Monument record 0580000000 - LAKE END ROAD EAST: prehistoric field system

Fieldwalking in advance of the proposed Maidenhead Flood Relief Scheme produced various finds including 10 implements and 1145 flakes, a quantity of pottery - mostly medieval (173 medieval sherds, 22 post-medieval, 54 undated, 4 prehistoric/Saxon and 16 Roman) (B5).
Two gullies and a possible third and three tree-thow holes were identified as prehistoric in date. The gullies aligned N-S with a very short stretch aligned E-W. A number of worked flints were recovered from the gullies and prehistoric pottery and worked flints were found in the tree-throw holes (B3).
The finds from the area excavation undertaken by Oxford Archaeology suggest consistent land use in the medieval period from the 10th century. Virtually all the pottery finds were from the 11-13th centuries. Evidence for the earliest phase of occupation was represented by three sides of a rectangular enclosure with the W and S sides defined by shallow gullies. From the late 12 century, this primary enclosure appears to have been redefined by a series of shallow gullies with the extension of the plot or field boundaries to the S in the form of ditches. In the SW corner a concentration of postholes suggest a building. In the mid to late 13th century a new rectangular enclosure was set out 25m to the E of the previous. Three ditches belonging to this phase produced pottery from the 11th to 13th century date. During the 14th-16th centuries two rectangular pits were dug between 0.6 and 0.8m deep with flat bases formed from natural gravel. The pits are lined with flint nodules and ceramic roofing tiles with a mortar matrix. The fill contains mineralised wheat, fruit seeds and charcoal. The upper fills contain pottery from the 13-16th centuries and also a single amber bead, possibly from a rosary. In the SW corner of the site a backfilled quarry pit was identified measuring 9m x 9m by at least 1.4m deep. The backfill was sequence of sandy gravels and sandy loams producing pottery from the 16th-17th century. Leading east from the quarry are were two parallel features representing the edges of a track. During the 17-18th century two wells were dug into the backfill of the quarry pit. The lower half one of the wells was lined with a hollowed out tree trunk surmounted by a lining of rough chalk blocks and flint nodules. The lining of the lower half of the other well was a square wooden frame. The disturbed remains of a insubstantial brick and rubble structure surviving to one brick course was also identifed 10m to the NW of the well measurrng 2m x 1.5m. Brick and mortar rubble lay on a bed of mortar with traced of burning. The size of the bricks suggest an 18-19th century date - possibly a rudimentary garden incinerator (B4).