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Monument details

HER Number:TQ 75 SW 3
Type of record:Monument
Name:Earthworks, possibly a windmill mound and post medieval military activity

Summary

Earthworks consisting of a series of banks and ditches with a small mount in one corner. The entrenchments are 21ft at the widest and now poorly defined; the mount has an irregular excavation on the summit.

Grid Reference:TQ 7331 5100
Map Sheet:TQ75SW
Parish:COXHEATH, MAIDSTONE, KENT

Monument Types

Protected Status:Selected Heritage Inventory for Natural England: Two contiguous rectangular enclosures occupying circa 2 hectares on a ridge top. It has been suggested that they are military earthworks of the C18-19th, but a mound overlying the corner of one of them is reminiscent of a post-mill mound.

Full description

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(TQ 73285098) Earthworks [GT] (1) An unclassified earthwork consisting of a series of banks and ditches with a small mount in one corner. The entrenchments are 21ft at the widest and now poorly defined; the mount has an irregular excavation on the summit. (2)

The earthworks are two contiguous near-rectangular enclosures with feeble banks and ditches. They are clearly minor and comparatively recent, and may be connected with the military encampments on Cox Heath mentioned by Igglesden. The mound, at TQ 73435100, is large, flat-topped and circular, about 28.0m in diameter and 1.8m in height, with a large depression in the top. It is surrounded by a ditch with causeways on the east and west sides. The mound overlies and clearly post-dates the enclosure banks and is probably a mill-mound; it looks like one and the general area goes under the name of 'Windmill Bank' (b). (3)

(TQ 73295099) Enclosures [NAT] (TQ 73445101) Mound [NAT] (4)

Centred TQ 7328508. These two, linked, bank and ditch earthworks each enclose c. 2 hectares of undulating ridge-top, now coppiced. They are in a fair condition with the banks up to 0.7m high externally and the ditches about 0.4m deep. The eastern enclosure is a later addition as evidenced by the join across the ditch to its neighbour, and in its turn it has been overlaid at the NE angle by a probable windmill mound. However, the time-span of the sequence is not possible to determine from observation alone, neither is the origin and purpose. It seems likely the mound is the site of a post-mill then a late military origin for the enclosures can be ruled out. Published 1:2500 survey correct. (5)

Additional bibliography. (6)


<1> OS 6" 1961 (OS Card Reference). SKE48369.

<2> VCH Kent I 1908 438-9 plan (I C Gould) (OS Card Reference). SKE51175.

<3> Saunters thro Kent IX 1913 55-6 (C Igglesden) (OS Card Reference). SKE49409.

<4> W Curd (foreman) Buston Manor Farm Hunton (OS Card Reference). SKE51253.

<5> F1 AC 07.11.61 (OS Card Reference). SKE41771.

<6> OS 1:10000 1976 (OS Card Reference). SKE48161.

<7> F2 MJF 19.03.86 (OS Card Reference). SKE43348.

<8> Archaeology of Kent 1930 160 (R F Jessup) (OS Card Reference). SKE37342.

<9> Field report for monument TQ 75 SW 3 - November, 1961 (Bibliographic reference). SKE3981.

<10> Field report for monument TQ 75 SW 3 - March, 1986 (Bibliographic reference). SKE3982.

Sources and further reading

Cross-ref. Source description
<1>OS Card Reference: OS 6" 1961.
<2>OS Card Reference: VCH Kent I 1908 438-9 plan (I C Gould).
<3>OS Card Reference: Saunters thro Kent IX 1913 55-6 (C Igglesden).
<4>OS Card Reference: W Curd (foreman) Buston Manor Farm Hunton.
<5>OS Card Reference: F1 AC 07.11.61.
<6>OS Card Reference: OS 1:10000 1976.
<7>OS Card Reference: F2 MJF 19.03.86.
<8>XYOS Card Reference: Archaeology of Kent 1930 160 (R F Jessup). [Mapped feature: #20854 enclosure, ]
<9>Bibliographic reference: Field report for monument TQ 75 SW 3 - November, 1961.
<10>Bibliographic reference: Field report for monument TQ 75 SW 3 - March, 1986.