Monument record 0689600001 - N of Eton Rowing Lake (Areas 3 and 5): Foot Bridges

Up stream of the bridge structure found in 1995, four more structures consisting of lines of upright piles in pairs were found (features 7201, 7202, 7204 and 7205). Three uprights were also found on the southern bank (feature 7203). Structures 7204 and 7205 consited of lines of paired single posts with double posts at intervals. In both structures, a third intermittant line of uprights had been placed between the two main lines. Alongside one of the uprights of 7204 a morticed horizontal was found and one or two of the uprights had surviving lengths of branch (natural forks being used as supports for superstructure?). Where 7205 met the gravel bank, several post voids were noted. Middle Bronze Age pottery was recovered from the silts abutting the timbers of 7205, also a partial human burial and large quantities of animal bones. Structure 7201 had double posts except at the northern edge of the channel where they were single. A large sherd of hand-made pottery (Iron Age?) was recovered from alongside the posts and one of the uprights proved to be a log-ladder. Between the uprights a hurdle trackway had been constructed at a later date, often lying upon or overlain by brushwood. At least 1m of silting had occurred around the original bridge and the crossing was thus probably a shallow ford. All six wattle panels were well-preserved (B1).