4.9 The Greater London Archaeology Advisory Service
North and west London
The second phase of excavation ahead of gravel extraction at Sipson Lane, Harlington continues to illustrate the multiperiod occupation of the north and west London Thames Gravel Terraces. The possible limits of the Bronze Age field system have been discovered, and the Roman field system was shown to have Late Iron Age origins, with a ditched trackway and circular Iron Age houses built in an associated enclosure. The Iron Age enclosure was replaced in the early Roman period, and smaller ditched enclosures added to it on either side of the trackway, which still remained in use. One rectangular post-built structure, possibly a granary, was identified in fields to the south of the farmstead. Occupation seems to have been continuous through to the late Roman period. The extent of this occupation was demonstrated at Middlesex Lodge, Harlington Road, Hillingdon, where Bronze Age and Iron Age features were found in an area that has received little previous archaeological attention.
Elsewhere, to the north of Heathrow Airport, a pit containing a possibly deliberately placed single leaf-shaped Neolithic arrowhead, was found at the point where a Late Bronze Age field gateway was subsequently constructed. Further traces of prehistoric fields were found on the Airport Gate' site on the Bath Road together with evidence for Roman and Saxon occupation. Prehistoric occupation on the edge of the gravel terrace where it meets the River Colne floodplain was found at Wise Lane, West Drayton, where a ditch appeared to bound the floodplain in the Roman period.
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The Lea Valley has a similar archaeological potential to that of the Thames, and recent evaluation at Rammey Marsh (Innova Park site) has revealed a Bronze Age - Iron Age - Roman occupation site, with possible Neolithic origins. This appears to lie on an area of high ground on the margins of a former tributary of the Lea, where current excavations are revealing a rich collection of Bronze Age animal bone preserved in alluvial deposits, together with struck flints and pottery. The adjacent Royal Small Arms Factory appears to lie in the broad, flat, flood plain of the Lea, with little evidence for early occupation sites, but another multiperiod site was found nearby at Kingsway, Enfield.
Saxon and medieval boundary ditches have been examined at Church Hill, Harefield, and Hadley Green; the Hendon and District Archaeological Society are surveying the Saxon estate ditch that runs through Kenwood. Traces of the Saxon and medieval village have been found at Elmview, Norwood Green and medieval village tenement sites have been identified at Bury Street, Ruislip and High Street, Edgware. Additional evidence has been obtained of the medieval burgage plots in the High Street at Uxbridge. Masonry structures were recorded within the farmyard adjacent to the medieval moated manor house known as Mockings at St Paul's Road, Tottenham, where the farmyard was itself bordered by a substantial ditch. Building recording has been undertaken at Forty Hall Barn, Enfield, and of the Manor Farm house at Ruislip. An earthwork survey at Highgate Wood has recorded a double bank with triple ditch earthwork, as yet undated.
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