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An evaluation of the Roman road at Brockley Hill, Middlesex

David Bowsher


The report deals with a two week archaeological evaluation and subsequent watching brief carried out by the Museum of London Archaeology Service on the site of the former Wimpey Sports Grounds, Brockley Hill, Stanmore, London Borough of Harrow.

Fourteen archaeological evaluation trenches were investigated in order to determine if archaeological evidence survived for the Roman road, Watling Street, and any associated Roman roadside settlement or pottery kilns as have been located to the north of the site in the area of the Scheduled Ancient Monument (Sulloniacae).

The earliest deposit was the naturally occurring London Clay. In six of the evaluation trenches adjacent to the modern road a Roman road with a ditch on the west side was found directly below the topsoil. Limited investigation showed that the road had been constructed on a bank of clay and gravel layers and had undergone periodic maintenance, as indicated by a number of successive road gravels and recutting of the ditch when it had silted up. Dating evidence confirmed that the road was in use into the 4th century AD. Early Roman pottery was of the type produced at Brockley Hill, and the Roman ceramic building material was of fabric types produced in kilns found alongside Roman Watling Street. The most significant find was a Roman folding knife.

[Transactions 46 (1995), 45 – 57; abstract as published]

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