Monument record 0037700000 - RAILWAY CUTTING, SE WYCOMBE

POSSIBLE FLINT MINE DISCOVERED DURING EXCAVATION OF HILL NEAR HIGH WYCOMBE FOR CONSTRUCTION OF GWR/GCR RAILWAY. HILL BEARS TRACES OF HAVING BEEN WORKED WITH GREAT INDUSTRY FOR A LONG TIME (B1).
NO TRACE & NO LOCAL KNOWLEDGE OF FLINT MINES IN AREA. RAILWAY MOSTLY CUT INTO STEEP CHALK SLOPES (B4).
Research by Peter Hazzard suggests that the flint mine may have been located at or close to the station. The main railway cutting had apparently been dug in 1901, but the station was not completed until 1903 (B5).
NGR to location suggested by Herbert Green and to High Wycombe station.


A possible flint mine was discovered during the excavation of a hill, near High Wycombe (SU 8693) during the construction of the Great Western and Great Central Railways. A much worn deer antler pick was recovered. The hill bore traces of having been worked with great industry for a long period of years. (B2 and B6)

No trace and no local knowledge of flint mines in the vicinity of the railway at High Wycombe. For most of its course, the railway is cut into the steep chalk slopes on the north side of the Wye valley, and the surrounding areas are built over. Previous flint mines investigated have been on fairly level ground, and none have been identified on such steeply-sloping terrain (B7).

The evidence for flint mines at High Wycombe was re-examined as part of the RCHME project to record industry and enclosure in the Neolithic. To date the precise location of the features described has not been identified. However, the published accounts, though brief, suggest that the railway cutting may well have encountered one or more mine shafts. Thus a note in The Antiquary (4) refers to the fact that "In place of the usual hard layers of chalk and rows of flint strata, the visitor sees masses of crumbled chalk intermingled with sand and lumps of clay. Many of the disintegrated blocks bear the marks made by the stag's horn picks of the prehistoric workmen. Another peculiarity about this hill is that it has been, as the sides of the cutting show, ransacked of its layers of flint". Oakley (1a) appears to be a brief summary of this same account. However, the lack of more precise detail in both makes positive identification of the site's location impossible (B6 and B8).

NRHE Insert 1997, Update 1999 (B9).