PALAEOLITHIC & MESOLITHIC AGES (PART 1 OF 3)
Few residents of modern-day Runnymede can be unaware of the historic nature of the Borough. Afterall, its very name conjures up images of one of the most written about events in English history books: the granting of Magna Carta in 1215. But what of the history before written records? Where is the evidence of the Borough’s prehistory? A new exhibition at Chertsey Museum plots the evidence of some of the area’s earliest residents.
Whilst the current Borough of Runnymede has only existed since the early 1970s, evidence of people living here dates back considerably further. It is believed that the first modern humans were hunters who arrived in Britain during the last Ice Age c.40,000 years ago, following herds of reindeer that migrated across Europe. At this time, Britain was not an island but was joined to the Continent by a strip of land, now submerged under the English Channel.
During the Upper Palaeolithic period small family groups roamed the area now called Surrey, building temporary shelters which they would either pack up or abandon when they moved on. Hand axes from Chertsey and flints from Egham and Addlestone give an indication of the earliest residents of the Borough.
As hunter-gatherers they would exploit the natural landscape. Using their tools to cut down branches, clean animal skins to provide protection from the elements, and hunt wild animals such as artic hare, reindeer, and lynx with whom they shared their world.
From c.8000 BCE onwards, evidence of our Borough ancestors is more plentiful as they gave up their nomadic lifestyles and began to create more substantial shelters and homesteads. These structures, both round and rectangular in shape, were built using wooden stakes and mud bricks.
WITH A WOODEN HAFT
Whilst these materials do not stand the test of time, foundations for such dwellings have been discovered within the local area. The Thames-side settlement site near Runnymede Bridge is the best evidence of Neolithic activity in North West Surrey. Here postholes for a number of rectangular structures have been discovered making it the main Neolithic site in the Borough which was occupied between c. 950 BCE and 800 BCE. Evidence of other Neolithic occupation has been discovered at Wey Manor Farm, Addlestone where a small enclosure was identified, at Thorpe Lea Nurseries and in Eastworth Road, Chertsey.