The 6,000 year old secrets of Seething Wells'

A group of Archaeological students from Kingston University have unearthed a secret garden at the university campus of Seething Wells'. 

It all began when Dr Helen Wickstead spotted an opportunity to examine an area after looking at historic maps and images of the area alongside the River Thames. 

It sparked an interest to excavate the land, which then revealed the garden. 

After digging a 10 metre square trench, the team discovered signs of a path made from cinder and gravel. 

Shells in the gravel section suggest the path was probably made from waste material from the water filter gravel beds that still exist opposite the hall of residence. 

But one fragment spotted by chance in the waste took the team right back to the Neolithic period. 

The team also unearthed a fragment of red and white pottery with illustrations of two Victorian gentlemen.

Some more recent objects have connections to the war years. The team expected several small metal garden tags they discovered to bear the names of plants.

Surbiton resident Sue Wilson spotted the event online and contacted Dr Wickstead to get involved. "I'm fascinated by local history and the dig was a chance for me to tap into some of the skills I developed when I was at university studying archaeology and geography,"

Dr Wickstead explained. "A garden on a site like this might tell us more about the people who lived and worked nearby - did they use it for leisure, was it just decorative and reserved for the privileged, or was it used for food production?"