Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

Three linear features discovered during an archaeological evaluation carried out on land off Rolef Lane/Fairfield Road, New Romney, in 2009, are probably boundary or drainage ditches. They suggest that some areas of the site may still have been partly used for agricultural purposes during the Medieval period. The associated soil horizons also suggest that the soils were being cultivated for agricultural purposes.(location accurate to the nearest 1m based on available information)

Monument Types

• LINEAR FEATURE (Medieval - 1200 AD to 1350 AD)

Full description

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Three linear features discovered during an archaeological evaluation carried out on land off Rolef Lane/Fairfield Road, New Romney, in 2009, are probably boundary or drainage ditches. They suggest that some areas of the site may still have been partly used for agricultural purposes during the Medieval period. The associated soil horizons also suggest that the soils were being cultivated for agricultural purposes.

In detail: in trench 1 two linear features were recorded, the first was a linear ditch or gully, at 0.80m wide and 0.38m deep, it originally ran perpendicularly across the trench. No cultural material was retrieved from this feature. A second ditch or gully truncates the northern edge of the first running parallel with it perpendicularly across the trench. This second ditch/gully was 0.88m at its widest and 0.61m deep, and was found to contain several fragments of animal bone, oyster shell, peg tile and six sherds of pottery. The pottery dates the feature to the late thirteenth to mid fourteenth century (c. AD 1275-1350), and includes non local North and Mid Kent greyware. In trench 3 a ditch ran across the southern end of the trench in a rough south-west to north-east alignment. It was visible for a length of 1.80m and measured 1.36m at its widest point. Sample excavation revealed a maximum depth of 0.65m. Cultural material retrieved from this feature included nine sherds of pottery, two nails, along with fragments of peg tile, animal bone and oyster shell; the pottery suggests a late thirteenth- to mid fourteenth-century date (c. AD 1275-1350).(1) (information summarised from source)

<1> Canterbury Archaeological Trust, 2009, Archaeological evaluation at Land Adjoining Craythornes, Fairfield Road, New Romney (Unpublished document). SKE24815.

Sources and further reading