Colleagues have paid tribute to a local archaeologist who did excavations in Ewell and worked identifying Romano-British pottery.

Margaret Nobbs, 74, who died suddenly this month, was involved excavations at St Mary’s Churchyard and Field, and Hatch Furlong.

Despite ill health, she took part in field walking last summer at Priest’s Hill and Langley Vale and in an event more recently at Sutton library, cataloguing medieval pottery from Whitehall, Cheam, as part of National Archaeology Week.

A former pupil of Rosebery School, Ms Nobbs, who was born in Stoneleigh, moved to West Ewell after her mother’s death and joined what was then Nonsuch Antiquarian Society, now Epsom and Ewell History and Archaeology Society.

She became a committee member in 1993 and remained active until her death.

David Brooks, from Bourne Hall Museum, where Ms Nobbs used to be on the enquiry desk of the Local History Centre every Tuesday morning, said: “Margaret was always keen to encourage children to learn about archaeology as she felt they where the future.

“She will be sorely missed by all who knew her.”

Ms Nobbs’ keen interest in archaeology led her to become a digger and more recently a finds processor, skilled in identifying Romano-British pottery. She was also a member of the Roman Studies Group of Surrey Archaeological Society.

She was secretary of St. Mary’s Old Church Preservation Society and the first Chairman of Epsom and Ewell Local and Family History Society.