The site at Alfoldean consists primarily of a large Romano-British mansio and staging-post complex within a rectangular enclosure (clearly visible as a crop-mark and as an earthwork), straddling Stane Street, a major artery from Noviomagus (Chichester) to Londinium (London), and associated strip-settlement, situated about 6km west of Horsham within the parish of Slinfold in West Sussex (centred on NGR 511730 133050), occupying two fields situated either side of the modern A29 directly south of, and neatly snuggled into a large meander of the River Arun. The surrounding land slopes down to the flood plain of the river from all directions, with the highest area of the site approximately 31 metres aOD, with underlying geology of alluvial silt overlying Arun 3rd and 4th gravel terraces, which in turn overlies clay and sandstone (BGS 1972).
The mansio and enclosure is considered to be of national importance and has been designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument (S.A.M. WS222). It is a great pity that this site has been ravished by metal-detectorists over the past 15 to 20 years, so much so that the comment was made during the 2005 Time Team's investigations on the monument that non-ferrous metal artifacts were conspicuous by their total absence from the site.
The site was first discovered in 1775, and further investigated briefly between 1809-10 during road restoration. Sporadic digging was then carried out during the 1840s by a Mr Briggs, but nothing was recorded at that time. A short report was prepared for SAC in 1859 by Martin (SAC Vol XI, 144) and in 1912 a tesselated pavement was discovered during ploughing (Belloc, 1913, 250), which was lifted and reset into the lawn of Hill House, nearby; It was not until 1922-23 (SAC vol 64, 81-104, 1923, and Vol 65 112-157, 1924) and 1934-5 (SAC vol 76, 183-192) that systematic excavations were carried out on the site by S Winbolt; and then not again until October 2005 by Wessex Archaeology (Report 59473.01 Apr 2006); with intermittent work being carried out in the 1980s and 1990s by Michael Luke and others (SAC 138, 75-101, 2000).
Winbolt was the first to postulate that accompanying the mansio, was the possibility of a strip settlement, and this was confirmed by the use of fieldwalking techniques, earthwork surveys, and aerial photograph analysis during the 1980s by Michael Luke and Judie English, in the 1990s by Elizabeth Elliott, and from 1999 onwards by myself. The conclusions being drawn that the mansio was part of a much larger settlement which was not included within the S.A.M.
Michael Luke records the site as a chain of deliberately planted settlements along Stane Street, extending from the enclosure and covering an area of some 9 hectares. During 1986, Michael Luke recorded the section of a large JCB trench dug along the roadside verge through the middle of the site, and during 1998 a watching brief was undertaken by John Mills of WSCC during the construction of a lay-by along the A29, both of whom identified features associated with Romano-British occupation. The fields are regularly ploughed, and dense pottery scatters are still evident, extending several hundred metres south of the enclosure.
Winbolt was the first to postulate that accompanying the mansio, was the possibility of a strip settlement, and this was confirmed by the use of fieldwalking techniques, earthwork surveys, and aerial photograph analysis during the 1980s by Michael Luke and Judie English, in the 1990s by Elizabeth Elliott, and from 1999 onwards by myself. The conclusions being drawn that the mansio was part of a much larger settlement which was not included within the S.A.M.
Michael Luke records the site as a chain of deliberately planted settlements along Stane Street, extending from the enclosure and covering an area of some 9 hectares. During 1986, Michael Luke recorded the section of a large JCB trench dug along the roadside verge through the middle of the site, and during 1998 a watching brief was undertaken by John Mills of WSCC during the construction of a lay-by along the A29, both of whom identified features associated with Romano-British occupation. The fields are regularly ploughed, and dense pottery scatters are still evident, extending several hundred metres south of the enclosure.
In 2005 a geophysical survey was conducted by GSB Prospection Ltd (Report 2005/70), in the two fields and this was successful in not only pinpointing the general footprint of the mansio building but also in identifying an extensive complex of other archaeological features. Field systems, trackways, settlement and workshop type activity has been mapped over an area in excess of 3 hectares outside the enclosure, but due to time constraints, it was not possible to determine the limits. However, what has become evident is that an extensive settlement extends southwards for at least 300 metres south of the enclosure, within which are several double-ditched anomalies presumably indicating trackways running both N-S and E-W, connecting paddocks, small fields and presumably areas of houses/workshops. There is also the possibility of a large number of pits of uncertain function, excavation of which to determine the nature of the activity is yet to be undertaken. The concentration of these pits is much greater closer to the road than in the east though it is possible that the settlement or related agriculture extends right down to the river in this direction.
Geophysical analysis of the western field produced results of a different character to the anomalies inside the enclosure in the eastern field, possibly as a result of fewer disturbances to the archaeology, but nevertheless still suggesting the presence of dense occupation. Unfortunately, for the remainder of the site southwards, outside the enclosure, far fewer anomalies of archaeological interest, in particular, linear ditch anomalies, were revealed, although large pits close to the western flanks of Stane Street were present indicating unenclosed workshops or small-scale industrial activity along the road, taking advantage of the trade that the mansio attracted. The conclusion reached, was that the focus of the settlement appeared to lie on the eastern side of the Roman road. I have to say however, based solely on the geophysics and the work of Wessex archaeology, this is of course true, but when combined with the evidence from the JCB trench and fieldwalking it clearly is not.
The conclusions also drawn from the 2005 excavations were summed up by Wessex Archaeology in the statement “the focus of activity on the site was from the later 1st century into the 3rd century AD, with sporadic later activity, broadly confirming the results of previous fieldwork on the site.” Although basically true, it has to be remembered that most of the investigations were undertaken in the vicinity of the mansio enclosure and their dating evidence is therefore applicable to this area and not necessarily the rest of the roadside settlement.
What we know, therefore, is that we have a large roadside settlement, upwards of about 8 ha (approx 20 acres), occupied continuously for about 250 years+, (from the 1st century to mid 3rd century AD), and possibly longer.
What we know, therefore, is that we have a large roadside settlement, upwards of about 8 ha (approx 20 acres), occupied continuously for about 250 years+, (from the 1st century to mid 3rd century AD), and possibly longer.
