Simon Jennings and Christine Smyth

Extract from letter dated 17th November 1995, University of North London, 66 Highbury Grove, London N5 2AD.(Author comments in italics)

We note that the date of your finds corresponds to the period when the valley was a port, and was therefore a centre of trade and economic activity

You asked about the earthen bank that we examined. The formation of this bank is uncertain. We could not ascertain from the coring whether it was natural (slope wash), artificial or a mixture of both. It probably needs to be sectioned (anyone interested in doing this should contact me). However, a channel does pass through/under it, and therefore the area behind could have been approached by small boats at high tide.

We mentioned when we were last visiting you that we would like to core in the area with the mounds, ie. below Redgeland Wood.(the area next to what I have called D on the map in part 31) We found a peat layer in contact with what looked like a clinker layer. We had hoped to do the coring this summer, but we had several other research commitments which prevented us from doing this. However, we would like to do this work either in January provided the valley is reasonably dry, or next summer (probably early July). We feel that this site is potentially very important archaeologically, and with organic material present in the sediments, it should be possible to date some of the periods of economic activity, as well as being able, through pollen analysis, or reconstructing the environment. The potential importance of this site should be mentioned at any Public Inquiry concerning the route of the road.

Sinom Jennings, Christine Smyth

17th November 1995

RETURN TO CORRESPONDENCE INDEX

RETURN TO INDEX