Short programmes of excavation and observation carried out on two sites in Avenue Gardens, Acton between 1981 and 1985 were prompted by the discovery of Bronze Age cremation urns during the late 19th-century development of the area.

Excavation of three trenches at 51 Avenue Gardens in 1981, and later site watching during redevelopment, located four phases of truncated features dating from the later prehistoric to the post-medieval periods. Two phases of hitherto unsuspected Roman activity, comprising a small series of ditches and pits, were dated to the early/mid 2nd and late 3rd – 4th centuries AD respectively. A notable find from the earlier Roman phase was a virtually complete decorated samian bowl. Subsequent observation of builders’ trenches at the rear of 36 Avenue Gardens in 1985 recovered a substantial portion of a Bronze Age bucket urn. This discovery, together with the examination of building records, and of contemporary newspaper accounts relating to the original finds, has provided an opportunity to re-assess the cemetery.

All finds and site records are currently held by the Museum of London.

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