# Ernest Greenfield

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[Template:Short description](/mw/index.php?title=Template:Short_description&action=edit&redlink=1) [Template:Use dmy dates](/mw/index.php?title=Template:Use_dmy_dates&action=edit&redlink=1) **Ernest Greenfield** was a [British](/mw/index.php?title=Great_Britain&action=edit&redlink=1) [archaeologist](/mw/index.php?title=Archaeology&action=edit&redlink=1). He served with the [Royal Air Force](/mw/index.php?title=Royal_Air_Force&action=edit&redlink=1) during the [Second World War](/mw/index.php?title=World_War_II&action=edit&redlink=1). During his war service he became friends with [Philip Rahtz](/mw/index.php?title=Philip_Rahtz&action=edit&redlink=1), who persuaded Greenfield to take up professional archaeology. His excavations included the [Great Witcombe Roman Villa](/mw/index.php?title=Great_Witcombe_Roman_Villa&action=edit&redlink=1), [Gloucestershire](/mw/index.php?title=Gloucestershire&action=edit&redlink=1) (1960–1973), and [Chew Valley Lake](/mw/index.php?title=Chew_Valley_Lake&action=edit&redlink=1), north [Somerset](/mw/index.php?title=Somerset&action=edit&redlink=1) (1953). Greenfield grew up in Sidcup, Kent, and was a schoolboy when he set out single-handedly to excavate a Roman site at Horwood's Pit, St Paul's Cray, while gravel extraction operations were being carried out in the 1930s. He was not popular with the gravel company, and subsequently contacted [A. H. A. Hogg](/mw/index.php?title=A._H._A._Hogg&action=edit&redlink=1) for help with the investigations. Hogg later drew up a plan of the site, and sought further help for Greenfield from Norman Cook at Maidstone Museum. In a letter to Cook, preserved at the museum, Hogg stated that Greenfield 'had the right ideas', but was discouraged after having lost his finds and site notes off the back of his motorbike. Later Greenfield set up a local archaeological group which he credited with discovering many new sites, including the Lullingstone Roman Villa.[Template:Citation needed](/mw/index.php?title=Template:Citation_needed&action=edit&redlink=1)

## Bibliography

- [Template:Cite book](/mw/index.php?title=Template:Cite_book&action=edit&redlink=1)

- Unpublished letter from A. H. A. Hogg to N. Cook concerning Greenfield's early career (held in Maidstone Museum)

- Greenfield, E., 'Notes on the Archaeological Sites in the Cray Valley', *The Transactions of the Dartford Antiquaries Society*, 6 (1936)

[Template:Authority control](/mw/index.php?title=Template:Authority_control&action=edit&redlink=1)

[Template:UK-archaeologist-stub](/mw/index.php?title=Template:UK-archaeologist-stub&action=edit&redlink=1)

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Ernest Greenfield](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernest_Greenfield) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernest_Greenfield?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.