Bibliography - Caroline Wells
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Palaeolithic site at Beedings, by Matt Pope and Caroline Wells, published April 2008 in Sussex Past & Present (no. 114, article, p.8, ISSN: 1357-7417) accessible at: The Keep [LIB/500475] & S.A.S. library   View Online

Summer 2007 saw trial trench excavations by Matt Pope and a volunteer team in the field to the east of Beedings Castle, Nutbourne, near Pulborough, West Sussex.

Discoveries at Beedings, 2008: Multiple occupation on a Wealden Greensand ridge, by Matt Pope and Caroline Wells, published December 2008 in Sussex Past & Present (no. 116, article, p.12, ISSN: 1357-7417) accessible at: The Keep [LIB/500475] & S.A.S. library   View Online

This year's excavations at Beedings, on the Lower Greensand escarpment near Pulborough, West Sussex, has furthered a century of research and speculation concerning a collection of worked flint blades, discovered during construction of a house in 1900. Initially recognised as an Upper Palaeolithic assemblage, it was subsequently discredited and the rump of the assemblage discarded in the 1930s, (perhaps down a well at Lewes castle mound) consigning the site to obscurity. Reconsideration by Roger Jacobi of the remnants of the assemblage in 2007 confirmed this as a peerless example of the earliest Upper Palaeolithic archaeology in northern Europe, yet excavations by Jacobi and Ainsworth failed to find any Palaeolithic material.

Commanding position: high-status Late Iron Age and Romano-British occupation of a Wealden ridge at Beedings Hill, West Sussex, by Matt Pope, Caroline Wells, David Rudling, Anna Doherty, Sue Pringle, Louise Rayner and Roberta Tomber, published 2012 in Sussex Archæological Collections (vol. 150, article, pp.71-94) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 18615] & The Keep [LIB/500368] & S.A.S. library   View Online

This report presents the results of recent excavation and a field-walking survey at Redfolds Farm and Beedings Castle, near Nutbourne, Pulborough. It also publishes for the first time material from this site retained by the late Con Ainsworth. Late Iron Age and early Roman finds of pottery, including imported Dressel 1 amphorae and 'Pulborough' samian, coins and ceramic building material, are reported and discussed. Through the fieldwork and archive reassessment undertaken as part of the Beedings survey, Beedings Hill can now be confirmed as a site with significant high-status Late Iron Age and Romano-British activity. Strong evidence has been identified for trading contacts with the continent in the form of wine amphorae, other ceramics and Late Iron Age coinage. Insights are gained into Iron Age decorated pottery groups and the local production of samian in the 2nd century ad. The significance of this evidence in understanding the distribution of political power in Late Iron Age West Sussex and its transformation under Roman rule are discussed.