Time Team - Chesham Bois House, 85 Bois Lane, Chesham Bois, Bucks - Archaeological Evaluation and Assessment of Results

Wessex Archaeology

The objective of the evaluation was to investigate the occupation and development of the site, particularly the structural evolution of medieval and post medieval buildings, and evidence of any early domestic and craft activities. This continues the work of the Chess Valley Archaeological and Historical Society Field Group, who carried out limited geophysical and topographic surveys at Chesham Bois House and the Church Field and excavated a number of hand-dug trenches in the garden of Chesham Bois House in 2004.

Medieval features and deposits were encountered in one trench to the south of the present Chesham Bois House and in two trenches in the Church Field, along with post-medieval and modern remains, which were recorded in almost all trenches. A series of hearths and associated structures and deposits excavated to the south of Chesham Bois House appear to be of later medieval and early post-medieval date and probably represent a kitchen or bakehouse either within the manor house, or in a separate, auxiliary building. The large boundary ditch, examined in the Church Field, which appears to surround the present house and garden, and presumably the earlier manorial complex, was probably constructed some time in the medieval period and eventually backfilled in the early post-medieval period. The structural remains recorded in trenches to the west and north-west of Chesham Bois House are of post-medieval date, and may represent parts of the buildings depicted on the 1735 Bedford estate map.