Exploring Kent's Past

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

Monument details

Summary

A Late Bronze Age - Early Iron Age settlement was revealed on the foreshore as a result of wave action. Features included pits and post holes identified as the remains of hut circles. Finds found at the site included butchered long bones and skulls of cows, some human skull fragments, and burnt waste flakes and cores.

Monument Types

• HUT CIRCLE SETTLEMENT (Late Bronze Age to Early Iron Age - 1000 BC to 401 BC)
• PIT (Late Bronze Age to Early Iron Age - 1000 BC to 401 BC)

Associated Finds

• ANIMAL REMAINS (Prehistoric - 500000 BC to 42 AD)
• CORE (Prehistoric - 500000 BC to 42 AD)
• FLAKE (Prehistoric - 500000 BC to 42 AD)
• HUMAN REMAINS (Prehistoric - 500000 BC to 42 AD)

Full description

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

TR 3275 7050 Bronze Age, Iron Age and Romano-British features and finds (1).

Wave action on the beach in late November 1987 stripped away a layer of sand to reveal a series of pits cut into the chalk on the edge of the wave-cut shelf. Pits vary between 2m and 8m in diameter. One at least appears to be a granary lined with wattles, the wood of which is still intact and flexible. Characteristic surface finds are butchered long bones and skulls of cows (some human skull fragments were also found), burned waste flakes and cores. Evidence suggests a settlement extending in a line 310 degrees NNW along the west facing aspect of the valley. A stream is known to have entered the sea at this point until historic times. LBA-EIA settlement of post-hole hut circles and pits (3 wattle-lined) (2).

Site being monitored by Thanet Soc/Trust and is in process of destruction by natural and human agency, despite SSSI status. Stream bed is full of timber and structural remains and man-made features, with earliest furthest from shore.

Earlier and later remains recorded as separate monuments. For site in context with others in inter-tidal zone see (3). Additional references (4).

<1> Isle of Thanet Arch Unit Sites and Mons Archive 1988 rec no 301 (OS Card Reference). SKE44659.

<2> David Perkins/Trust for Thanet Archaeology, 2000, Thanet and Wantsum coastal sites, 2000 (Unpublished document). SWX9343.

<3> Department of Archaeology, University of Reading, 1994, Inter-tidal archaeology in Kent (Unpublished document). SWX9353.

<4> Perkins, D., 1988, A Middle Bronze Age hoard from St Mildred's Bay, 1988 (Article in serial). SWX9344.

Sources and further reading

Related records