Data from a Trial Trenching at the West Ruislip Golf Course, Thames Water Sewer Diversion, Hillingdon, 2020 (HS2 Phase One)

This collection comprises site data (digital photographs, spreadsheets, specialist reports, scanned trench and context sheets, registers and drawings) from an archaeological evaluation carried out by Archaeology Wales and Wardell Armstrong on land at West Ruislip Golf Course, Ickenham Road, Ruislip, in the London borough of Hillingdon, between 11th May and 15th July 2020. Further work is needed to tighten the stratigraphic sequence of Trench 2. This would potentially allow the currently wide date ranges for features to be narrowed providing a clearer picture of the activity within this area. Further work is recommended by the specialists for the CBM and Archaeobotanical assemblages. Due to the potential early date for the tile kiln in Trench 2, it is recommended that the CBM assemblage be analysed in detail to identify the fabrics and compare them with the established Museum of London fabric samples. This will help to tighten date ranges and may indicate the date at which the kiln went out of use. The archaeobotanical assemblage has been identified as being of potential high importance due to its apparent prehistoric charred plant remains and the paucity of such remains in Britain as a whole. It has been recommended, therefore that secure dates are obtained from the hazelnut shells from (14007), which would also help to tighten up the date of the flint assemblage recovered from the same context; and also from the wheat grain recovered from context (5005), which is believed to be Bronze Age. It is also recommended that charcoal analysis be conducted on the charcoal rich deposits related to the tile kiln in Trench 2. This may allow the identification of the fuel used within the kiln. It is possible though that these charcoal rich deposits relate to the domestic refuse dumped in the kiln after it had gone out of use. Any work on the charcoal should be tied into the tightening of the stratigraphic sequence of the kiln to determine if it relates to the kiln or later domestic refuse.