Burnham

A great many Palaeolithic implements have been found in Burnham. Many of these have come from extraction pits, such as Haycock’s Pit, which produced a handaxe and flint flake; Almond’s Pit where a handaxe, flake and scrapers were found; Cooper’s Pit, which had handaxes, cores and flakes; handaxes and flakes from a brickearth pit in Dorney Wood; six handaxes and one flint flake from a pit for Poyle’s brickworks; and Deverill’s Pit that also contained handaxes flakes and cores. Lower to Middle Palaeolithic flint flakes have also been found by chance at many sites, for instance on Odencroft Road, Ansculf Road, Wentworth Avenue, Kidderminster Road, and many more. This suggests a major tool production area around Burnham.

Later prehistoric artefacts have also been found. A Mesolithic to Bronze Age flint scatter is known from the Hitcham Road allotments and the garden of 108 Lent Rise. Flint tools are found scattered in many places, such as 25 Neolithic flakes found at Nashdom Abbey and the Neolithic to Bronze Age fire-cracked flint found in fieldwalking north of Marsh End Lane. A large number of artefacts were found in Windmill Field, Hitcham, which was dug in the 19^th century, mainly to find Saxon remains. Neolithic to Bronze Age pottery, including a cinerary urn, flint flakes and axe-heads and animal remains were all found in the excavations. Some sunken huts were thought to be Saxon or Bronze Age. A mound on the Dropmore estate is thought to be a Bronze Age barrow but it may be of a later date. Another possible barrow site is marked by a ring-ditch west of Lower Lambournes Wood, as seen in aerial photography. A possible Neolithic long barrow is also known from aerial photographs at Lock’s Bottom. A pit and some gullies filled with Neolithic to Bronze Age flint flakes and scrapers were found in excavation at the Wyeth Laboratories site.

Palaeolithic and Neolithic flint tools have also been found in Burnham Beeches. A hillfort, now known as Seven Ways Plain, was constructed in Burnham Beeches, probably at some point during the Iron Age. Not much is known about it as it has not been excavated, though it is thought to have been damaged by Second World War activities. Two ditches containing Iron Age pottery and later prehistoric flints were found in excavation in a field north of West Town Farm. Some Iron Age activity was also discovered in Poyle’s brickworks pit. Pottery, a clay cooking stand and animal bone were all discovered, suggesting the presence of an Iron Age settlement. Snails were also recovered and may give some idea of what the environment was like in the immediate vicinity.

A little Roman pottery and a few coins were also found in the same pit. Roman keys and coins have been found near Bath Road in Hitcham, too. Roman pottery and tile was found on Bromycroft Road and Kidderminster Road in Britwell. Some late Roman imitation Samian pottery was found in trial trenches at Redwood Close but otherwise no Roman activity has been detected. The 19^th century excavations in Windmill Field, Hitcham, seemed to reveal Saxon buildings and burials, but very little is understood about this site. At the end of the Saxon period, Domesday records Burnham and East Burnham.

Burnham was divided into a number of manors in the medieval period. These were Huntercombe (which had a 14^th century manor house that was rebuilt in the 17^th century and extended in the 19^th); Hitcham (where there are medieval fishponds); East Burnham or Allard’s Manor (the medieval manor house was demolished in the 19^th century); Britwell (the manor house is now 18^th and 19^th century); Penland Manor (recorded from the 13^th century); West Town manor; and Burnham Manor (the 16^th century manor house was demolished in 1804).

Hartley Court Moat may have been the site of one of the manors, but is recorded separately from the 13^th century, along with a deer park mentioned from 1299, on which Burnham Beeches probably stands. Another surviving medieval monument is Burnham Abbey. It was founded in 1289 and suppressed by King Henry VIII in 1539. It was allowed to decay and only restored in 1914 for use as a nunnery again. Excavations have revealed the late medieval drainage system, the site of the 13^th to 16^th church and burials nearby and the site of the medieval manor house before the abbey was built. The whole thing was surrounded by a moat and it had its own deer park. Several buildings still survive and are used as part of the nunnery, such as the Tithe Barn on Lake End Road, the dovecote, chapter house and infirmary. As well as these two sites there are records of a watermill and fishery at West Mill, Lake End. The medieval market hall was demolished in 1982. St Peter’s church dates back to the 12^th century, as does St Mary’s in Hitcham.

Many of the other listed buildings date back to the 17^th century, such as Swilley Farm, the Garibaldi pub, and two barns at Lake End Farm. 47 High Street seems to date back to the 15^th century, however.

In later centuries there were several brickworks in Burnham, including at Dorney Wood, Kiln Wood and Harehatch Lane. There was a brickworks and pottery kiln in Burnham Beeches in the 19^th century. This century also say the construction of the Great Western Railway and the Church of St Anne at Boveney and Dropmore County First School. Nashdom Abbey was built in the 20^th century. Hitcham Park may have been used as a Second World War prisoner-of-war camp and Burnham Beeches was used as an ammunition depot.