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Monument details

HER Number:TR 15 NW 40
Type of record:Findspot
Name:Palaeolithic handaxes Cozens & Sons 40 Acre Pit, Canterbury

Summary

Lower Palaeolithic handaxes, roughout and flakes found at Forty Acres or St Stephen's Pit. Pits worked by Cozens and Son for brickearth and gravel, and is situated by the railway embankment on the Whitstable branch line at Hackington.

Grid Reference:TR 143 589
Map Sheet:TR15NW
Parish:CANTERBURY, CANTERBURY, KENT

Monument Types

  • FINDSPOT (Lower Palaeolithic to Middle Palaeolithic - 500000 BC to 40001 BC)
  • LITHIC SCATTER (Middle Palaeolithic to Upper Palaeolithic - 50000 BC to 15000 BC)

Associated Finds

  • FLAKE (Lower Palaeolithic to Middle Palaeolithic - 500000 BC to 40001 BC)
  • HANDAXE (Middle Palaeolithic - 150000 BC to 40001 BC)

Full description

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Numerous handaxes were found in/around the brickearth and gravel pit comples known as Forty Acres Pit or St Stephen's Pit, worked by Cozens and Son in the earlier 20th C (1, 2, 3, 4). The main pit lies immediately to the west of the branch railway line to Whitstable, but there was also a smaller and older pit immediately to the east of the line. Handaxes from the site include a large and finely-made ficron (5) and a bout coupe handaxe (6). NB - this site is not the same as "St Stephen's Brick Works" at TR 15300 59050, see OS mapping of 1930s, which was also known as "Edwards' Brickworks" according Dewey & Smith (1 - p 134).


<1> Dewey H, Smith RA, 1925, Flints from the Sturry gravels, Kent., pp. 135-136 (Article in serial). SKE29699.

<2> F1 ASP 01-FEB-65 (OS Card Reference). SKE41866.

<3> Roe, D.A., 1968, Gazetteer of British Lower and Middle Palaeolithic Sites, p. 142 (Monograph). SWX6570.

<4> Wessex Archaeology, 1993, The Southern Rivers Palaeolithic Project, Report No.2: The South West and South of the Thames [Vol. I - text], S-4.27, p 146 (Monograph). SWX6569.

<5> Bowes, A, 1928, Palaeoliths found in England (Article in serial). SKE29707.

<6> Tyldesley JA, 1987, The Bout Coupé Handaxe: a Typological Problem. British Series 170. BAR, Oxford., p. 68 (Bibliographic reference). SKE29688.

Sources and further reading

Cross-ref. Source description
<1>Article in serial: Dewey H, Smith RA. 1925. Flints from the Sturry gravels, Kent.. Kent. Archaeologia 74: 117-136. pp. 135-136.
<2>OS Card Reference: F1 ASP 01-FEB-65.
<3>Monograph: Roe, D.A.. 1968. Gazetteer of British Lower and Middle Palaeolithic Sites. 1-355. p. 142.
<4>Monograph: Wessex Archaeology. 1993. The Southern Rivers Palaeolithic Project, Report No.2: The South West and South of the Thames [Vol. I - text]. S-4.27, p 146.
<5>Article in serial: Bowes, A. 1928. Palaeoliths found in England. Antiquaries Journal 8: 517-518, Plates 79-81.
<6>XYBibliographic reference: Tyldesley JA. 1987. The Bout Coupé Handaxe: a Typological Problem. British Series 170. BAR, Oxford.. p. 68. [Mapped feature: #43636 Find, ]