General Pitt-Rivers' English Archaeology, c 1851-1881

Image: a stone axe from Yorkshire collected by Pitt-Rivers before 1884 (Pitt Rivers Museum accession number 1884.123.326)

General Pitt-Rivers' English Archaeology, c.1851-1881

In April, Beth Asbury joined the Excavating Pitt-Rivers project to work on its next phase, which is funded by ESRC for one year and is run in partnership with the Portable Antiquities Scheme at the British Museum

Beth has a BA in Ancient History and Archaeology and an MPhil in Egyptology. She worked for the Institute for Archaeologists and the Egyptian Ministry of State for Antiquities before to coming to the Pitt Rivers Museum. Beth will be building upon the work of project researchers Carlotta Gardner and Judy White, consolidating the information known so far about the English artefacts collected by Pitt-Rivers before 1881, and sharing it in a two-way exchange with Historic Environment Records officers, with the wider archaeological community, and with the public.

Approximately 10,986 archaeological artefacts have now been identified in the collections of the Pitt Rivers Museum as having been collected, excavated or otherwise acquired by the General from at least 269 individual named sites. What is emerging is a more picture from the c. 64 English excavation sites identified by Mark Bowden in his pioneering study of Pitt-Rivers' archaeological activities more than 20 years ago (1991: 57-94). Building on Mark's excellent study, we are using museum artefacts themselves as primary evidence of the General's archaeological activities.

Image: Map showing Pitt-Rivers’ archaeological sites up to c. 1881 as identified by Mark Bowden (1991: 59, 68). Our project is expanding by more than 200 the number of sites shown on this map.

Our provisional list of sites is below, ordered by English region and ceremonial county.  We are now seeking to add to our understanding of these sites - their precise locations, other antiquarian activity in the areas, etc. Created through detailed collections-based research – mainly site names, dates and other information physically written on objects – the list is a significant expansion of our previous understanding of the English archaeological activities of Pitt-Rivers. In the coming months, in knowledge exchange partnerships with Historic Environment Records and the British Museum’s Portable Antiquities Scheme, Beth will be adding detail to our understanding of each of these sites and the circumstances of antiquarian investigation of them. 

At some sites, Pitt-Rivers actually excavated or collected objects during field walking. At others, the fieldwork may have been done by other antiquarians or others. Our project aims to add to our understanding of the assembling of this national collection during the 1850s, 1860s and 1870s, during the earliest years of Pitt-Rivers' archaeological career. In many cases, the only evidence of Pitt-Rivers' engagement with these sites is represented by the objects themselves - so we are undertaking a kind of archaeology of Pitt-Rivers' own fieldwork, looking outwards from the museum across the country.

If you are familiar with the early archaeological investigations of any of the sites listed below, and wish to contribute information to the project, please do send an e-mail to dan.hicks@prm.ox.ac.uk.

SOUTH-EAST ENGLAND

East Sussex and West Sussex
East Sussex: Mount Caburn
East Sussex: Ranscombe Camp
East Sussex: Seaford
East Sussex: Castle Hill Hillfort, Newhaven, Lewes
East Sussex: “One mile west of Newhaven”, Lewes
East Sussex: Plumpton Plain
East Sussex: Mount Harry
East Sussex: Southerham
East Sussex: Newmarket Hill, Kingston near Lewes
East Sussex: Telscombe
East Sussex: Bishopstone
East Sussex: Blackcap
East Sussex: ‘Downs at Falmer’
East Sussex: Southease [Southese]
East Sussex: Hillfort near Bel Tour Lighthouse, Birling Gap and Beachy Head
East Sussex: Seven Sisters
East Sussex: Beachy Head
East Sussex: Wealden
East Sussex: Hollingbury Castle Camp Hillfort
East Sussex: Long Barrow at Beacon Hill
East Sussex: Sedlescombe Hoard
East or West Sussex: South Downs
West Sussex: Cissbury Ring
West Sussex: Highdown Hill
West Sussex: Forty Acre Farm
West Sussex: Worthing
West Sussex: Lancing
West Sussex: Lancing Hill
West Sussex: Black Burgh Barrow
West Sussex: Chanctonbury Ring
West Sussex: Wolstonbury Hill
West Sussex: Bramber

Kent
Castle Hill (Caesar’s Camp), Folkeston
East Wear Bay
Brickearth Pit at St Peter’s
Fieldwalking near Broadstairs
Minster in Thanet
Reculver
‘Pudding Pan Rock’
Bigbury Wood, Canterbury
Kit’s Coty House
Chatham
Richborough Castle
Hampton on Sea, Herne Bay
Knockholt Beeches, Sevenoaks
Kentish Knock Buoy, Thames Estuary

Surrey
Postford Farm
St Martha’s Hill
Warren Farm and St. Catherine’s Hill
White Lane Farm
Whitmoor Common
Merrow Down
Peasmarsh
Stoke Quarry
Stoke Park
Guildford
New Barn Farm
St. Giles’s Church
Tangley Farm, Guildford
Uplands
Reigate
Redhill, Reigate
Wanborough Manor
Chinthurst Hill, Wonersh
Opposite Hampton Court Palace, East Molesey
River Thames at Chertsey, Runnymede

Oxfordshire
Standlake
Ditchley
Devil’s Pool, Ditchley
Callowhill, Stonesfield
Shipton-under-Wychwood
Dorchester Dykes
Dorchester on Thames
Sinodun Hill Camp
Little Wittenham
Long Wittenham
79-84 High Street, Oxford
Wayland’s Smithy, Ashbury

Hampshire
St Catherine’s Hill Hillfort
South Wonston Long Barrows, Winchester
South Wonston
Andover
Weyhill, Andover
Moody’s Down Long Barrows           
Barton Cliff, Barton on Sea
Hayling Island
Hill Head, Stubbington
Southampton

Berkshire
Worlebury Camp Hillfort
Kintbury

GREATER LONDON

London Wall
Gooch and Cousens Wool Warehouse
London Wall
Great Winchester Street

Palaeolithic Material from the Thames Valley, West London
London Borough of Ealing: Acton
London Borough of Ealing: Acton Green
London Borough of Ealing: Acton Main Line Railway Station
London Borough of Ealing: Acton Village
London Borough of Ealing: Brown’s Orchard
London Borough of Ealing: Church Field
London Borough of Ealing: Friar’s Place Lane
London Borough of Ealing: Mill Hill
London Borough of Ealing: Acton Station
London Borough of Ealing: West Ealing (Ealing Dean)
London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham: East Acton
London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham: Brick Field at Shepherd's Bush
London Borough of Lambeth: Clapham Rise
London Borough of Wandsworth: Battersea Rise
“Thames Valley”

Other Sites in the City of London
Holborn Viaduct (EC1)
Smithfield (EC1)
Bishopsgate (EC2)
Broadgate (EC2)
Tokenhouse Yard, Lothbury (EC2)
Moorfields (EC2)
Old Jewry (EC2)
Mansion House Street, Poultry (EC2)
Bartholomew Lane (EC2)
Cripplegate, London Wall (EC2)
Finsbury Circus (EC2)
Lombard Street (EC3)
Brewer’s Quay, Lower Thames Street (EC3)
Minories (EC3)
Birchin Lane (EC3)
Cannon Street (EC4)
Cannon Street Station (EC4)
Bucklersbury (EC4)
Clement’s Lane (EC4)
Bell Yard, Fleet Street (EC4)
Mansion House (EC4)
Walbrook (EC4)
Billingsgate (E14)
Queenhithe Dock, Thames Street (SE1)

Other sites in Greater London
London Borough of Southwark: Southwark
London Borough of Southwark: Railway Works, Southwark
London Borough of Southwark: Southwark Street
London Borough of Southwark: Borough High Street
London Borough of Waltham Forest: Peat bog, Lee Valley, Walthamstow
London Borough of Waltham Forest: Walthamstow
London Borough of Camden: Queen Square
London Borough of Camden: Lincoln’s Inn, Serle Street
London Borough of Camden: British Museum
London Borough of Camden: Grays Inn Road
London Borough of Richmond: Hampton Court
London Borough of Hounslow: Yeading Brook, Hounslow Heath
City of Westminster: Charing Cross Station
London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham: Wormwood Scrubs
London Borough of Barnet: Mill Hill
London Borough of Croydon: Sanderstead
London Borough of Hackney: Cesspool at Homerton
London Borough of Wandsworth

River Thames in London
City of London: Queenhithe Dock, Thames Street (SE1)
City of London: Cannon Street Station (EC4)
London Borough of Wandsworth: Battersea
London Borough of Wandsworth: Wandsworth
London Borough of Wandsworth: Old Swan Wharf
London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham: Hammersmith
London Borough of Richmond: Hampton Court
London Borough of Lambeth: Westminster Bridge
London Borough of Southwark
London Borough of Tower Hamlets: River Thames at Limehouse

YORKSHIRE AND THE HUMBER

North Yorkshire
Ganton Wold
Ganton Wold or Sherburn Wold
Willerby Wold
Grimston Moor
Weaverthorpe
Kirby Grindalythe
Sherburn
Sleights, Scarborough
Unnamed house, Scarborough
Sharp Howe
York
Richmond
Yorkshire Wolds

East Riding of Yorkshire
Bridlington
Metlow Hill Round Barrow, Bempton
Rudston
Fordon
North Burton
North Burton or East Burton
Langtoft Wold

West Yorkshire
St Helen’s Well, Thorp Arch
Breary Marsh

EAST OF ENGLAND

Suffolk
Brandon
Icklingham
Warren Hill
Mildenhall
Santon Downham
Lakenheath
Elveden
Snape Anglo-Saxon Cemetery
Aldeburgh
Hazelwood Common, Aldeburgh
Hundred River
River Alde
Cretingham
Dunwich
Sutton
Westleton
West Stow Anglo-Saxon Village
Lackford
Euston, St Edmundsbury
Stanton, St Edmundsbury
Wangford, Waveney
Warren Farm
Hoxne
Stonham Aspal or Earl Stonham

Norfolk
Shrubhill Farm Gravel Pits
Little Ouse River Valley
Thetford
Grimes Graves
Broomhill Gravel Pit
Larling
Worstead Common
Eaton, Norwich
Trowse Newton, Norwich

Bedfordshire
Maiden Bower Hillfort
Bedford

Essex
Wallbury Camp
Colchester
Pitchbury Ramparts, Great Horkesley

Cambridgeshire
Swaffham Prior or Swaffham Bulbeck
Wicken
Whittlesey, Fenland

Hertfordshire
Unlocated

SOUTH-WEST

Dorset
Jordan Hill, Weymouth
Weymouth
Portland
East Burton

Wiltshire
Stonehenge
Unnamed tumulus near Stonehenge
Milford Hill, Salisbury
St Andrew’s Church, Bemerton
High Field, Salisbury
Roundway
Cranborne Chase

Gloucestershire
Uley Bury Hillfort
Fairford

Devon
Hopes Nose, Torquay
Hawkchurch Railway Ballast Pit
Guildhall, Exmoor National Park
Grimspound, Teinbridge
Spinsters Rock, Drewsteignton

Somerset
Somerset: Wookey Hole
Somerset: West Buckland Bronze Hoard
Bath and North-East Somerset: Little Solsbury Hill Fort
North Somerset: Banwell Bone Cave

Cornwall
Lanyon Quoit
Men-an-Tol
Chun Quoit
Beacon at Camborne
Trethery Quoit, St Cleer
Merry Maidens Stone Circle

NORTH-WEST

Cheshire
Alderley Edge
Chester

Cumbria
Cliburn
Blencow Beacon, Penrith
Wath, Silloth
Longlands, Hekset Newmarket
Ambleside, Westmoreland

Merseyside
Calderstones Chambered Tomb, Calderstones Park

WEST MIDLANDS

Shropshire
Wroxeter
Corvedale, Much Wenlock
Petton
Shrewsbury

EAST MIDLANDS

Derbyshire
Miller’s Dale

Lincolnshire
Unnamed barrow(s)

Northamptonshire
Raunds or St. Peter’s Church, Northampton


Reference

Bowden, M. 1991. Pitt Rivers: The Life and Archaeological Work of Lieutenant-General Augustus Henry Lane Fox Pitt Rivers, DCL, FRS, FSA. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge.