Anglo-Saxon and Earlier Settlement near Drayton Road, Sutton Courtenay, Berkshire

Abstract

AbstractSince E. T. Leeds' excavations of the Anglo-Saxon settlement at Sutton Courtenay in the 1920s and 1930s, aerial photographs revealing large timber buildings, as well as finds of metalwork and coins have suggested that the settlement was more extensive and of higher status than Leeds had imagined. This report reviews this evidence and describes the results of fieldwalking, geophysical survey and small-scale excavation which have provided further details of the Anglo-Saxon settlement, and uncovered one of the timber buildings. It has also revealed features pre-dating the Anglo-Saxon occupation: Neolithic pits and an oval barrow—perhaps related to a nearby cursus—a Late Bronze Age burial, an Early Iron Age settlement and a Roman field system.