A fourth season of excavation by L Spencer of SyAS on the probable site of the medieval Bookham Courte revealed a section of cobbled surface under a highly compacted layer of chalk and flint. Its location and the pottery assemblage recovered from the layer suggest that it may be part of the ‘Great Yarde’ referred to in a 1616 description of Bookham Courte. A short continuation of a line of large chalk blocks, first recorded to the west in 2015 (SyAC 100, 282), was seen to extend east beyond the limit of excavation. The structure, if it was such, would have had little structural strength. Associated unfrogged bricks adjacent to the chalk blocks suggest a probable post-medieval date. Beneath the chalk blocks was a mortared flint wall, up to 1m wide and on a similar alignment to the blocks; it indicates the possible presence of an earlier, more substantial structure. To the south-west, a compacted layer of chalk and flint, possibly an internal floor surface, was revealed at some depth within the excavation. Elsewhere, small test pits produced a similar compacted surface at shallow depth and an assemblage of pottery dating from the 11th century through to the late 15th century. (466)
Year:
2017
ID:
2841
NGR:
TQ133549
Periods:
Borough:
Organisation: