A 3rd century AD cremation cemetery at Franklands Drive, near Addlestone

Abstract

• Archaeological investigations on an open field site to the south-west of Addlestone revealed two foci of Middle-Late Bronze Age activity that involved the setting of pottery vessels in pits. A lone Late Iron Age unurned cremation burial was accompanied by an unusual North Gaulish Gallo-Belgic facet-cut barrel beaker, dated to c 10 BC-AD 14. An isolated pit contained a range of early/mid-2nd century ceramics related to consumption. However, the most significant feature of the site was a mid-late 3rd century AD cremation cemetery that comprised 28 urned cremation burials and nine possible (or unurned) cremation burials. The remains were indicative of a rural population and the urns were mostly of a regional type. A curious aspect of the cemetery was the near absence of grave goods but there is some evidence for pyre goods and analysis of the iron nails from cremation deposits reveals the presence of footwear and possibly upholstered biers. It is suggested that this cemetery was located in a special place in the landscape with little evidence for an adjacent settlement. There was no evidence for any later land use until the site was crossed by field boundaries, in the 18th century.