Link to printer-friendly page

It should not be assumed that this site is publicly accessible and it may be on private property. Do not trespass.

Monument details

HER Number:TQ 77 NW 1088
Type of record:Monument
Name:Salt panning site, Bush Wick, Cliffe Marshes

Summary

Evidence of salt panning, visible on the cleared banks of the north and south drain, Bush Wick, Cliffe Marshes. Identified from aerial photographs.


Grid Reference:TQ 746 780
Map Sheet:TQ77NW
Parish:CLIFFE AND CLIFFE WOODS, MEDWAY, KENT

Monument Types

Protected Status:Selected Heritage Inventory for Natural England: Probable salt-making site. Site consists of a levelled mound and Roman and medieval pottery has been recovered

Full description

If you do not understand anything on this page please contact us.

[TQ 7467 7806]. Cliffe marshes, Bush Wick. Evidence of salt panning was visible on the cleared banks of the north and south drain (1). Additional site photographs (2-5).

Satlings in the Cliffe and Cooling Marshes area were identified. The north Kent "Thameside" marshes, like at Cliffe and Cooling, are linked with salterns and potteries associated with salt industry. A distinctive type of shell-empered storage jar arose from this vicinity and it may have well been a storage jar fro salt to transport it. The production of the jars seem to have barely outlasted the 2nd century AD, possible related with the decline of the salt industry in this region. Similar sat works can be found at Harty Marshes on the Isle of Sheppy. (6)


<1> Arch Cant 96 1980 380 (P Thornhill and P Payne) (OS Card Reference). SKE36255.

<2> 1946, Photograph (Photograph (Print)). SWX9443.

<3> 1946, Photograph (Photograph (Print)). SWX9632.

<4> 1946, Photograph (Photograph (Print)). SWX9633.

<5> 1947, Photograph (Photograph (Print)). SWX9780.

<6> RCHME, 1995, Thames Gateway: Recording Historic Buildings And Landscapes On The Thames Estuary (Unpublished document). SKE17329.

Sources and further reading

Cross-ref. Source description
<1>OS Card Reference: Arch Cant 96 1980 380 (P Thornhill and P Payne).
<2>Photograph (Print): 1946. Photograph. 4054. print.
<3>Photograph (Print): 1946. Photograph. 1067. print.
<4>Photograph (Print): 1946. Photograph. 1070. print.
<5>Photograph (Print): 1947. Photograph. 3115. print.
<6>Unpublished document: RCHME. 1995. Thames Gateway: Recording Historic Buildings And Landscapes On The Thames Estuary.