Archaeological investigations At Nea Farm, Somerley, Ringwood, Hampshire, 1993-2011 (Paperback)

A long-running series of archaeological excavations spanning nearly two decades has been carried out in advance of mineral extraction on a 65ha quarry site at Nea Farm, Somerley on the plateau fringing the Avon Valley near Ringwood, Hampshire. Trial trenching and fieldwalking covered most of this area, and eventually almost 26ha were opened for excavation. For such a large area, it was perhaps inevitable that a wide range of sites and finds would be recorded. The important Upper Palaeolithic site has already been published separately, this volume takes up tracing the development of the site in later prehistoric periods when a Mesolithic flint scatter, and small numbers of pits of Earlier Neolithic and Bronze Age date make up the earliest evidence.

Subsequently, a middle Iron Age settlement was located on the plateau edge overlooking the valley. This prospered and continued in use into early Roman times, with farming of the plateau to the rear organized within a series of formal boundaries. After a short period of abandonment the same location was reused up to the end of Roman times. There was no evidence for sub-Roman or Saxon use of the explored areas.

A manor of Somerley was first documented in AD1272, but the fieldwork here explored a part of the manorial complex dating from the 11th century, including four timber buildings.

The volume presents reports on fairly substantial assemblages of pottery, worked flint and fired clay (including kiln/furnace structures), and smaller quantities of other finds and environmental evidence, along with the results of a programme of radiocarbon dating.