More information : (Centred SU 087712) Flint implements found AD 1888-1922 (NAT). (1)
The archaeological history of the Windmill Hill area was examined as part of the RCHME project on Industry and Enclosure in the Neolithic, in association with a detailed examination of the causewayed enclosure itself. Windmill Hill and its immediate environs were a favoured haunt of flint collectors for many years prior to the first excavations at the Neolithic causewayed enclosure (see SU 07 SE 22), the best known being the Rev. HGO Kendall, rector of Winterbourne Bassett, also the first man to excavate at the enclosure. Most of Kendall's collection was subsequently purchased by Alexander Keiller. For a full discussion of the pre-excavation history of the area, and a bibliography, see the archive report. (2)
Grinsell's gazetteer includes mention to numerous prehistoric lithic finds from Windmill Hill, although it is not always clear whether any derive from Keiller's excavations. In particular he notes a quantity of axes and axe fragments in both Devizes Museum and the Keiller Museum, Avebury. (3)
Holgate provides a quantification by type of over 13000 lithic items collected by Kendall, Passmore and others from the southern slopes of Windmill Hill and environs (see also SU 07 SE 62 for more recent collection from the area). (4) |