A Saxon and Saxo-Norman Execution Cemetery at 42-54 London Road, Staines

• Published in: Archaeological journal (London) Vol. 162; no. 1; pp. 215 - 255
• Main Authors: Hayman, Graham, Reynolds, Andrew, Coward, Fiona, Robb, John
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Routledge 01-01-2005
• ISSN: 0066-5983; 2373-2288
• DOI: 10.1080/00665983.2005.11020625

An excavation on the southern side of London Road, Staines, in 1999 revealed a dense concentration of ancient features surviving amidst the concrete foundations of a recently demolished office building. These features included a number of Bronze Age pits, many of which were intercut; pits, ditches and a well of late Roman origin; and the remains of approximately thirty inhumation burials, most or all of which were of late Saxon or early Norman origin. The majority, if not all, of the burials were of execution victims. Some of the bodies were face down within the grave, others had been decapitated, and some were in graves containing two or three bodies.
The cemetery shares various characteristics with other excavated execution sites and the evidence from Staines is placed within a regional and national context. The site is one of few execution cemeteries dated by radiocarbon with a chronology spanning at least the eighth to the twelfth century. This longevity adds weight to the case for a centrally organized judicial system during the growth period of the major Early Anglo-Saxon kingdoms.