Solent-Thames Research Framework for the Historic Environment Resource Assessments and Research Agendas

The Solent-Thames region, as recently defined by
central government, comprises five counties from north
to south: Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Berkshire,
Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, providing a N-S
transect across Central Southern England. This area
includes a varied geography, from the Cotswolds in the
north across the chalklands of the Berkshire Downs and
the heathlands of Hampshire to the south coast. It does
not follow previous regional divisions of England,
instead aiming to provide fresh insights into the past
through the grouping of existing administrative units in
a new combination.
This volume presents the first two phases of the
Research Framework project for this region. The first is
an assessment of the current state of archaeological
knowledge within this region from Palaeolithic times to
the present day, the second a series of research aims and
priorities both for specific periods and for wider crossperiod
themes. It starts with an introduction explaining
the current organisation of information about the past in
the region, and a brief introduction to the environmental
archaeology of the Solent-Thames area. Following this,
two chapters are devoted to each major chronological
period, the first presenting an overview of the resource as
currently understood, the second a Research Agenda for
future work. There is then a brief conclusion.
In several of the chronological periods, this region
contains some of the most important and bestresearched
sites, or groups of sites, in England. These
include the remarkable series of early Mesolithic settlements
along the Kennet valley, the hillfort at Danebury
and its environs, the Roman town of Silchester and the
cemetery of Lankhills, and the Saxon and medieval
towns and cities of Southampton, Winchester and
Oxford. The region has strong royal links in the medieval
period, resulting in the preservation of Windsor Forest
and the New Forest, and Oxford was the capital for King
Charles I during the English Civil War. Arguably the
most important ships in the naval history of Britain are
housed at Portsmouth, including the Mary Rose, the
best-preserved Tudor warship in Britain. Among the
many country estates, Blenheim Palace, the seat of the
Dukes of Marlborough, is of international renown. More
recently, this region has been the focus of political
dissent during the Cold War, around the nuclear facilities
at Greenham Common and Upper Heyford.
The Resource Assessments are written by eminent
period specialists, drawing upon county assessments
prepared by local experts, which can be found online at
http://oxfordarchaeology.com/research-projects-by-name/
217-solent-thames-research-framework. The Research
Agendas are organised under the same headings as the
Resource Assessments, and the research questions are
numbered for ease of reference.
The volume is one of a series covering the whole of
England, and is published with the support of English
Heritage. It aims to draw together the results of
developer-funded, purely academic and local research
within this region, and to place the results in the context
of current research. It is hoped that it will be useful to
all those contemplating, planning or undertaking future
archaeological work within the region.