Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

Excavations in 2000-2002 carried out as part of the Channel Tunnel Rail Link found three sunken-featured buildings west of Northfleet Roman villa.

Location accurate to 2m based on available information

Monument Types

• GRUBENHAUS (Early Medieval or Anglo-Saxon - 480 AD to 720 AD?)
• POST HOLE (Early Medieval or Anglo-Saxon - 480 AD? to 720 AD?)

Full description

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Excavations in 2000-2002 carried out as part of the Channel Tunnel Rail Link found three early-Saxon sunken-featured buildings (SFB 30057, 30107, 30119) west of Northfleet Roman villa (area 6). The structures were 3-4m long and 2-3 m wide and contained post holes. contained 5th-6th century pottery, animal bone and fired clay, loomweights, a 6th century brooch, animal bone, a double-sided comb, a quern fragment and pinbeaters. Close by was a possible hearth. (1)

Large quantities of red and roe deer fragments came from SFB 30057 in particular. The volume and distribution suggests either a craft funtion, a ritual aspect, or a combination of the two (2).

SFB 30057 was defined by a sub-rectangular pit measuring 3.2 m long by approximately 2.9 m wide and 0.5 m deep. There was some uncertainty over the plan of the pit in the evaluation pit so the width can only be estimated. Three structural post-holes were identified across the western end of the pit, all were a similar size c 0.25–0.30 m in diameter and 0.40–0.50 m deep. Cut into the base of the pit and linking the post-holes was a gully. (1)

Along the north side of the pit was a linear feature, averaging 0.30 m wide and filled with a light yellow–brown silty sand, which was stratigraphically later than all but the latest pit fill. It may represent a re-building episode. (1)

Finnds include included 5th–6th century pottery, animal bone, and fired clay. The proportion of pottery decreased in
the upper fill. A pottery loomweight and an incomplete copper alloy plate brooch were also recovered. The style of the brooch dates it cautiously to the early decades of the 6th century (1).

Location accurate to 2m based on available information

<1> Oxford Wessex Archaeology Joint Venture, 2010, Settling the Ebbsfleet Valley. CTRL Excavations at Springhead and Northfleet, Kent. The Late Iron Age, Roman, Saxon, and Medieval Landscape (Unpublished document). SKE31245.

<2> Oxford Wessex Archaeology Joint Venture, 2011, Settling the Ebbsfleet Valley. CTRL Excavations at Springhead and Northfleet, Kent. Volume 4: Saxon and Later Finds and Environmental Reports (Monograph). SKE32437.

Sources and further reading

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