Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

Belgic and Romano-British pottery and feature recorded in the Isle of Thanet sites and monuments archive. Found as a result of wave action amongst prehistoric features (see TR 37 SW 1017). Site identifed during an assessment of the north Kent coast by Wessex Archaeology.

Monument Types

• FEATURE (Roman - 43 AD to 409 AD)

Full description

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


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 reference (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 David Perkins/Trust for Thanet Archaeology, 2000, Thanet and Wantsum coastal sites, 2000 (Unpublished document).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 Department of Archaeology, University of Reading, 1994, Inter-tidal archaeology in Kent (Unpublished document).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