Archaeology of the Battlefield

There is little reported archaeology relating to the battle.  Local residents have said that musket balls have been found in the fields on either side of the Curridge bridleway on the eastern side of the battlefield, indicating that fighting did extend some way north of Shaw House. In 1992 the Newbury Antiquaries metal detecting group recovered musket and pistol balls from the area which subsequently became Donnington Grove Golf Club. Money in his 19th Century history of the battle claimed that several cannon balls had been found in the banks of Long Lane.  He also suggested that a grave-pit containing five skeletons was found in 1882 in the north east corner of the gardens of Shaw House when the ground was excavated to construct greenhouses.  Another grave-pit was reportedly discovered when the roadway next to the garden wall at Shaw House, presumably what is now Love Lane, was diverted. Construction of a bungalow north of Shaw House in the vicinity of SU 479 683 in the late 1930s revealed two or three skeletons of young men with other finds (including gun flints) which suggested they were perhaps victims of the battle.

 

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