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Monument details
| HER Number: | TQ 77 NW 47 |
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| Type of record: | Monument |
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| Name: | Small mound, uncertain function, Cliffe Marshes |
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Summary
Small mound of uncertain function identified from aerial photographs on Cliffe Marshes. Possibly related to salt panning? One of many such features in this area.
| Grid Reference: | TQ 7442 7686 |
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| Map Sheet: | TQ77NW |
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| Parish: | CLIFFE AND CLIFFE WOODS, MEDWAY, KENT |
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Monument Types
| Protected Status: | Selected Heritage Inventory for Natural England: Small mound of uncertain function identified from aerial photographs on Cliffe Marshes. Possible saltmound |
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Full description
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Small mound. Many similar mounds in this area. (1)
The earthwork remains of a large irregular mound mapped from aerial photographs which is thought to be one of a number of medieval saltern mounds. These mounds are the result of large-scale salt manufacturing where brine was extracted from salt-rich sands and sediments, concentrated and evaporated using process known as sleeching. The discarded waste material from the process built up around the production area into a sizeable mound, often with a hollow in the centred where a hut stood. These medieval saltern mounds are typically described as floriate in form because of their irregular lobed formation of dumped waste. They often occur in clusters around former and surviving tidal water-courses within the marsh. There has been considerable reclamation and subsequent sea wall construction since the medieval period which has isolated these sites from the sea.
Many of these mounds were subsequently utilised as sheepfolds, sheep washes and stock refuges in the post medieval period because of their slightly elevated position in the readily flooded marshes.
Roman finds have been extracted from some of these sites, but are believed to be from the lower levels and not associated with the mounds. Post-Roman flooding and silt deposition has resulted in Roman sites lying typically several feet below the current land surface.
This site was mapped from aerial photographs as part of the English Heritage: Hoo Peninsula Landscape Project. (2)
<1> RAF CPE/UK 1923 F4033 (16-01-47) (OS Card Reference). SKE48956.
<2> 1946, Photograph (Photograph (Print)). SWX9443.
<3> 1946, Photograph (Photograph (Print)). SWX9448.
<4> 1947, Photograph (Photograph (Print)). SWX9856.
Sources and further reading
| Cross-ref.
| Source description | | <1>XY | OS Card Reference: RAF CPE/UK 1923 F4033 (16-01-47). [Mapped feature: #25563 mound, ] |
| <2> | Photograph (Print): 1946. Photograph. 4054. print. |
| <3> | Photograph (Print): 1946. Photograph. 4068. print. |
| <4> | Photograph (Print): 1947. Photograph. 4033. print. |
