History
The land on which Stockley Park stands has been a site of human endeavour for 250,000 years. Throughout its history it has witnessed the evolution of mankind and the way man has learned to adapt local resources to the best advantage.
Before the last ice age, palaeolithic man and woman crafted primitive stone tools which were swept into the gravel underneath Stockley by the rivers and glacial melt waters. By 70,000 years ago the site was visited by Neanderthal man and the implements found in the Yiewsley gravel pits reflect a slow, certain progress over the centuries in the mental concepts and manual skills of these nomadic hunters and gatherers.
As they improved their sharpened flint tool kits they became more efficient at feeding, clothing and sheltering themselves. In fact, the Yiewsley gravel pits, which were investigated early this century, have yielded some of the most extensive deposits in this country of the tools knapped by Neanderthal man.
The more settled Neolithic people farmed the land and gradually received incomers who knew how to work metal.
In 1975 a bronze age axe was found near Harlington Church and nearby there are clues suggesting that a burial ground and settlement were established close to Stockley at this time. Certainly during the middle iron age there was at least one farming community harvesting wheat, barley and oats from the fertile ground.
Archaeological excavations in 1985 and 1990 have revealed four circular huts and associated granaries, along with weaving equipment and the first evidence of industrial waste, metal slag.