A Re-Examination of the Late Nineteenth Century Palaeolithic Finds in the Upper Ravensbourne Area, Bromley

17 A RE-EXAMINATION OF THE LATE NINETEENTH-CENTURY PALAEOLITHIC FINDS IN THE UPPER RAVENSBOURNE AREA, BROMLEY frank r. beresford This is a study of some collections of Palaeolithic finds, first discovered between 1878 and 1898, in the parish of West Wickham (now part of the London Borough of Bromley). These collections lacked adequate publication and coherent curation of the finds, some of which were dispersed by exchange or sale. Parts of these collections as well as some other later finds from the same area were identified in the collections of two museums. The original finders gave partial accounts of their finds in various contexts during the period 1882 to 1908 and these accounts were also located. These accounts enabled the original find sites to be identified and their relationship with the distribution of fluvial deposits to be explored. Although some of the material is not diagnostic on typological grounds, analysis suggests that there are not only Acheulian attributes present but also Levallois and Mousterian. Palaeolithic flint material was located in the Upper Ravensbourne area at West Wickham in the period 1880 to 1905, mainly by George Clinch and Arthur Santer Kennard. The study area is in the southern end of the parish of West Wickham where it adjoins Hayes and Keston on the east and the former Kent/Surrey border on the West (Fig. 1). The original collectors wrote about their finds in academic journals, popular journals, personal notebooks and maps, personal scrapbooks, privately published papers and local newspapers during the period 1882 to 1908. The finds were considered to be of sufficient significance to be mapped onto the contemporary 1910 six-inch Ordnance Survey map of the area (see below). However, the collections and some of the accounts were subsequently dispersed. Consequently, in 1999, John Wymer, in his survey of the lower Palaeolithic occupation of Britain, was only able to note that the area was ‘alleged to have produced large numbers of surface palaeoliths in the 19th century, but few can now be found or identified as coming from the locations recorded’ (Wymer 1999, 167). In this study an analysis has been made of those parts of the original collections that are now in those of two museums as well as some other finds from the same area. The contemporary accounts have been located and studied. Visits have been made to all the sites. This is the final report on this work following two preliminary reports (Beresford 2013, 2014.) frank r. beresford 18 The Collectors and their Collections George Clinch (1860-1921): grew up on Rowes (or Rouse) Farm and collected Palaeolithic, Mesolithic and Neolithic material mainly from the surface of fields on the farm and surrounding areas from 1878 to 1888 when he moved away (Knowlden 2010). He wrote about these finds many times (see bibliography). His reports provide a range of useful information although they lack precision and consistency. In March 1881 he wrote ‘During the last few weeks, I have been successful in finding a good quantity of Palaeolithic implements upon the surface of the bank in the west side of Church Field’ (Clinch 1880a, 2). Clinch privately published a booklet about his finds in 1882 and sent a copy (Fig. 2) to Flaxman Spurrell (Clinch 1882b). Spurrell immediately visited the site and included the finds in his survey of Palaeolithic implements found in west Kent published the following year including his own illustration of one of them (Spurrell 1883, 100 and fig. 10). Two years later Clinch wrote The patches or terraces of drift-gravel and clay upon the sides of the valley are only superficial, and are amongst the last deposits which are to be found in the valley, and although they are for these reasons of no great geological importance, yet they are of great interest to the antiquary from the occurrence therein of palaeolithic relics, which prove them to be subsequent to the existence of man. I have collected from the terraces of drift in Church Field, as they have been turned up by the ploughshare and harrow, nearly three hundred of such palaeolithic remains (Clinch 1884, 213). He later recorded finding only 124 items in Church Field including 20 ‘Hatchets and almond shaped weapons’ and 34 ‘Scrapers and trimmed flakes’ (Clinch 1893, 136). Clinch also found Palaeolithic material in other fields on Rowes Farm (Clinch 1889a, 184). The remaining fragments of his collection are curated in the British Museum and Bromley Museum. All that remain had passed through the collection of at least one other collector and do not include the finds that he wrote about and illustrated (see Table 1). Arthur Santer Kennard (1870-1948): grew up in Beckenham, about five miles Fig. 1 Location map showing the current course of the River Ravensbourne and the location of West Wickham LATE 19TH-CENTURY PALAEOLITHIC FINDS IN THE UPPER RAVENSBOURNE AREA 19 away but from an early age was regularly visiting the study area to progress his growing interest in natural history. From 1888 until 1914 he belonged to the Bromley Naturalist Society and regularly talked at their meetings on a range of topics. Kennard reported these meetings and wrote other papers for the Bromley District Times and kept copies in a scrapbook (Kennard 1909). Many relate to his Palaeolithic finds in the study area. His first discovery of lithic material in the area was made in Gomans Pit Field in 1887 and he carried out a wider survey in 1894-5. He subsequently paid the farmworkers to supply him with any further material they found (Griffin 1906, 57). He found Palaeolithic material in Church Field but his search appears to have been more productive across North Pole Lane in Hackett’s Orchard on Nash Farm where he observed a gravel spread apparently connected with a bed of yellow clay. In this clay I have found, at a depth of 18 inches, and certainly undisturbed, a well-worked implement with the edges quite sharp. Still further up the valley 1 have obtained from the surface of the chalk numerous flakes and implements of Palaeolithic age but the worked portions are white (Kennard 1900). He appears to have been the only one to have found material in Chestnut Avenue Valley, the neighbouring valley to Church Field Valley (Kennard 1900). Fig. 2 The copy of Clinch’s 1882 pamphlet that he sent to Flaxman Spurrell with Spurrell’s original art work (which it contains) for the illustration in Spurrell 1883. frank r. beresford 20 His research at West Wickham coincided with his better known work at Crayford. He wrote: My own personal collecting at Crayford was between 1892 and 1900, and then the re-opening of the brickearth pit at Grays, the opening of the sections in London Wall and Dierden’s Pit, Swanscombe, as well as of those in the new reservoirs at Tottenham, claimed all my spare time (Kennard 1944). He subsequently made an outstanding contribution to Quaternary research while working full time and would seem never to have had the time to produce a full report on these finds (Preece 1990). The British Museum curates 33 artefacts from his collection that came to the museum as part of the Hazzeldine Warren TABLE 1 THE DISPERSAL OF THE UPPER RAVENSBOURNE MATERIAL – A PARTIAL ACCOUNT Original Finder No. of Pieces Collection One Collection Two Collection Three Collection Four Current Collection G. Clinch 5 John Lubbock - - - British Museum (1916 6-5 74-78) G. Clinch 3 John Goodchild G.J. Buscall Fox - - British Museum (1926 12-6,7 & 9) G. Clinch 4 John Goodchild G.J. Buscall Fox Essex Field Club Museum Passmore Edwards Museum Bromley Museum [95.181, 95.191, 95.194 95.214] G. Clinch 18 Robotham? William Sturge - - British Museum (not registered) G. Clinch 21 Probably retained by Clinch during his lifetime. Current location unknown* G. Clinch 1 Flaxman Spurrell - - - Natural History Museum? Described and illustrated so included G. Clinch 300+? Some noted in de Barri Crawshay sale catalogue at Stevens Auction House 17 April 1929 including Clinch’s catalogue of his collection (see Fig. 3.). Others sold/swapped? Not known; Clinch’s catalogue cannot now be found at the Welcome Collection or BM. A.S. Kennard 34 Hazeldine Warren - - - British Museum, not registered. A.S. Kennard 300+? Sold/swapped/retained? One piece presented to Maidstone Museum Not known – given to the Natural History Museum but now untraceable ‘Nash’ Collector unknown 43 de Barri Crawshay Welcome Collection A.D. Lacaille British Museum (P1982 10-4 1930) W.H. Griffin 3 2 cannot be located – 1 bought by Hercules Read British Museum (P1916 10-14 4) * Sufficiently described in contemporary accounts and, in some cases, illustrated to allow their inclusion in this analysis. LATE 19TH-CENTURY PALAEOLITHIC FINDS IN THE UPPER RAVENSBOURNE AREA 21 Collection. Kennard left his remaining collections to the Natural History Museum but no lithic material associated with him is listed in the archives catalogue there. Other contemporary workers include A.E. Salter (Dewey 1927) who visited the area with Kennard as part of his research into the superficial deposits of central and parts of Southern England (Salter 1899 and 1904). In 1904, he noted that ‘At West Wickham, 261 ft. O.D., Mr G. Clinch, Mr A. S. Kennard, and myself have obtained Palaeolithic implements from the fields’ (Salter 1904, 9). Another was W.H. Griffin who published two accounts of the Geology of the Upper Ravensbourne Valley that included reports on the Pleistocene mammalian and lithic finds at the Hayes Pits in Tiepigs Lane, West Wickham (Griffin 1906, 1908). The British Museum curates material from Nash, West Wickham. Nash Farm forms the southern side of Church Field Valley and in late Victorian times was worked with Rowes Farm. The collection came to the British Museum as part of the Welcome Collection which had bought it in 1928 as part of the de Barri Crawshay collection. The catalogue of this sale shows that the Crawshay collection included material from the Clinch collection including the catalogue of the Clinch collection (Stephens 1928; Fig. 3). It is not now clear whether the Nash material was collected by Clinch, Crawshay or possibly Salter. Griffin (1905, 57) noted that ‘The farm- Fig. 3 The 1929 sale catalogue for the de Barri Crawshay collection which includes artefacts found by Clinch and the catalogue of Clinch’s collection. The extract reads: 59 Water-colour drawings by B. Harrison and G. Clinch; Catalogue of the Clinch Collection; and a number of letters connected with B. Harrison and others. frank r. beresford 22 bailiffs and labourers have been so well instructed by Mr. Kennard and others, for whom they reserve their finds, that there is little chance for strangers’. So it is possible that the Nash material was collected for Crawshay who is known to have paid workers to collect for him in places as far away as Southampton (Lascailles 1960). Table 1 gives a partial account of the dispersal of these collections after they left the ownership of the original collectors. Today, eoliths are regarded as the natural products of geological forces (O’Connor 2007, 131). However, the 1890s was the period when the debate about these crude dark stained stones was at its height. They were proposed as the earliest evidence for toolmakers preceding the Palaeolithic period and were associated with the highest plateau gravels in north-west Kent including the study area (Prestwich 1891). Kennard was at this time a strong supporter of the validity of eoliths (Kennard 1898, 11) and found material on one side of Gomans field and in Longfield which he classified as eolithic. He wrote about ‘a very interesting patch (of gravel) in Long field and this is apparently of some thickness, perhaps five or six feet, and from this gravel I have found … Plateau implements’ (Kennard 1900). In Kennard’s joint paper this material was assigned to the ‘higher plateau gravels’ while his palaeolithic finds in West Wickham were linked to the lower level ‘hill gravels’ (Hinton and Kennard 1905, 91). The Surviving Lithic Material A total of 117 flint artefacts found in the study area are now curated in the British Museum or Bromley Museum and are numbered in this analysis in sequence [1- 127]. Ten items initially studied were subsequently excluded from the analysis. A further 23 artefacts were sufficiently described in contemporary accounts and, in some cases, illustrated to allow their inclusion in this analysis and are numbered in sequence [200-223]. [301] was transferred from a study of material found in the Cudham area as it was found in part of the Cudham Parish that covers the highest reach of the former Ravensbourne Valley. Details including a description of each artefact are given in the Appendix [published on the KAS website]. Most of the material was collected in the last two decades of the nineteenth century but some pieces found later have also been included. The artefacts are described in relation to the sites where they were found (Table 2 and the Appendix). The sites were identified using the contemporary accounts, the locations marked on some of the artefacts, the field names and find sites from an 1882 sketch map drawn by Clinch (Clinch 1889b) and field names on an 1838 tithe map (Knowlden 1980). 1. Sites in Church Field Valley (TQ 463 640; 94-105m aod) (Fig. 4) This is the name given by Clinch to the small subsidiary dry chalk valley which passes through Church Field (Clinch 1886, 161). It meets the main eastern arm of the former Ravensbourne Valley about a mile south of its confluence with the western arm. Other fields in which artefacts were found in this valley include Moll Costen, Gates Green Field, Carthouse Field, Old Plantation, South Field, LATE 19TH-CENTURY PALAEOLITHIC FINDS IN THE UPPER RAVENSBOURNE AREA 23 TABLE 2. THE CURRENTLY CURATED FINDS FROM THE AREA (Arranged by the find site marked on each artefact, plus some well described examples in contemporary accounts.) Sites Axes/ Bifaces Cores Scrapers/retouch Points Flakes/ other Totals Church Field Valley Sites 1. Church Field 9 0 13 0 7 29 2. Moll Costen 3 1 0 12 0 16 3. Hackett’s Orchard 5 2 2 0 3 12 4. Baldwins 1 0 0 0 0 1 5. Nash 3 0 37 0 0 40 6. Carthouse Field 0 0 2 0 0 2 7. Hublands 1 0 0 0 0 1 Total 22 3 54 12 10 101 Chestnut Avenue Valley (or Stony Bottom Valley) Sites 8. Gomers Pit Field 2 0 0 0 0 2 9. Wick. Court Farm 2 0 0 0 0 2 Total 4 0 0 0 0 4 Church Field Valley or Chestnut Avenue Valley Sites 10. West Wickham 19 0 2 0 0 21 11. W. Wick. Wood 0 0 0 0 1 1 Total 19 0 2 0 1 22 Hayes Pits Sites 12. East Pit 2 1 1 0 0 4 13. Priors Pit 0 1 1 0 0 2 Total 2 2 2 0 0 6 Keston Area Sites 14. Keston 2 0 3 0 0 5 15. Crown Ash Hill 1 0 0 0 0 1 16. Highams Hill 1 0 0 0 0 1 Total 4 0 3 0 0 7 TOTAL 51 5 61 12 11 140 Lower Hackett’s Orchard and Upper Hackett’s Orchard. The last three field were originally part of Nash Farm. Most of these fields are now used for grazing and have not been recently ploughed. frank r. beresford 24 1.1 Church Field: in 1893 Clinch published a table of 124 flint artefacts that he had found in Church Field (Table 3). Both the Kennard and the Nash Collections have an object that can be linked to Church Field and probably more artefacts from these collections were found there. TABLE 3. THE TABLE OF FINDS IN CHURCH FIELD PUBLISHED IN SCIENCE GOSSIP (CLINCH 1893, 136.) Description or class Number Hatchets and almond shaped weapons 20 (9) Scrapers and trimmed flakes 34 (12) Flakes 50 (7) Miscellaneous 20 (1) Total 124 (29) Note. The numbers in brackets indicate those artefacts that are still in the Museum collections or that were described in contemporary accounts. Fig. 4 The fields in Church Field valley and Chestnut Avenue valley (top left) in which Palaeolithic material was found (based upon the OS 6in. sheet 1910). LATE 19TH-CENTURY PALAEOLITHIC FINDS IN THE UPPER RAVENSBOURNE AREA 25 Fourteen artefacts that are in the museum collections are marked Church Field and another five have been linked by their history and patination. A further 11 were described in contemporary writing and so included in this study. Together, they include 9 handaxes, 14 scrapers and 6 flakes. Clinch reported that his finds were found together in three gravel patches on the west side of Church Field occupying a space of about 100 yards across. They were on the side of the western bank of a small valley which runs north-south through the field and towards the south-west corner of the field. They were associated with stiff ferruginous or ochreous clay and partly or wholly stained by this deposit (Clinch 1882a, 5). Kennard also discussed these gravel patches writing: In Church Field it is best seen on the west side and though it is only a fragment, it is very well marked, consisting of rolled and angular flints stained a deep ochreous brown colour, and contrasting strongly with the black Eocene pebbles on which it rests (Kennard 1900). The nine handaxes are all from the Clinch collection. He described those he found as resembling in shape … those implements which Dr. Evans has described as ‘tongue-shaped’ and ‘almondshaped’, and there are many intermediate forms. Thirteen are nearly of the same size, and they are all stained and worn, but in different degrees. Two appear to have belonged to larger implements, and afterwards to have been chipped down so as to be useful as small implements. One example [207] in this study [see Fig. 2] not quite 2 inches long and hardly 2 inches broad, seems to have been worn down to a mere stump by much sharpening (Evans 1872, 564, 566; Clinch 1886, 162; Spurrell 1883, 101 and fig. 10). Clinch described and drew the handaxes in his series of reports. They are mainly small pointed handaxes [201a, 201b, 202, 203, 204, 206 and 207] with dark yellow staining and range in length from 45 to 143mm (Fig. 5). Clinch gave one [1] (Fig. 6) to John Lubbock (Lord Avebury) in 1882 and this is in the British Museum (Clinch 1882e). Spurrell (1883, 102d) describes a pointed handaxe [208, illustrated in Fig. 2) with a broken tip of length 120mm that was in a sharp unworn condition and had a porcelain-like white patina. It was found in Church Field near the others, but, on the surface and independent of the gravel patches. Spurrell noted that it was almost identical to his Ightham ‘Wealden specimens’ and of a later date than the others. Clinch later also linked it to the ‘cave implements’. He wrote: Some of my collection do not bear marks of wear presenting, in their general features, characteristics which unquestionably belong to the river-drift implements, but in their sharp and unworn edges answering to cave implements. My friend, Mr. Benjamin Harrison (whose indefatigable labours in and around Oldbury Camp, at Ightham in Kent, deserve all praise), has shown me some specimens in his collection, found in association with river-drift implements, which seem to resemble very closely those types of flints which are usually considered to be characteristic of cave dwellings (Clinch 1884, 214; 1893, 135). Eight of the scrapers [2, 3, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, 45] are now in the British Museum while three [209, 211, 212] are described in contemporary accounts. All except frank r. beresford 26 Fig 5 Two handaxes [203, 201a] from Church Field. Original art work by Clinch. one was found by Clinch. [45] was found by Kennard around 1894 and is marked 310 Church Field West Wickham. They are mainly small convex side and/or end scrapers made on thin mainly proximal flake/blade fragments and stained yellow brown. On some, a blue grey patina is associated with the retouch on the edges. Clinch noted that the scrapers he found all had a rounded outline ‘produced by a succession of minor chips upon the edge of a large flint flake; the blows which formed these chips, having been all given on one side; have produced a sharp and fairly even edge’ (Clinch 1881, 4). This description matches the main retouch noted on [2] for example. Three flakes [4, 5, 10] found in Church Field are in the British Museum while two described by Clinch [210, 214] have not been traced. They also are thin mainly proximal flake/blade fragments with straight profile. Clinch described the flakes he found as: for the most part of a simple type, produced by blows from one direction, but some are large and much curved. Some chips are curved and twisted in a manner which seems to show that they were nothing more than mere waste chips struck off and rejected by the implement maker (Clinch 1886, 163). A further five artefacts found by Clinch were in the Buscall Fox Collection having passed through the John Goodchild collection. He was a local contemporary of Clinch, a publican in nearby Farnborough who also collected lithics. They are all marked WEST WICKHAM KENT G.C. and all, in their patina, closely match LATE 19TH-CENTURY PALAEOLITHIC FINDS IN THE UPPER RAVENSBOURNE AREA 27 those found in Church Field and so have been included here. Two are scrapers [116, 119] while two [7, 8] are flakes. All the artefacts except [208] are rolled and abraded. They have a gloss sheen and the edges show clear abrasion and damage. The arêtes are rounded. The basic flint has a glossy grey blue patina. Clinch noted ‘The angles and edges of some show considerable marks of wear, but this abrasion is found only upon the angles and ridges and is not to be found in the hollows and the depressions of the conchoidal fractures’ (Clinch 1893, 135). In a later paper he suggested that: while the result of Drift-wear is well shown upon a large proportion of specimens in the modified angles, and a general appearance of smoothness and roundness … some of the implements, particularly the larger examples, have been much bruised and crushed on the more prominent points by local influences, such as the ploughshare and the broad waggon-wheels employed by the farmer (Clinch 1900, 9). The markings on some of the scrapers and flakes that were found by Clinch illustrate his interchangeable use of West Wickham and/or Hayes as the find parish. Seven are marked 1882. Three are marked Church Field, West Wickham [2, 3, 9], Fig. 6 A handaxe [1] from Church Field (ex Avebury Collection). Both faces are shown. frank r. beresford 28 one is marked Church Field Hayes with WW in pencil [10] another [11] is marked Church Field, Hayes Kent nr W. Wickham and two are marked West Wickham Hayes Kent. Church Field on Rouse Farm is in the Parish of West Wickham but its postal address was Hayes (Kelly 1895, 652 and 857). [10] and [11] are each marked with the name Robotham. This could refer to Edwin Rowbottom who in 1914 was the Head Gardner at Wickham Court from which Rouse Farm was leased. Around 1882 he would have been a young man possibly working on Rouse Farm (Walker 1988, 1). 1.2 Moll Costen: adjoins Church Field across a small lane and is further down the valley. Four artefacts can be directly linked by markings or documentation to Moll Costen. Clinch found a small ovate handaxe [200] with white patina there in 1878 which he also linked to the ‘cave implements’ (Clinch 1884, 214 and fig. 1). Three years later he discovered a ‘large roughly wrought Palaeolithic weapon’ in the same gravel patch [205]. A small thin cordate axe with a broken point [34] was found by Kennard. A double convex scraper [118] found in 1912 by M.E.O.J. (unknown) is in Bromley Museum. Both have yellow brown staining similar to the Church Field types. It is proposed in this study that twelve artefacts from the Sturge Collection and now in the British Museum were found by Clinch in Moll Costen field in West Wickham. They were purchased by Sturge directly from Clinch after 1899. The Sturge catalogue (Smith 1931, 124) lists this material as Neolithic. It is now placed in the Lower and Middle Palaeolithic collections in the British Museum and so became part of this study. Clinch described finding 300 worked flints in Moll Costen that he classified as Neolithic (Clinch 1882a, 1886 and 1889). In a final report he published a set of photographs of the various types found (Clinch 1899). The pictures show the material from Moll Costen included probable Mesolithic as well as probable Palaeolithic types that are similar to this group of twelve. All are marked ‘GC Hayes Kent’ and [19] is marked ‘Hayes near W. Wickham Kent’ similar to [11] which is also marked ‘Church Field’. Some of the Church Field material is marked ‘Church Field, Hayes Kent’ based on the postal address of Rouse Farm (see 1.1 above). Seven [15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 21, 23, 24] of these artefacts are marked ‘Robotham’ matching the markings on [10] and [11] found in Church Field (see above). [17] (Fig. 7) is marked ‘Published by G. Clinch in Antiquarian Jottings 1899’. Clinch published this book in 1889 not 1899. In it, he only described material from West Wickham locations including Moll Costen because in Hayes, he only found ‘flint implements chiefly flakes and arrow points inferior in every way to those found in West Wickham’(Clinch 1889a, 125). His Hayes collection consisting of 16 flakes in a wooden display case was given to Lord Sackville Cecil of Hayes Common in 1886 ‘to be kept in the parish’ (letters in Clinch 1889b). It is now in Bromley Museum. The reference marked on [17] could be to his 1899 work (Clinch 1899). The group comprises twelve small tools made on long blade/flake fragments of length ranging from 45 to 85mm. They have been produced from a prepared core utilising blade/flake fragments. There is mainly fine short retouch around the points and some of the edges. The scar pattern on the dorsal faces is unipolar in all cases except one [17] (Fig. 7). The patina ranges from creamy grey blue to creamy grey black. They are all moderately rolled and abraded. Some [18, 21, 24] have a remnant LATE 19TH-CENTURY PALAEOLITHIC FINDS IN THE UPPER RAVENSBOURNE AREA 29 of light brown cortex on the left edge similar to that on [51 and 52] from Hackett’s Orchard and the general condition and patina of all matches the range of colour in the patina of [51]. Two [17, 18] are marked as surface finds. However [15, 19, 23 and 26] are marked ‘2 to 3 feet from surface’ while [24] is marked 3 feet down. 1.3 Lower and Upper Hackett’s Orchard: thirteen artefacts are marked Hackett’s or Lower Hackett’s Orchard or Hackett’s Orchard or LH and all have been allocated to Lower and Upper Hackett’s Orchard. This adjoins Church Field and Moll Costen on the other side of the valley across North Pole Lane. They are from the Kennard Collection and the Crawshay collection. It is likely that further items from these two collections marked West Wickham or Nash respectively are also from this field. Three of the handaxes [29, 33, 49] (see Fig. 8) are stained yellow brown and their length ranges from 79 to 166mm. A further two handaxes [44, 56] have a white grey patina and are of length 105 mm and 84mm respectively. [56] is broken. All the handaxes are very rolled and abraded. [52] is a large multi-platform core. It has a large platform at one end and the remains of another at the other end. They were used for the removal of relatively broad medium and long flakes. It is of length 166mm. It is included here because of its identical creamy grey white patina with blue patches to a small flake [51] Fig. 7 A flake-point [17] from Moll Costen (ex Sturge collection). Ventral and dorsal faces are shown. frank r. beresford 30 which is marked Hacketts Orchard. Although [51] does not refit with [52] it would appear to be debitage from this core. [68] is a small core-like piece rather than a definite tool (Lascailles n.d. 82143/2). Below Lower Hackett’s Orchard and Church Field across a lane is Walnut Tree Field and Kennard wrote: ‘Walnut Tree field, or, as it is now called, Cookhouse Field, also contains a patch of gravel at its highest part, and this has yielded part of a beautiful implement’ (Kennard 1900). This has not been traced. 1.4 Baldwins: is a field on Nash farm above Hacketts Orchard. A single pointed handaxe [117] with a flat wide base was found in this field by M.E.O.J. (not identified) in 1912 and is now in Bromley Museum. It has yellow orange staining with red iron staining on the ridges. 1.5 Nash: is a small hamlet at the south-east corner of Rouse Farm and Nash Farm is below Rouse Farm across North Pole Lane. At the time of these finds it was worked as part of Rouse Farm and its fields included Lower Hacketts and Upper Hacketts. 45 artefacts from the Crawshay collection are marked Nash. Five have further pencil marks. One is marked ‘C H’ (Carthouse field?) and 4 others are marked ‘LH’ (Lower Hacketts). These five artefacts are listed in the appropriate sections leaving 40 artefacts that are just marked Nash. One is marked ‘C F’ which is possibly Church Fig. 8 A handaxe [49] from Lower Hackett’s orchard (ex Hazzledine Warren collection). Both faces are shown. LATE 19TH-CENTURY PALAEOLITHIC FINDS IN THE UPPER RAVENSBOURNE AREA 31 Field but it is distinct in patina from most of those found in that field. It would seem from the pencil marks noted above that the designation Nash refers to the Church Field Valley area and includes the fields in both farms in the valley. The three bifaces are all small and very rolled and abraded. One [109] has been made on a flake with crude edge retouch partially masked by edge damage of a distinct patina to the rest of the artefacts in a way that is similar to that on some of the scrapers. Another [110], described as slug-shaped (Lascailles n.d. 8162) with dark yellow brown staining, is very small and possibly the result of constant sharpening before final disposal. The other [111] was made on a small cobble with light yellow brown staining where flaked with the rest grey cortex. The thirty-six scrapers or flakes with retouch are rolled and abraded. They are generally characterised by expedient retouch frequently obscured by later edge damage, using the best available edges, often including the platform area to quickly produce a useable implement with scraper edges and rounded tips. They range in length from 47 to 98mm. Most have yellow brown staining with partial creamy white patina which, on some, is associated with retouch. 1.6 Carthouse Field: known in 1838 as Courthouse Field, it is at the top of Church Field Valley and partially on the interfluve. Kennard wrote ‘Still further up the valley I have obtained from the surface of the chalk numerous flakes and implements of Palaeolithic age but the worked portions are white’ (Kennard 1900). Two artefacts are now related to it. One is faintly marked Court House in pencil while the other was referred to frequently by Clinch but has not been traced for this study. The first [69] (see Fig. 9) is a large Levalloisian flake (Lascailles n.d. 80949). It is a convex scraper on a large flake with alternate retouch or use wear on its distal edges. It has a white patina with iron staining on the ridges. Fig. 9 A Levallois flake [69] from Carthouse (Courthouse) field. Ventral and dorsal faces are shown. frank r. beresford 32 The other [213] was described as a flake implement with edges and points quite sharp and unworn with dark yellow staining (Clinch 1886, 163: 1889a, 182). Across the lane to the south is South Field. Kennard wrote ‘In South field also is a well-marked patch of gravel yielding flint implements’ but no artefact can now be directly linked to this field (Kennard 1900). 1.7 Hublands: is another field above Church Field Valley and on the interfluve with Chestnut Avenue Valley. Clinch made some of his first discoveries of ‘wrought flints’ in this field in 1878 and drew them in a series of drawings now preserved in Bromley Local Studies Library (Clinch 1889b). He made no mention of these early finds in his subsequent writing. However, he found the one artefact available for this study [14] in 1883 and it subsequently passed through the Sturge Collection. It is a pointed flake tool (Smith 1931, 125). 2. Sites in Chestnut Avenue Valley (or Stony Bottom Valley) (TQ 394 644 aod range 78-96m) This is another small subsidiary dry chalk valley to the north of Church Field Valley. It meets the main eastern arm of the former Ravensbourne Valley about half a mile south of its confluence with the western arm, starting in Stony Bottom Field. The main field in which artefacts were found by Kennard was two fields further up in Goman’s Pit Field. This valley, including Goman’s Pit Field, is now partially built over by housing along a road called Chestnut Avenue although south-west of Weight’s Lane (now called Layhams Road) it remains in use for arable farming. 2.1 Gomans Pit Field: Gomans, or Goddens, Pit Field was a large field on Coney Hall Farm that crossed from one side to the other of Chestnut Avenue Valley. It was originally called Goldsmith’s Pit field after an earlier owner and the pit at the bottom of the valley that is still in woodland among the 1930s housing that now covers the field. Kennard found a Neolithic flint here in 1887, his first find in the area and later recorded that this was the only place in the area in which he found middle Palaeolithic material similar to that found at Oldbury. There are several other patches of drift gravel in West Wickham which have yielded worked flints. Perhaps the best preserved patches are in the field north of Weight’s Lane, known, I believe, as Goman’s Pit Field, one situated on the east side, and one on the west, and from both I have obtained implements, both of the Plateau type, and of later stages, and it is on the west side of this field that I have found the only flakes from this district that can be referred to the rock shelter class, which are the latest Palaeoliths and approach in form and working the Neoliths (Kennard 1900). Two artefacts from the Warren Collection, obtained from Kennard, are marked Gomers Pit Field. One [36] is a crudely made biface and the other [40] is the remains of a bifacial tool with considerable frost damage removing most of one face. Both are very rolled and abraded. 2.2 Wickham Court Farm: Chestnut Avenue Valley continues across Layhams Road (formerly Weight’s Road) into Wickham Court Farm which is still an arable LATE 19TH-CENTURY PALAEOLITHIC FINDS IN THE UPPER RAVENSBOURNE AREA 33 farm. A pointed handaxe [113] was found by the farmer on the surface of a field on Wickham Court Farm, West Wickham, around 1972 and is now in Bromley Museum. It is mainly patinated creamy white with some iron staining (Broadfoot 1974). An ovate axe [221] with a white patina was also found on the surface of a field on the farm around 1980 (Coldray 1980). It is not known if these handaxes were found in the fields further up Chestnut Avenue Valley or in fields in the main valley to Addington. 3. Church Field Valley or Chestnut Avenue Valley 3.1 West Wickham: 21 artefacts from the Warren Collection that were collected by Kennard are just marked West Wickham. This group contains the largest number of handaxes (eighteen) from any group in this study as well as a bifacial tool [43] and two scrapers. Writing in 1900 about a ‘deposit of drift gravel that occupies portions of the sides and bottom of Church Field Valley’, Kennard stated ‘it is from this gravel that the majority of the palaeolithic implements found at West Wickham by Mr. Clinch and myself, have been obtained’. Consequently it is likely that Kennard found most of these artefacts in Church Field Valley. However some could have been found in Gomers Pit Field in Chestnut Avenue Valley (Kennard 1900). Ten of these artefacts, all handaxes [31, 39, 42, 46, 47, 53, 55, 57, 59, 60] have yellow brown staining similar to that associated with many artefacts from Church Field and Hacketts Orchard (Fig. 10). They range in length from 78 to 129mm. The longest [42] is ficron-shaped. Two [46, 47] are ovate. 47 was made on flawed flint with some large deep natural cavities on both faces including a hole from one face to the other. The others are pointed handaxes, one of which [31] has a broken point. The other eight handaxes [28, 30, 32, 35, 37, 41, 50 and 58] have a mainly white grey patina frequently with a red/brown stain on the ridges. They vary in length from 77 to 116mm. Four [28, 32, 41, 58] are pointed while four [30, 35, 37, 50] are ovate; [28 and 32] were each made on a cobble with minimal retouch to produce a point; [28], made on a flint nodule (cobble), has a similar crude form of manufacture to 36 found in Gomers Pit Field; [32] is a simple pointed core tool formed by limited retouch on distal end of a natural flint nodule. The other three artefacts [38, 43, 54] also have a mainly white grey patina frequently with a red/brown iron stain on the ridges. One [43] is best described as a bifacial double pointed tool and is possibly a resharpened ovate handaxe. Kennard stated that he had found artefacts of ‘the rock shelter class’ (see above), similar to those found by Harrison at Oldbury, at the west end of Gomers Pit field. 3.2 West Wickham Wood: one flake [112] with yellow brown staining is marked ‘West Wickham Wood’. The most likely find location is Well Wood on the interfluve between Church Field Valley and Chestnut Avenue Valley. 4. Hayes Gravel Pits - Tiepigs Lane (TQ 395 659 aod 61m) These pits were at the confluence of the two, now dry, arms of the Ravensbourne 34 Fig. 10 Some of the handaxes marked ‘West Wickham’ collected by Kennard (ex Hazzledine Warren collection). Top left, 30 (both faces); Top right, 31; Bottom left, 37; Bottom right, 47; both faces shown for each. LATE 19TH-CENTURY PALAEOLITHIC FINDS IN THE UPPER RAVENSBOURNE AREA 35 and were quarried from 1882 onwards (see Fig. 11). Dewey observed that the gravel in the quarry pits forms a continuous spread with that filling the narrow vale at the base of the tertiary escarpment south of Hayes Common and Keston (Dewey 1924, 101). The Hayes pits were located either side of Tiepigs Lane in West Wickham and exploited part of the large area of fluvial gravel that marks the area of confluence of the two former southern arms of the River Ravensbourne. The first pit was east of Tiepigs lane and was started in 1881 to provide gravel for the construction of the Mid-Kent Railway to Hayes and for the construction of the associated roads. The railway opened in 1882. A second pit known as Priors pit was opened later on the west of Tiepigs Lane. Six artefacts can be associated with these pits. One is now in the British Museum and two are in the Bromley Museum while the other three cannot be located. Two [115, 217] are bifaces while two [62, 216] are scrapers and two are cores [114, 218]. Clinch found four of these artefacts. The first two [217, 218] he found in 1882 in gravel extracted from the first pit and spread on the surface of the roads approaching the new station at Hayes. One [217] he described as ‘a small hatchet or celt’. The other [216] he described as ‘a good form of flake or scraper’. He resolved to keep a watch on the pits for further finds. He appears to have been successful because there are two artefacts in Bromley Museum from the Buscall Fox Collection (having passed through the John Goodchild collection). They are each marked HAYES PITS/KENT/GC. One [114] is a large prepared Levalloislike core with bipolar recurrent exploitation of the final flaking surface and yellow brown staining. Its dimensions, 154 by 108mm, are within the size range of the Levallois cores from Baker’s Hole, Northfleet. The other [115] is a crudely worked Fig. 11 Hayes pits, Tiepigs Lane, West Wickham (based on OS 1910). 1: East pit opened c.1881 when railway built; 2: Prior’s pit opened c.1900? frank r. beresford 36 handaxe with bifacial working to a crude point. It has yellow brown staining with 45% cortex at the butt end. The other two [61, 218] were found in association with the remains of late Pleistocene mammals (mammoth, rhinoceros and horse) by Griffin around 1905 in Priors Pit and illustrated by him in two papers (Griffin 1906, 55: 1908, 11, nos. 15, 17 in plate 4). Griffin stated that they were found at the bottom of 15ft of river gravel (mapped by the BGS since 1998 as Kempton Park Gravel) which was above 8ft of white Thanet Sand. One [61] (Fig. 12) is now in the British Museum having been presented by Hercules Read in 1916. It is a large Levallois flake tool from a large core with a large dihedral platform. There is direct and indirect denticulate retouch, some invasive, and/or use wear on both edges but mainly on the dorsal face and two large unipolar flake scars on the dorsal face. There are two large notches and flake removals on either side of the platform and Smith (1920, 28; 1926, 41 and fig. 30) suggested that this was possibly for hafting and that the flake has Mousterian features. The other [218] has not been located. An examination of Griffin’s photograph shows that it was larger than the flake tool [61]. Its wavy outline and general shape suggests that it was possibly a large prepared core with lineal exploitation of the final flaking surface. Its dimensions, 162 by 110mm, are also within the size range of the Levallois cores from Baker’s Hole, Northfleet. Fig. 12 Left: a Levallois flake [61] from Prior’s pit (ex Hercules Read collection). Dorsal and ventral faces are shown. Smith (1920; 1926) suggested it had been hafted. Right: the other artefact [218] found with it as illustrated in Griffin (1906; 1908). LATE 19TH-CENTURY PALAEOLITHIC FINDS IN THE UPPER RAVENSBOURNE AREA 37 5. South of Nash Seven artefacts in this study were found on either side of the dry valley that comprises the former eastern arm of the Ravensbourne and south of Nash. 5.1 Keston Area: 5 artefacts were found in various locations in the Keston area. They were found on either side of the dry valley that comprises the former eastern arm of the Ravensbourne less than a mile from Nash. One handaxe [122], now in Bromley Museum, was found by John Goodchild in 1895. It is marked ‘Keston, Holwood Park’. It is a flat butted cordate handaxe and has a white/grey glossy patina. During excavations at Keston Church in 1950 a pointed Palaeolithic handaxe [220] was found in a pocket of sand close to a grave (NGR 541850 163000, aod 138m). No further information was given and this handaxe has not been traced (Jackson and Piercy Fox 1951, 111). Two scrapers that formed part of the Sturge collection are now in the British Museum. One [125] is a double sided convex scraper on a primary flake and is marked: ‘Near Keston June 1903’. The other [no. 126] is a convergent scraper on a thin secondary flake with a faceted platform and is marked: ‘Keston 4:6.03’. Griffin reported that a large tongue-shaped flint implement was ‘found on arable land, further up the valley, nearly opposite Keston Church’ (Griffin 1906, 55: 1908, 11, no. 16 in plate 4). 5.2 Crown Ash Hill: a small ovoid handaxe was found at Crown Ash Hill which is situated on the eastern palaeochannel of the Ravensbourne at TQ 409 603 about a mile south of Keston Church. It has an extensive neat flake scar pattern on both faces with retouch and possible use wear around edges. Markings indicate a find date of November 1894. The BM accession register states that is was found between Norheads Farm and Saltbox and it was transferred from the collection of Lord Avebury to the British Museum in 1916. 5.3 Highams Hill: in Cudham Parish, is located in a dry valley that was formerly an arm of the Upper Ravensbourne running from Coney Hall to Tatsfield. It is about 0.75 miles south of Keston Church. A pointed handaxe [301] with a broken point and yellow brown patina is in the British Museum. It is marked: ‘Highams Cudham’ and was bought as part of lot 4 at Sotheby’s in November 1928 by the Welcome Collection. The Geology of the Sites and their Context The fluvial landscape of Britain during the earlier Pleistocene period differed significantly to that during the latter part of the period. In the early Pleistocene the proto-Thames flowed north-eastwards from the Beaconsfield area across what is now East Anglia, entering the North Sea basin via the present north coastal area of Norfolk (Hey 1980) while the proto-Medway followed a north-eastern flow across what is now the Hoo Peninsular and Essex before also entering the North Sea. The proto-Ravensbourne originated in the earlier Pleistocene as either one of the Mole- Wey-Wandle group of south bank tributaries of the proto-Thames or as one of the Cray-Darent group of west bank tributaries of the proto-Medway, draining the dip frank r. beresford 38 slope of the North Downs during periods of periglaciation. The route of the Thames across East Anglia persisted until the Anglian glaciation, which was more extensive than any ice advance in the succeeding cold stages. An ice sheet blocked the valley north of London and effectively dammed the proto-Thames river system. This brought about diversion of the proto-Thames into a small pre-existing valley through what is now the London area, cutting off the northern portions of all its tributary streams and the Medway and its tributaries (Bridgland and Gibbard 1997, 338). Consequently, the current Ravensbourne, which is about ten miles long from Keston Common to the Thames, is the remnant of a longer pre-Anglian river. The two main channels with numerous side channels of the proto-Ravensbourne started at least six miles further south on the North Downs with the main channel starting at the top of Westerham Hill, which here reaches the highest point in Kent at 823 feet, 251m aod. It also once flowed an unknown distance further north from its current confluence with the Thames, possibly in channels subsequently used by the River Lea (see Fig. 1) which was initiated at the end of the Anglian glaciation as an outwash stream from the ice fronts utilising the former valley of the Mole-Wey- Wandle river system (Corcoran et al. 2011, 131). The geology of the find sites is outlined in Table 4. They are located where the Weald Anticline in the south meets the edge of the London Basin in the north. In the south, there is an outcrop of the Upper Chalk of undifferentiated Lewes Nodular Chalk formation and Seaford formation representing a portion of the lower dipslope of the North Downs. The interfluves are capped by Clay-with- Flints (formerly known as plateau drift) and towards the edge of the chalk there are patches of the Thanet Sand Formation. Two main arms of the Ravensbourne Valley, now dry, with some smaller subsidiary valleys dissect the chalk with patches of higher level gravels along its course. The Harwich Formation occupies much of the northern part of the area. It forms a plateau with marked escarpments down to the valley and its two arms. On the fringes of the plateau are narrow outcrops of the Woolwich Formation of the Lambeth Group of Lower Eocene age, and the Thanet Sand Formation, but both are usually obscured by downwash from the Harwich Formation. (Burnham and McRae 1974; Ellison et al. 2004). Quaternary fluvial terrace deposits are recognised as a framework for the lower Palaeolithic record and this recognition dates back to the period of these finds (e.g. Lubbock 1865, 287). Accounts contemporary with the finds and recent field observation indicate that traces of fluvial terracing were and are evident in the study area even though they are not of a sufficient depth to be included on the current BGS geological map. These accounts are summarised in Table 5. Clinch, Kennard and Salter were all members of the Geologists’ Association and each was later elected as a Fellow of the Geological Society. They wrote about and discussed the geological context of their finds. Although the finds were mainly surface finds after deep ploughing, all three men linked them with river terraces and in particular the highest terrace. Clinch wrote: The second deposit of Drift-gravel occupies portions of the sides and bottom of a short valley (Church Field Valley) which branches off at right angles from the Gates Green Valley. He proposed this gravel as the source of his finds stating: LATE 19TH-CENTURY PALAEOLITHIC FINDS IN THE UPPER RAVENSBOURNE AREA 39 TABLE 4. THE FIND LOCATIONS AND THEIR GEOLOGY. General Locations Fields/Pits in which artefacts were found. Geology Church Field Valley (TQ 463 640; aod range 94-105m) Church Field, Moll Costen, Gates Green Field, Carthouse Field, Old Plantation, South Field, Lower Hackett’s Orchard and Upper Hackett’s Orchard. Most of these fields are now used for grazing and have not been ploughed for many years but at the time of the finds, newer Victorian machinery was in use in these fields including deeper sub soil ploughs (Knowlden 2012, 61). This valley meets the main Ravensbourne Valley eastern arm about a mile south of its confluence with the western arm. Its sides represent a colluvial sequence with paleo-argillic brown earth soil on Clay-with-Flints at the top, and shallow soils directly on the chalk on the downslope. The dry valley bottoms have Pleistocene head (Coombe deposits) and Holocene hillwash. Chestnut Avenue Valley (TQ 394 644; aod range 78-96m) Goman’s Pit Field. This valley, including Goman’s Pit Field, is now partially built over along a road called Chestnut Avenue. This valley meets the main Ravensbourne Valley eastern arm about half a mile south of its confluence with the western arm. Its sides also represent a colluvial sequence with paleo-argillic brown earth soil on Clay with flints at the top, and shallow soils directly on the chalk on the downslope (Burnham & McRae 1974, 86). Hayes Gravel Pits Tiepigs Lane (TQ 395 659; 61m aod ) East Pit and Priors Pit Dewey noted that on account of the erosion of the overlying beds by the river Ravensbourne, the chalk forms a re-entrant angle into the Tertiary outcrop in the north of the area. These pits were dug for sand and gravel for the mid-Kent Railway at this former confluence of the two, now dry, arms of the Ravensbourne. The East Pit is now covered with housing while Priors Pit is a playing field (Dewey et al, 1924, 74.) ‘At the pit, the surface elevation is 210ft. Occasionally a clean perpendicular section is exposed, and exhibits 2ft. of vegetable mould, 15ft. of river-gravel, and Bft. of white Thanet sand, resting upon unworn greencoated flints. Many of the waterworn flints are of great magnitude’. (Griffin 1905). ‘A good section in the alluvial flat was seen. Unrounded flints rested sharply on Thanet Sand, and the President (Mr A.S. Kennard) suggested that these deposits were caused by Solifluction, during the later stages of the Glacial Period’ (Wood 1945). (This visit was to Prior’s Pit) The association of much-worn implements, unworn implements, and flakes, cores, and waste chips in the same bed of Drift gravel points to the fact that we have here a collection of material which has been brought from a great variety of places, and has undergone a great variety of conditions and changes (Clinch 1900). Kennard wrote: As to whether the gravel is in situ on the sides and bottom of the valley, I am positive that it is not. As I have stated before, what little there is in these positions frank r. beresford 40 TABLE 5. GRAVEL SPREADS AND FLUVIAL TERRACING IN THE AREA Location Name (BGS mapping) Description References Valley Gravel 62m aod at Hayes Pit; circa TQ 3951 6593 Kempton Park Gravel Formation (BGS 270 South London) The valley bottom of the two former arms of the Ravensbourne and their confluence is floored by river deposits of the Kempton Park Gravel Formation, formerly known as flood plain gravels or valley gravel. Gibbard 1994, 92 Ellison et al. 2004, 63 Terrace 1. 71m aod; circa TQ 3889 6457 A Terrace Deposit (None) Leach noted a terrace deposit on the southern slope of the now dry western arm. He wrote: ‘a trench recently cut across the meadow from the valley road up to West Wickham Church has passed through a coarse gravel, banked against the northwest flank of the outlier of Thanet Sand and constituting, apparently, a terrace deposit at about 230-250 ft. OD’. Leach (1933, 70) Terrace 2. 90m aod; circa TQ 4055 6435 Traces of a higher terrace BGS 271 Dartford - 1920 to 1968 editions) Dewy noted ‘Traces of a higher terrace lie at 20 ft. above the vale at the base of the tertiary escarpment south of Hayes Common and Keston, as at Nash Farm, which may belong to the Boyn Hill Terrace but confirmatory evidence is lacking’. This terrace was on either side of the confluence of Church Field Valley with the main eastern arm of the former Ravensbourne Valley. Dewy et al. 1924, 101 Terrace 3. 96m aod; circa TQ 4029 6401 A deposit of Drift-gravel (None) Clinch wrote: ‘The second deposit of Drift-gravel occupies portions of the sides and bottom of a short valley (Church Field Valley) which branches off at right angles from the Gates Green Valley’. Clinch 1900 Terrace 4. 128m aod; circa TQ 4145 6404 A gravel spread (None) Spurrell noted the remains of a higher river terrace in the study area on the eastern escarpment of the eastern arm: ‘On the hill about half-a-mile S.E. from the farm called Upper Nash is a spread of red and coloured stones, flints, and Tertiaries, extending along the brow of the hill towards West Wickham’. Possibly pre-Anglian – similar deposits noted further up the eastern arm at Biggin Hill and at the top of the western arm at Worms Heath. Both of these are referenced online by BGS in describing the Chelsfield Gravel Formation, a confirmed pre-Anglian deposit that is five miles east of the study area in the now dry Upper Cray Valley. Spurrell (1886, 16) See also Berdinner, H.C. 1936; Whitaker, W. and Davies, G.M. 1920 LATE 19TH-CENTURY PALAEOLITHIC FINDS IN THE UPPER RAVENSBOURNE AREA 41 has been trailed down from above. I have found the bulk of my examples above the valley (Kennard 1900). Kennard clarified his earlier writing in a lecture to the Bromley Naturalists Society in February 1904: Some implements found at West Wickham were shewn, and their characteristics pointed out, the lecturer remarking that they were very old, and that enormous geological changes must have taken place since the gravel was laid down there. The implements in the high terrace gravels were found in the gravels itself; but when they came to the middle terrace, it was different. In the middle terrace, the implements as a rule were found at the base of brick earth; and that appeared to be the exact spot where primitive man chipped the flints and formed his tools. There were to be seen chipped flints all around. The third terrace, formed after the stream had cut its way down again, was well marked, and lower still was a deep gorge, which had been subsequently filled up with a muddy deposit. In the high terrace, the implements were Palaeolithic with few exceptions. In the middle terrace, the large ovoid was commonly found; but they got no large ovoid in the high terrace. In the lower levels they got everything, the implements of all ages being mixed together (Kennard 1904). The following year, in a joint paper with Hinton, he linked the highest terrace with the Hill Gravels defined by Prestwich in 1889: The hill group tools, however, possess a stratigraphical position. They occur in gravels which were laid down between the Plateau Gravel and the highest terrace of the Thames … These hill gravels are perhaps best studied in the neighbourhood of Ightham, where they are well developed, but the two most prolific localities are West Wickham and Ash (Hinton and Kennard 1905, 91). discussion The Palaeolithic material considered in this study is mixed and consequently represents hominin activity over a long time frame. Although some of the material is not diagnostic on typological grounds, analysis suggests the presence of not only earlier Acheulian attributes, usually linked to the period MIS 13 to MIS 9, but also later Levallois attributes, usually linked to the period MIS 9 to 7 and early Neanderthals and also possibly much later Mousterian attributes, usually linked to MIS3 and late Neanderthals. Similarities of typology between groups of artefacts found in particular areas indicate that sub groups represent possible assemblages although they could equally represent a series of casually lost pieces over extended periods of time at a favoured locality. The main concentration of Palaeolithic material was found in the fields in Church Field Valley. However, the small group of material from the Hayes Pits is also significant. Other flint material was more widely distributed on the surrounding hills generally as individual finds. Hinton and Kennard’s association of this material with Prestwich’s Hill Group (Prestwich 1889, Hinton and Kennard 1905) proposed a link for some of the Church Field Valley material with a terrace higher than the highest of the Lower Thames terraces which would now be considered pre-Anglian – at least Marine Isotope frank r. beresford 42 Stage (MIS) 13 (Shackleton 1987, Bridgland 1996). The height and description of terrace 4 (Table 4) noted by Spurrell in 1886 could represent a pre-Anglian deposit in the area. However, terrace 3 which Clinch linked to his finds could be a further deposit of terrace 2 (Table 4) which Dewey suggested but could not confirm as Boyn Hill now mapped to MIS 11 and consequently post-Anglian. Palaeolithic flint material has also been found in the adjacent North Downs area at similar high levels in the upper reaches of the River Cray at Cudham (Prestwich 1892, 144; Dewey 1924, 147, Beresford forthcoming), in the upper reaches of the River Darenth at Limpsfield (Field et al. 1999) and on the Clay-with-Flints around the headwaters of the River Wandle at Banstead (Surrey) (Carpenter 1960; Walls and Cotton 1980, Pemberton 1971, Cotton 1985; Harp 2005). The material found at Limpsfield was tentatively linked to the later stages of MIS 11 and early MIS 10 (Field et al. 1999, 28) and, this would also seem, for the moment, the appropriate tentative proposal for the earlier Church Field Valley material. The material found at Hayes Pits can be linked with a later period. The large Levallois flake that was found in association with later Pleistocene mammalian remains (mammoth, rhinoceros and horse) in Priors Pit may represent activity from MIS 7 but the remaining evidence is again too sparse to allow a precise proposal although these mammalian remains are also present within the MIS 7 assemblage at Lion Pit Tramway cutting at West Thurrock (Essex) (Schreve 2004, 74). The large Levallois flake found in Carthouse field could also represent contemporary activity. It is also possible that some of the material is much later being derived from lower level deposits or representing activity at all levels on the surface subsequent to deposit formation. McNabb (2012, 218) noted on typological grounds that some of the material, now located in Maidstone Museum, that was used to illustrate Prestwich’s 1889 paper ‘should be unambiguously Lower Palaeolithic, yet, it appears dominated by Neanderthal/ Mousterian tools of the later Middle Palaeolithic’. He proposed that, together with the Oldbury site, this suggests a hitherto unsuspected wider Mousterian Landscape on the North Downs. Some material found in Moll Costen, Church Field, Hacketts Orchard, and Nash has later Middle Palaeolithic attributes and includes points and smaller handaxes. That part of the material which is still available for research in museum collections represents a small part of what was found. However, when the evidence from the surviving lithics is supplemented by the finders’ own documents and the varied published evidence that is still available, they indicate that this area was occasionally visited by hominins during the middle and later Pleistocene. acknowledgements The writer would like to thank Nicholas Ashton and all of the team in the Sturge Room at The British Museum (Franks House) for their help as well as Marie-Louise Kerr and the team at Bromley Museum. Bromley Museum in Orpington was closed in 2015 and the collections are now curated as Bromley Historic Collections at the Bromley Local Studies Library. He is also very grateful for the help given to him at the Bromley Local Studies Library, the British Library, Bexley Reference Library, Maidstone Museum, the Natural History Museum and the Library of the Society of Antiquaries, Burlington House. LATE 19TH-CENTURY PALAEOLITHIC FINDS IN THE UPPER RAVENSBOURNE AREA 43 bibliography Berdinner, H.C., 1936, ‘A section at Biggin Hill Aerodrome, Kent’, Proceedings of the Geologists’ Association, 47, 15-21. Beresford, F.R., 2013, ‘The Palaeolithic of the Upper Ravensbourne Valley, Kent - Research in Progress’, KAS Newsletter, 97, 8-9. Beresford, F.R., 2014, ‘A preliminary note on the Palaeolithic sites in the Upper Ravensbourne area, Bromley, Kent’, Lithics: the Journal of the Lithic Studies Society, 35, 54-58. Beresford, F.R., forthcoming, ‘A Re-examination of the Late Nineteenth Century Palaeolithic Finds in the Upper Cray Area, Bromley, Kent’. Broadfoot, D.N., 1974, ‘Palaeolithic Hand-axe from West Wickham’, KAR, 35, 158. Bridgland, D.R., 1996, ‘Quaternary River Terrace Deposits as a Framework for the Lower Palaeolithic Record’, The English Palaeolithic Reviewed, Trust for Wessex Archaeology, 23-39. Bridgeland, D.R. and Gibbard, P.L., 1997, ‘Quaternary River Diversions in the London Basin and the Eastern English Channel’, Géographie Physique et Quaternaire, 51, no. 3, 337-346. Burnham, C.P. and McRae, S.G, 1974, ‘The Relationship of Soil Formation to Geology in an Area Southeast of London’, Proceedings of the Geologists’ Association, 85, 79-89. Carpenter, L.W., 1960, A Palaeolithic Floor at Lower Kingswood, Proceedings of the Leatherhead & District Local History Society, 2, 4, 99-101. Clinch, G., 1879, ‘Sketch of the Geology of Hayes Common, Kent’, Hardwicke’s Science Gossip, vol. XV, 217-218. Clinch, G., 1880a, ‘Note book of Archaeology and Antiquities 1880-1882’, handwritten ms in the Library of the Society of Antiquaries, London. Clinch, G., 1880b, ‘The Geology of Hayes Common, Kent’, Hardwicke’s Science Gossip, vol. XVI, 93-94. Clinch, G., 1882a, ‘Note on the discovery of certain palaeolithic weapons and instruments at Church Field, West Wickham, Kent’, privately published by George Clinch 1881, in Bound Volume of Pamphlets, Reports and Proceedings, ca. 1872-1885’, Bexley Ref. Library CSSLS/B/1/1. Clinch, G., 1882b, ‘Note on the discovery of certain palaeolithic weapons and instruments at Church Field, West Wickham, Kent. Privately published by George Clinch 1881. The copy sent by Clinch to Flaxman Spurrell with Spurrell’s art work for the illustration in Spurrell 1883. Author’s collection. Clinch, G., 1882c, ‘Two original drawings 1882’, in ‘A scrapbook of material relating to Keston’, in Bromley Local Studies Library LSC 942.23. 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