Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

In a field to the east of Kenardington church are the remains of some ancient fortifications. It may possibly be a Saxon work which the chronicle says was stormed in AD 893 by the Danes. It has also been suggested that Kenardington is the site of a shell keep although the evidence for this is tentative. Of its eastern side there remain 185 metres but it evidently extended southward into the adjoining arable fields, where it has been ploughed out. The northern arm, about 170 metres in length, is better preserved, but it is not evident how much further it extended towards the west. Only a 2.5 metre scarp is still visible on the slope towards the valley. The surviving earthworks are as shown on the Ordnance Survey 25" and are denoted on the Ordnance Survey 2nd edition map of c.1891.

Monument Types

• EARTHWORK (Unknown date)
• MOTTE? (Early Medieval or Anglo-Saxon to Medieval - 450 AD? to 1066 AD?)

Full description

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(TQ 97553225) Earthworks (NR) (1) "Below the hill on which Kenardington Church stands and adjoining to it south-east, are the remains of some ancient fortifications, of earth with a breastwork thrown up, and a small circular mound; and in the adjoining marsh below it is another, of larger size, with a narrowridge or causeway seemingly backing from one to the other". (Plan AO/62/41/7) (2) Kenardington, Kent, is listed as the presumed site of a shell keep, the evidence for which is imperfect. The remains of Kenardington camp are poor (see plan); of its eastern side there remain 600 ft but it evidently extended southward into the adjoining arable fields, where it has been ploughed out, while the piece still visible is no more than an eight foot scarp on the slope towards the valley. Hasted's mounds and 'causeway' are thought to be later than the stonghold, and possibly part of a dam used in "inning" the marshland. The northern arm, about 550 ft in length, is better preserved, but it is not evident how much further it extended towards the west, as the scarping on that side may be comparatively recent work, and the opening in the rampart on the north, though it appears an original entrance, may have been made for farm purposes. Perhaps this camp was never completed, and it may possibly be the Saxon work which the chronicle says was stormed in AD 893 by the Danes, who found only a half-constructed fastness in which a few countrymen were stationed. (3,4,5) The surviving earthworks are as shown on the OS 25". They are simple scarps, three on the north more pronounced than those on the east, andappear to be no more than old field boundaries. (6)

SKETCHY PLAN OF DUBIOUS FORTIFICATIONS Types: ?BREASTWORK/?FIELD BOUNDARY/?RINGWORK (Photograph). SKE203.

SKETCHY PLAN OF DUBIOUS FORTIFICATIONS Types: ?BREASTWORK/?FIELD BOUNDARY/?RINGWORK (Photograph). SKE203.

<1> OS 6" 1961 (OS Card Reference). SKE48369.

<2> Hist of Kent vol 3 1790 117 Plan (E Hasted) (OS Card Reference). SKE44011.

<3> Md Mil Arch 1884 vol 1 146 (G T Clark) (OS Card Reference). SKE46669.

<4> Minerals of Old Kent 1907 158-9 (H Sands, Ed P H Ditchfield) (OS Card Reference). SKE47210.

<5> VCH 1 1908 397-8 (I C Gould) (OS Card Reference). SKE50795.

<6> F1 ASP 08.03.63 (OS Card Reference). SKE41992.

<7> Field report for monument TQ 93 SE 3 - March, 1963 (Bibliographic reference). SKE4719.

<8> PLAN OF EARTHWORKS AT KENARDINGTON (Photograph). SKE2582.

Sources and further reading