Reasons for Designation
Between 50 and 70 causewayed enclosures are recorded nationally, mainly in southern and eastern England. They were constructed over a period of some 500 years during the middle part of the Neolithic period (c.3000-2400 BC) but also continued in use into later periods. They vary considerably in size (from 0.8ha to 28ha) and were apparently used for a variety of functions, including settlement, defence, and ceremonial and funerary purposes. However, all comprise a roughly circular to ovoid area bounded by one or more concentric rings of banks and ditches. The ditches, from which the monument class derives its name, were formed of a series of elongated pits punctuated by unexcavated causeways. Causewayed enclosures are amongst the earliest field monuments to survive as recognisable features in the modern landscape and are one of the few known Neolithic monument types. Due to their rarity, their wide diversity of plan, and their considerable age, all causewayed enclosures are considered to be nationally important.
Despite partial excavation and some disturbance by cultivation in the past, the part of the causewayed enclosure, 632m north-east of Mayfield Farm, survives well. It has only been partially excavated and holds potential for further archaeological investigation. It will contain archaeological and environmental information relating to the causewayed enclosure and the landscape in which it was constructed.
Several rectilinear features on the site are thought to relate to a later field system, which pottery evidence indicates was in use during the Roman period. The field system provides evidence of later agricultural practice and management of the landscape.
Details
The monument includes the western part of a causewayed enclosure surviving as archaeological remains which are visible as soilmarks and cropmarks on aerial photographs. It is situated on gently sloping ground bordering the A30, just south of Stanwell Road near Heathrow Airport. The enclosure has been truncated by the A30 and a housing estate but about three quarters of it survives to the west and is the subject of this scheduling. It is double-ditched and curvilinear in shape with a flattened south-west side. The outer ditch would have originally enclosed an area of approximately 245m by 220m (about 4 hectares). The inner ditch would have enclosed an area of approximately 170m by 155m (about 1.9 hectares). The two ditches vary between 22m and 43m apart. Several possible causeways are visible, with a well-defined entrance to the WNW and other breaks in both circuits.
In 1987, a geophysical survey was carried out on the site and subsequent fieldwalking recovered a scatter of flints of predominantly Late Neolithic or Early Bronze Age type. In 1988, partial excavation recovered Late Bronze Age pottery from the secondary ditch silts. In 1996, the Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England (RCHME) carried out a photogrammetric survey of the area. The monument is similar in form to a Neolithic causewayed enclosure identified between Wraysbury and Staines.
A narrow linear ditch abuts the outside of the enclosure on the north-west side and other faint rectilinear features have been identified, which are possible field boundaries. Together with surface finds of Romano-British pottery, these are likely to relate to later use and occupation of the area.
Sources: NMR TQ07SE13, TQ07SE27. PastScape 394742, 1057958.
