THE STANWELL CURSUS
This
cursus is at least three miles long, running in two linear sections from a
field in Stanwell up through the western side of Heathrow Airport. None is
left now; the airport has claimed most of it, and gravel workings have destroyed
the Stanwell end. However, an interesting ley runs along each of its sections
(see map of area). Investigation of the cursus during excavation of the Perry
Oaks Sludge Works, Hillingdon revealed remarkable evidence for a short avenue
of posts c35m long, apparently constructed prior to the cutting of the ditches,
on the same alignment. The cursus had an internal bank that, although ploughed
down, left a slight rise even in the modern ground surface.