Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

Excavations in advance of the Channel Tunnel Rail Link in 2002-3 identified a number of Romano-British property boundaries west of the Ebbsfleet. Within property 11, which was located between the junction of Watling Street and its branch road, a multi phased circular structure. This was positioned within the angle formed by the two roads. The purpose of this structure is not clear though it may have been domestic. (location accurate to the nearest 1m based on available information) (location accurate to the nearest 1m based on available information)

Monument Types

• BEAM SLOT (Roman - 75 AD? to 130 AD?)
• BURIAL (Roman - 75 AD? to 130 AD?)
• FLOOR (Roman - 75 AD? to 130 AD?)
• GULLY (Roman - 75 AD? to 130 AD?)
• HEARTH (Roman - 75 AD? to 130 AD?)
• POST HOLE (Roman - 75 AD? to 130 AD?)
• STAKE HOLE (Roman - 75 AD? to 130 AD?)

Associated Finds

• HUMAN REMAINS (Roman - 75 AD? to 130 AD?)

Full description

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Excavations in advance of the Channel Tunnel Rail Link in 2002-3 identified a number of Romano-British property boundaries west of the Ebbsfleet. Within property 11, which was located between the junction of Watling Street and its branch road, a multi phased circular structure. This was positioned within the angle formed by the two roads. The earlies phase comprised a number of post-holes, at least one small pit, a hearth, and a shallow gully. Within it and on the east side of the gully were two neonate/infant burials in shallow graves. Pottery recovered from various features assigned to this phase indicates that they had probably been infilled by around AD 75. These features were overlain by a clay floor which represents the second phase of construction here, this was approximately 8 m in diameter, but only around a short length of the north-west side were there any associated structural features. Here, an arc of stake-holes defined the edge of the floor and presumably represents part of a wattle (and daub) wall of which there was no other trace. There was a hearth towards the southern edge of the clay floor and several post-holes in the interior of the structure, but the latter formed no coherent pattern. The third phase was again defined by a clay floor though this survived more patchily than its predecessor. Two substantial but somewhat irregular slots lay at almost 90º to each other and may have defined a south-east facing entrance approximately 3 m wide, although a structural purpose is possible for both, their precise function remains unclear. The same applies to a third substantial slot which perhaps defined the north-west edge of the structure. This rectangular feature was approximately 4 m long, 1.25 m wide and 0.60 m deep, with vertical sides and a flat bottom. Within the third phase of this structure was a centrally-placed, subrectangular hearth and around this were several smaller hearths, presumably not all contemporary as two of the three on the east side overlapped. A small number of post-holes and small pits also lay within this structure, some perhaps associated with the central hearth, but of otherwise unknown function. The structure was overlain by what is interpreted as an abandonment or destruction level which contained a notable quantity of pottery, virtually all of early Roman date. There was a notable concentration of quernstone fragments, of a variety of stone types, present in features and deposits associated with all phases of circular structure. A domestic purpose for these structures is therefore possible, and there is nothing from the pits in this property that might suggest otherwise. Dating evidence provided by the pottery indicates that the use of the circular structure may have lasted little more than two or three decades, from around AD 75 until possibly the first decade or two of the 2nd century. The latest pottery from what may have been a destruction or abandonment level overlying the second of the circular structures has been dated to c AD 120/130, and none of the pottery from the immediately surrounding deposits extends to later than the middle of the 2nd century. (1)

<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.

Sources and further reading

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