Surrey archaeological collections . ng an old hedge lineand also a line of bricks immediately under the turf whichindicate the position of the old garden wall. This wall wasstanding in 1750, and as far as old records and sounding ofthe ground show, it stands on the same ground as a wall whichhad been there in the thirteenth century. To the north wasthe moat and, beyond, there seems to be sandy ground, perhapsoriginally lower ground since filled in. A trench was cut 150 feet from the present west garden wall,which represents very nearly the line of the river bank as itwas in early times. This t
Surrey archaeological collections . ng an old hedge lineand also a line of bricks immediately under the turf whichindicate the position of the old garden wall. This wall wasstanding in 1750, and as far as old records and sounding ofthe ground show, it stands on the same ground as a wall whichhad been there in the thirteenth century. To the north wasthe moat and, beyond, there seems to be sandy ground, perhapsoriginally lower ground since filled in. A trench was cut 150 feet from the present west garden wall,which represents very nearly the line of the river bank as itwas in early times. This trench was 40 feet long, at rightangles to the raised ridge and disclosed the remnants of theold garden wall, half the moat, and ground 30 feet to thesouth. (See Fig. 4, 1.) The wall had been pulled down to the foundations and thebricks left on the site ; they were mainly eighteenth-centurybricks, but there were some of earlier date. They were lyingin vegetable mould. Sixteen inches below the base of the wall 1 Polychronicon (1344).. 77 78 ROMAN ROAD: WEST WICKHAM TO LONDON. and 3 feet below the grass level was a layer of hard earth,the even surface of which dipped southward 8 inches in 12 thickness of this hard earth varied from 6 inches at thesouth to 24 inches near the moat and it contained from topto bottom numerous fragments of Roman roofing tiles, piecesof rough pottery and Samian ware. Underneath this earthwas a layer of compact gravel irregular in thickness, in places 10 inches, generally 4 inches. This gravel layer extendedfrom the moat southward for 25 feet and sloped southward 11 inches in 20 feet to a sharply defined edge. The highestpart was about 4 feet from the moat edge and the northernslope was cut off sharply and diagonally by the moat andcovered with the clay lining of the ditch ; possibly the ex-tension would be found on the north bank of the moat, butthe ground could not be excavated so far. The hard earth layer with Roman remains extended southof t
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1850, bookidsurreyarchae, bookyear1858
