During June 2010 we wanted to investigate the chance of any infrastructure being present along the banks of the Thames which is adjacent to Mill End Roman Villa, Hambleden. We suspect that this villa may have something to do with control of river traffic and maybe offloading and loading up goods to boats, in which case they would need a quay and maybe wharf storage areas. There is a chance that wood making up such structures may still be preserved in the bank or within the river sediments. With the help of the Chesham Sub-aqua club we investigated this possibility.

The dive team get ready to submerge at the unearthly time of 5.30 am. They have until 9 am when the locks open and boats start to move along the river.

The Chiltern Archaeology team (Alison, John and Keith) with poles at the ready to mark out a base line along the river bank.

If there are finds we can then record them in accurately against the baseline.

But measuring in the baseline becomes a bit more complicated with a big tangle in the tape!

I guess the guys are supervising?

Alison gets kitted up in wetsuit to join the dive team

We find an old timber with cut marks similar to those made by prehistoric axes. John is holding it immediately prior to measuring and photographing it. The wood was then immediately replaced to the find location as we do not have the facilities to conserve wood at this stage.

We found no definite Roman infrastructure during the dive. We did however find more scattered wood like this post in the upstream direction. We are tentatively interpreting these pieces of wood as structure that was dislodged during renovation works to the upstream marina or mill and weir area.

We also found a line of round vertical, in situ posts sretching out from the bank into the river. These are presumed more recent and may be a small jetty for a boat.

There were many finds made near the Ferry crossing point which were 1700s and younger.

This is a Hamilton bottle.

and this clay pipe has an intact stem and bowl.

For more information on the Mill End villa results, adjacent to the river, see under 'Results' - 'Mill End'