Monument record 0551304000 - LAKE END ROAD WEST: Saxon Meeting Place

It was noted that all the evidence for Saxon activity in the area was in the form of pits - 90 distributed unevenly with little evidence of patterning. They were mainly found in the eastern two-thirds avoiding the area most prone to waterlogging. With the main areas, there were subsidiary clusters spaced 10-15m apart and forming open ended N-S orientated corridors. The published report for the site queries whether they might define property boundaries as many are on NW-SE orientation and one appears to conform to the trackway defined for the Romano-British farmstead. The pits did not reveal any occupation layers or significant stratigraphic sequences. The primary fill was clean, interleaved layers of silt and gravel resulting from natural erosion. Some contained humic elements which may suggest that they were used as cess pits (they contained phosphates). The secondary or middle fills are episodes of rubbish with defined tip lines containing charcoal, bones, charred plant remains, plus small finds such as combs, loomweights and knives and a large quantity of slag. The slag (mostly smithing hearth bottoms) finds were concentrated in two pits to the west of the main area. The fills are interspersed with gravel layers. The upper fills are typically dark and thick homogenus deposits with few tip lines. Analysis of the pottery assemblage suggest a 7th-9th century date range, but with activity possibly concentrated in the mid 8th century (B5).
Although activity on the site probably post-dates the late 6th or early 7th century burial in Taplow mound, it would have been contemporary with the later Anglo-Saxon occupation of the Taplow hillfort. An association is suggested between the location of the trading place at Lake End Road West and a high status residence adjacent to the princely burial mound, reinforcing the links indicated by environmental evidence from Taplow between the Saxon settlement within the former hillfort and the lower-lying ground close to the Thames (B8).