THE WORK OF E.T. LEEDS:
SITE CASE STUDIES

TOLLEY'S PIT CASSINGTON

Tolley's Pit at Cassington was excavated by E.T. Leeds in 1932 during the process of gravel extraction. A double ringed ditch enclosure was discovered.

Four flint flakes (AN 1940.217) and a flint scraper (AN 1972.173) found in Tolley's Pit during excavations by E. T. Leeds

Struck flints and a sherd of Peterbourgh ware pottery were found in the base of the inner ditch which Leeds considered to date from the Bronze Age. Humphrey Case later reassessed the site and concluded that it dated from the later Neolithic.

Leeds also found a rush-light holder and Romano-British pottery sherds on the edge of the inner ditch. Therefore it appears the ditches were still visible during the roman period, although the process of silting in the ditches was well underway. Medieval tiles were also found on the site.

During the construction of the Oxford Northern by-pass a few Anglo-Saxon buildings were revealed together with some Anglo-Saxon finds, including a copper alloy disc brooch.

REFERENCES:

E.T. Leeds (1936) 'Round Barrows and Ring Ditches in Berkshire and Oxfordshire", Oxoniensia I, p13-15.