Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

Discovered in 1992 when a new 6 metre-deep underpass was being built in Dover, the Dover Boat is one of the most complete prehistoric vessels discovered in Britain. In use around 3600 years ago, it is thought to have been capable of cross-Channel voyages as well as plying along the coast of England. The boat consists of 6 oak timbers, lashed together with yew wood. Moss was pushed into the joints. The two central planks were joined with wedges, a central rail and a series of cleats. Its surviving length is 9.5 m and it is c. 2.5 m wide although its complete extent is unknown as part is still buried. The upper planks and part of the end had been removed in the Bronze Age. The boat is thought to have required as many as 18 people to paddle. It could have held a large cargo and is therefore thought to be capable of sea-travel. It was originally preserved because it was waterlogged and covered in a layer of silt. It has been conserved by replacing the moisture with a wax substance known as PEG. It is now housed in an award-winning gallery about the Bronze Age, within Dover Museum. (location accurate to the nearest 1m based on available information)

Images

Monument Types

• WATERCRAFT (Abandoned, Middle Bronze Age - 1550 BC? to 1546 BC? (at some time))

Associated Finds

• BURNT FLINT (Bronze Age - 2350 BC to 701 BC)
• LITHIC IMPLEMENT (Bronze Age - 2350 BC to 701 BC)
• STRING (Bronze Age - 2350 BC to 701 BC)
• STRUCK FLINT (Bronze Age - 2350 BC to 701 BC)
• SHERD (Early Bronze Age - 2150 BC to 1870 BC)

Full description

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During a deep contractors excavation at the junction of Bench Street and Townwall Street a short section of the massive timber box which would have formed the Roman harbour wall was revealed. In the same pit, below the harbour wall (6m from ground level) a large portion of a Bronze Age wooden boat was recovered. The timbers extended for 6m across the full width of the pit and were removed in small sections from the site.

From the start of the A20 project it was clear that one of the principal regions requiring detailed archaeological investigation would be centred on Bench Street, within the heart of the old town, about 200m inland from the present shoreline. Here extensive deep excavations for replacement mains sewers and a major pedestrian underpass below the new highway (Townwall Street) were fully expected to reveal some significant remains as the area lay across an important part of the Medieval settlement.

Construction of the new underpass began in the summer of 1992 and allowed the rapid examination and recording of a series of Medieval and post medieval remains. In September 1992, an opportunity to examine a more substantial exposure of the early valley deposits was provided when the contractors, as a late addition to their original plans, opened a deep shaft at the junction of Bench Street with Townwall Street. This was intended for the insertion of a water pump below the base level of the new underpass. The machine excavated shaft was lined with interlocking steel sheet piling and cut across the line of the lost Medieval town wall. It was ultimately excavated to a maximum depth of just over 7m below the street level, revealing an impressive sequence of stratified deposits and structures of archaeological and palaeoenvironmental interest. The first major archaeological find to be recovered was the remains of the Medieval town wall which survived to a height of about 0.5m and the southern (seaward) side was found to rest upon a line of timber planks.

At a slightly lower level in the north eastern corner of the shaft a short section of an earlier timber structure was exposed and recorded. This survived to a maximum height of 0.77m. Two massive timber baulks, laid horizontally, one upon the other, and set within a construction trench aligned roughly east west, formed the main elements of the structure. This unexpected discovery appeared to form the southern side of a massive timber box framed harbour wall of Roman construction, cut into the bed of the estuary. The Roman structure was removed keeping the timbers in-tact (tree ring analysis of these timbers is discussed in a later report). Before these had been completely removed, more timber features were located at a slightly lower again on the western side of the shaft. Further examination soon suggested that these timbers must form some part of a boat lying 6m below the ground level. The construction details along with the nature of the surrounding sediments (which contained significant quantities of calcined flints and flint flakes) suggested that these remains were of Prehistoric date.

Work to expose the timbers in order to more fully assess their extent and importance was begun. Because the boat had to be removed in order to allow the contractors to complete the shaft, the excavation team decided that the craft needed to be lifted to allow more careful study off site. The boat was cut into manageable segments, thereby safeguarding key structural features.

The Dover boat always appeared as an extremely impressive structure. The details of the construction readily made it clear that the vessel must have been the product of a master boat builder working within a long established tradition. The boat had been largely constructed from just four main timbers. The two curved side planks were attached to the base planks by individual stitches of twisted wood fibre. Moss padding was clearly visible between most of the joints. The two main base planks had been held together by means of transverse timbers and wedges, driven through cleats and a pair of longitudinal rails carved from the base timbers themselves. Careful inspection of the timbers revealed an extensive series of original tool marks still preserved on the wood surfaces. Superficially the boat resembled the lower part of a modern plank built river punt, with a flat bottom, vertical sides and a wide sloping south end, its surviving structure was 2.30m wide and more than 9.2m long (the northern end of the vessel was not excavated). It is possible that the boat may have been up to 15m long. The boat was constructed from planks fastened together edge to edge, by rather complex methods the shape of the hull was maintained by the great thickness of the planks, by longitudinal ‘rails’ of upstanding timber, by curved planks, which acted as ‘girders’ forming the corners between the flat bottom and the upright sides, and by transverse timbers, which acted as frames. (1-2)

The boat now resides in a gallery dedicated to it in Dover Museum located of Market Square.

Tree-ring analysis of timbers recovered during an excavation in 1992 at the site of the old Roman waterfront. Dating results were limited to indicating a terminus post quem of, timbers date to after, AD 28.(3)

Summary of above information (4)

Discussion of the boat in relation to the Dover Western Docks Revival Scheme (5)

<1> CAT Annual Report, 1992-3. (OS Card Reference). SKE38715.

<1> Canterbury Archaeological Trust, 1993, Canterbury's Archaeology 1992 - 1993, CAT Annual Report, 1992-3. (Article in serial). SKE7909.

<2> English Heritage, 2004, The Dover Bronze Age Boat (Monograph). SKE31841.

<3> Centre for Archaeology, 2001, Tree-Ring Analysis of Timbers from Town Wall Street, Dover (Unpublished document). SKE12169.

<4> Malcolm King, 1993, Kent Archaeological Review: Bronze Age Boat found at Dover. Vol. 111 (Article in serial). SKE31871.

<5> Maritime Archaeology, 2008, Dover Terminal 2 EIA: Historic Environment Baseline Report (Unpublished document). SKE31717.

Sources and further reading

Related thematic articles

• Bronze Age Kent (Thematic Essay)
• Kent's Greatest Archaeological Discoveries? (Thematic Essay)