North Downs - History

History

The discovery of worked flints and human and animal remains dating from the Lower Paleolithic, approximately 400,000 years ago at Barnfield Pit near Swanscombe provides the earliest evidence of human occupation in the North Downs. It is suggested that human activity at this time coincided with intermittent warm phases during the last glacial period and that continuous occupation of the Downs did not occur until warming after the glaciation. Flint axes have also been found on river terraces at Farnham, on Walton and Banstead Heaths and on the crest of the escarpment above Folkestone. There is considerable evidence of Mesolithic activity in the Surrey Downs through the discovery of pit-dwellings at Weston Woods near Albury and the quantity of discarded tools, microliths and other implements discovered.

At about 3000 BC the emergence of Neolithic culture saw the lifestyle of the Mesolithic hunter-gatherer shift to a more sedentary and communal lifestyle that relied upon the keeping of livestock and the growing of crops. There is substantial evidence of Neolithic activity within the North Downs, notably the long barrows concentrated in the Medway and Stour valleys. The Medway long barrows, which include Kit's Coty House and Coldrum Stones are constructed of sarsen stone, locally found on Blue Bell Hill and the valleys of the dip slope, whilst the Stour Valley long barrows are constructed of earth.