Excavation and Survey at Church Place, Denny Wait, in the New Forest in 2016/17

Abstract

This paper describes a programme of survey and excavation at the scheduled site of Church Place, Denny Wait in the New Forest that took place in 2016 and 2017 with a team from the University of Winchester. The extant earthworks at the site have been long considered to represent one of the royal hunting lodges built in the 14th century by command of Edward III, and is one of eight similar sites across the New Forest. While dating evidence was retrieved that confirm a 14th/15th century date for the earthworks, which share physical characteristics with other lodge sites in the forest, excavations indicate that the site was never the focus of high status activity. Of particular interest is the fact that the results do not actually support significant activity at the site of any kind, suggesting a far more temporary and occasional use of it, such as an ancillary encampment (eg for beaters), or as a meeting place. The work at the site unexpectedly also produced evidence of a previously unknown prehistoric enclosure underlying the medieval remains, probably dating to the Late Neolithic or Early Bronze Age.