Monument record MWX526 - Depressions containing flint nodules, Chaldon Herring

Three depressions containing flint nodules located within a prehistoric field system. It is unclear if this represents quarrying as suggested in the scheduling of the field system or natural features. One area has produced 18th century finds.

In these areas (Marked by J B Calkin on Field Copy 6; A centred at SY 78958063, B centred at SY 79598070) are several depressions up to 20 yds diameter with an infilling of flint nodules, among which are several worked flints. Amateur excavators found red clay beneath the flint nodules. The red clay was imported into the area. (1)

In area A there are five patches of flints. These patches are roughly circular, with diameters varying from 3.0 to 6.0 metres, and contain flint nodules in a layer approximately 0.4 metres deep. These nodules are from 3 to 9 ins across, and the surface of each patch is flush with the ground level. Some of the flints have been broken, but none was seen that could be described as worked in the sense of being an artefacts manufacture. No red clay was found beneath the flints at these patches. In area B ten obvious patches exist, seven of which are exposed, and the others covered by a thin layer of soil with a dark green grass and weed showing each patch. The flint plots run up the valley, keeping to the lowest ground possible. At C there is what appears to be, and is locally known, as a well. It is a funnel shaped shaft 5.0 metres across at ground level, narrowing to 1.0 metres after it has descended 2.0 metres. It is 6.0 metres deep in all, dry at the bottom which is flint covered. The sides of the shaft are unlined. This shaft does not appear to be an antiquity. One flint patch produced dateable evidence of past attention. That at SY 79518091 has a large quantity of 18th century pottery sherds, clay pipe stems, and broken brick mixed with the flints. Almost all the outcrops occur in or at the foot of lynchets, which cross the valley bottom in an E-W direction. See ground photograph. The two areas A & B are obviously rich in flint nodules, and large quantities seem to have been placed in patches as if for collection. It appears unlikely to be a prehistoric flint mining area. Although worked flints have been reported (see authority. 1), those seen during field investigation were apparently the result of casual breakage and a small amount of flint knapping. Tons of flints are available in these patches, and had they been worked regularly an enormous residue of chippings and wasters would have accumulated. Against the antiquity of the site is the fact that the unexposed patches are covered with barely 2 ins of soil and decaying vegetation, and each apparently post-dates the lynchets in the area. Without proper excavation no definite conclusion can be reached regarding this site. It is quite possible, however, that the areas were dug to produce flints for road mending, or building purposes. Most of the farms and barns in the neighbourhood are of flint and brick construction, and seem to have been built in the late 18th century. Sleight Farm (Randall's Farm on 6 1903) incorporates a stone bearing the date 1776. In neither area A nor area B is there an obvious mule or donkey track (the use of such animals might account for the well previously mentioned), and it seems a laborious method of gathering flints, to lift them up 300 ft. to the top of the downland which is itself scattered with flint. In view of the lack of evidence from excavation, and the problematical report of red clay linings to the pits, the sites are best recorded for the time being as U pits. (2)

These flint patches resemble no form of antiquity previously encountered. I doubt their alleged antiquity, also the fact that they are pits in the generally accepted sense of this term. I can offer no possible explanation for these scatters, other than that they may simply be the result of ground clearance for some purpose. (3)

<1> Rigg, J, Field Investigators Comments JR, F1 JR 22-JUL-52 (Unpublished document). SWX1255.

<1.1> Calkin, J B, Oral information, correspondence (not archived) or staff comments: J B Calkin (Verbal communication). SWX8254.

<2> Quinnell, N V, Various, Field Investigators Comments NVQ, F2 NVQ 05-SEP-52 (Unpublished document). SDO11903.

<3> Colquhoun, F D, Field Investigators Comments FDC, F3 FDC 06-JAN-53 (Unpublished document). SWX2609.

<4> DCMS, 1998, Scheduled Monument Notification 1998, 16-NOV-1998 (Scheduling record). SWX1137.

<5> Historic England, Historic England Archive, BB74/04538 (Index). SDO14738.

PLAN OF FIELD SYSTEMS

<6> Historic England, Historic England Archive, F52/67/1 (Index). SDO14738.

FLINT PATCHES IN VALLEY TAKEN FROM SOUTH. WELL AT EXTREME LEFT

<7> Historic England, Historic England Archive, OS52/F67/1 (Index). SDO14738.

FLINT PATCHES IN VALLEY FROM SOUTH WELL OF EXTREME RIGHT

<8> National Record of the Historic Environment, 454178 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Jan 10 2024 12:40PM