Monument record 0024300000 - THORNEY: TOWER ARMS HOTEL

APs show cropmarks of field system, double ring ditch, (01:000), other circular features, & large keyhole-shaped feature which seems to partly enclose ring ditch. APs show that rectilinear field system respects inner, but not outer, ring ditch (B7,B10).
Partly destroyed by gravel extraction, but remains clear (B9).
An area of raised topsoil susceptibilty in grid W35 was further investigated by the survey carried out in advance of the widening of the M25. A 60m x 60m magnetometer grid was investigated and revealed linear and curvilinear features. The principle feature being a double ring ditch with rings some 4m apart with a diameter of 28m. Other strong anomalies were interpreted as at least four linear striations running diagonally N-S (probably agricultural). A second stong curvillinear feature was noted 12m S of the double ring ditch apparently cut by a 5m x 20m 'trench' possibly from 1960s excavation. Further linear features were noted some 5-6m apart and running NW-SE (possibly modern drainage). Two parallel linears, spaced c25m apart, run SW from the SW side of the double ring ditch and its truncated neighbour (B11).
The survey identified the south-west portion of the scheduled ring ditches. However, the north-east of the monument appears to have been partly damaged or removed by a modern trackway, possibly associated with the M25 embankment works. The survey also identified a network of recti-linear anomalies in close proximity to the scheduled monument. These features are likely associated with the prehistoric ditches discovered during a 1965 excavation for a cable route. The ditches likely form a series of small ditched enclosures or a field system (B12).



About 320 pottery sherds, of which 230 are EIA the remainder RB,
were found in 1962, midway between the Tower Arms Hotel and Thorney Farm at TQ 044796 after gravel had been removed. Some of the RB pottery was found on the surface, the majority of the rest in six pits (B2).
In 1963 at the Richard Costain Ltd gravel pit, the following finds were made. TQ 042796. Four flint blades, probably Mesolithic, found in a ditch, and now in Bucks Co Museum (Acc no 78.63). TQ 041797. Neolithic sherds and flint flakes found by Mr C Stanley in a pit. TQ 041796. IA 'A' sherds found by Mr C Stanley, some of them in a ditch. TQ 041795. Cropmarks. Circles, one of which is described as a ring ditch (b1), and a square field system found and now scheduled. (TQ 041795) In July 1967 trial trenching across the ditches of a square (possible EIA - RB) field system revealed sherds of red gritty pottery in the top layers. Thirty five Me and Ne worked flints were found in the topsoil, and the dark blotches on the AP (b15), considered storage pits, proved to be natural pickets of gravel (B2 and B16).
According to Dennington, (B14) the 1962 finds were made in a quarry face extending from a pylon at TQ 04397966 in a WNW direction for 200.0m - 300.0m (no site plan available) Mr C Stanley (B15) states that the 1963 finds were also found in a quarry face. The quarry is worked out and reseeded, and no further finds have been made (B14).
No trace on the ground of the AP cropmark site centred TQ 040795, now under pasture. The 1967 excavations by Stanley, at TQ 04057960, TQ 04067957 and TQ 04077954 were inconclusive, but he believes that the whole area from the pylon (TQ 04397966) to the AP enclosures is one of intensive IA/RB occupation. The circular features have not been excavated. The larger at TQ 04097960 appears to be a sub-circular earthwork, with bank and outer ditch, measuring 26.0m in diameter between ditch centres. The square enclosure pattern impinges upon it. A broad dark band across the centre is probably natural. The smaller circle at TQ 04087957 is c 5.5m in diameter within a square enclosure, and appears to be contemporary with the field system. Circle plotted from AP (B13).

This record includes National Record of the Historic Environment Information provided by Historic England on 4 June 2025 licensed under the Open Government Licence.