Pottery finds at Wisley

Extract

The site adjoining the septic tanks and filters of the Byfleet and Pyrford sewage works was, on the occasion of some discoveries in 1922-3, described in the press as a Pottery-village, but has now been shown to have been occupied in the late Neolithic and Early Iron Ages by pit-dwellers who left behind plentiful traces of their culture in the shape of potsherds, and manufactured pottery on the spot, as four large kilns were uncovered and one small one, made expressly for firing the largest urn (fig. 7 A). The recovery of these relics is due to Mr. A. Choate, Engineer-in-charge of the pumping station about half a mile distant, aided by his family and others, their careful excavation and assembling of the pottery (mostly in small fragments) deserving special commendation. A representative selection of the two periods concerned has been ceded to the British Museum, and this is the first description of a discovery that adds its quota to our knowledge of local conditions in prehistoric times.