700

Site

Stripped area

CEM 12/193b

Figure 4. Sections through gully.

0 1m

Camp End Manor, Tor Lane, St George's Hill,Weybridge, Surrey, 2014

Archaeological Watching Brief

52

1

SW NE 77.2m aOD

52

Topsoil/demoliton rubble mix (50)

Subsoil (51)

Mottled yellow/dark brown sand geology

1

SW NE 77.8m aOD

Plate 1. The stripped area, looking southwest, Scales: 2m and 1m.

Plate 2. Gully 1, looking northwest, Scales: 0.5m and 0.1m.

CEM 12/193bCamp End Manor, Tor Lane, St George's Hill,

Weybridge, Surrey, 2014Archaeological Watching Brief

Plates 1 - 2.

TIME CHART

Calendar Years

Modern AD 1901

Victorian AD 1837

Post Medieval AD 1500

Medieval AD 1066

Saxon AD 410

Roman AD 43BC/AD

Iron Age 750 BC

Bronze Age: Late 1300 BC

Bronze Age: Middle 1700 BC

Bronze Age: Early 2100 BC

Neolithic: Late 3300 BC

Neolithic: Early 4300 BC

Mesolithic: Late 6000 BC

Mesolithic: Early 10000 BC

Palaeolithic: Upper 30000 BC

Palaeolithic: Middle 70000 BC

Palaeolithic: Lower 2,000,000 BC

Thames Valley Archaeological Services Ltd,47-49 De Beauvoir Road, Reading,

Berkshire, RG1 5NR

Tel: 0118 9260552Fax: 0118 9260553

Email: tvas@tvas.co.ukWeb: www.tvas.co.uk