More information : Drayton Cursus - formerly recorded as parts of NAR sites SU 49 SE 5 and 20.
The Drayton Cursus was first encountered by E T Leeds during his long campaign of salvage excavation (1921-1937) at the gravel pits centred around SU 489941, although it was to be some time before the true significance of the features he encountered was realised. It was the Saxon and Bronze Age settlement of the area which attracted attention at the time (see SU 49 SE 5 for details). He uncovered a length of ditch on the eastern side of the site, running roughly NE-SW, eventually traced for a distance of around 180ft. It was found to terminate quite abruptly at its southern end. It averaged 8 ft in width and 3 ft in depth. He initially suggested that it may have been some kind of non-defensive boundary ditch marking the eastern limit of the Bronze Age settlement. Subsequent discoveries from the ditch, including bone points, and particularly a patch of charcoal stained earth containing 14 scrapers plus a number of flint flakes in the upper layers of the ditch fill suggested that the ditch may be even earlier, but Leeds remained initially reluctant to accept a fully Neolithic phase at the site. Two of the pits excavated by Leeds also contained human remains. (1-3,21)
In 1934, Leeds published a short note discussing `rectangular enclosures' in the upper Thames valley, including that at Drayton, the evidence from his excavation by now supplemented with aerial photographs taken by Major Allen, which showed a pair of parallel ditches to the south of, and on the same alignment as, the ditch excavated by Leeds. A short length of ditch running roughly E-W joined the southernmost ends of this pair of ditches, thus forming 3 sides of a long rectangle c 70m wide and 800m long. The northern terminal, not encountered by Leeds in his excavations, was assumed to have existed in the part of the gravel pit excavated prior to the start of Leeds' archaeological excavations. (4)
The Drayton - Sutton Courtenay enclosure was included by Stone in his discussion of Cursus monuments. (5) It also appeared in the gazetteer of Cursus monuments published by the RCHME in 1960. The length stated, 880 yards, is roughly the same as that noted by Leeds (6).
Subsequent aerial survey revealed the presence of a pair of parallel ditches to the north of the known portion of the Cursus and on the same alignment. The published AP transcription shows the southern portion of the cursus running from c SU 485934 to SU 487937; the northern pair of ditches run from c SU 489944 to c SU 491949. (7) It is generally assumed that the latter represents a northern extension of the Drayton Cursus, although there is no definite proof of this as yet. As a result, the southern portion is now generally referred as Drayton A, and the northern section as Drayton B. Excavation since the 1970s has focussed exclusively on Drayton B (8-18). The Abingdon Area Archaeological and Natural History Society undertook a series of excavations between 1979 and 1982 focussing on the east ditch and surrounding areas. In 1985-6, excavations by the Oxford Archaeological Unit concentrated on the western ditch and its environs. The work, carried out in advance of quarrying, has demonstrated that Drayton B continues south beneath the alluvium which seals the gravel deposits in the area. The ditches appear to have a number of short interruptions, perhaps indicative of the manner in which the cursus was constructed, plus occasional causeways, or gaps in their courses. The bottom of the ditch is waterlogged in this area, resulting in the survival of organic material which has provided a series of C14 dates. These, when calibrated, include the earliest dates obtained from a cursus so far, centering on the mid-4th millennium BC. The inner bank also survives beneath the alluvial deposits. Neolithic sherds have been recovered from both the lower ditch fill and from beneath the bank.
The areas excavated contained a number of pits, post holes and tree-holes. The majority are not easily datable, although some of the tree throw holes are sealed beneath the bank and thus represent the felling of trees in the Neolithic.
Two trenches dug to the south of the excavated area failed to encounter any extension of the eastern ditch, although it appears that the ground may have been wet in the Neolithic, possibly representing an active river channel. It is suggested that either the stream formed a terminal, or the ditch(es) continued south of the stream to join up with the southern cursus, Drayton A.
Finds included during the recent excavations include flints, bones, a leaf-shaped arrowhead, and a fragment of a greenstone axe. In addition, a feature described as a late Neolithic grave without a skeleton, containing an AOC beaker and two groups of flint flakes "on the bottom of the feature as if on either side of a body" was excavated. (9-16, 18)
The Abingdon A&NHS excavations have been published in interim form. They are to be published more fully in a joint publication which will also deal with the Oxford Unit's work (17).
Discussions of the environmental evidence contained within and beneath the alluvium, along with the alluvial sequence, at Drayton, among other sites. (19, 20)
The Drayton Cursus was plotted as part of the Thames Valley Mapping Project which was carried out by the Aerial Survey Section of RCHME in 1992-1993. The cursus is visible as a cropmark on air photographs as an incomplete, single ditched, rectangular enclosure, 1665m by 78m, defined by 1 ditch with four sides visible. The middle section of the cursus is not visible as a cropmark and the two ends which can be seen do not appear to be on exactly the same alignement. Centred at SU 4875 9385. Morph No. TG.328.1.1.
This description is based on information from the RCHME MORPH2 database.(22)
The Drayton Cursus extends for c1.5 km roughly northwards from Drayton towards Abingdon. The southern part of the cursus was first discovered by Major Allen in the 1930s. The monument has been investigated in two parts, the cursus ditches near Brook Farm are referred to as Drayton south and those adjacent to Peep-O-Day Lane are Drayton North.
Drayton North has been investigated on three occasions. The northern extent was excavated in 1977 by Michael Parrington on behalf of AAAHS. In 1981-2 salvage work and a small excavation took place around the east ditch again bt AAAHS. 1985-6 excavation of the west ditch was undertaken by OAU.
Drayton south was excavated by Leeds between 1921-37, although some parts had already been destroyed by gravel workings. In addition OAU excavated a small trench in 1994 just beyond Leeds’ trench.
The cursus is defined by two interrupted roughly parallel ditches which are spaced c 100 m apart. At the southern end of Drayton north where the cursus ditches have been excavated the east ditch was found to be more substantial than the west. The preservation of the remnants of an in situ bank recorded in Area B indicated that the monument was probably of the form of an embanked enclosure. Finds from the ditches comprise flintwork, animal bone and pottery. A series of 6 radio-carbon dates were obtained for the east cursus ditch cal BC 4000-3530 and 3780-3350 from bone from the base of the ditch. - For a full and detailed description of the cursus please see source (23)
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