Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

Iron Age or possibly Roman enclosure and cremations discovered during gravel extraction in 1927. 'U' shaped depressions, possibly burial pits, were also noted. The cremations may have been Roman, many pieces of Roman tile being found on top of the ditch filling. Supposed settlement.

Monument Types

• ENCLOSURE (ENCLOSURE, Early Iron Age to Roman - 800 BC to 409 AD)
• FINDSPOT (Early Iron Age to Roman - 800 BC to 409 AD)
• SETTLEMENT (SETTLEMENT, Early Iron Age to Roman - 800 BC to 409 AD)

Full description

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[TR 1773 6073] Camp [NR] (site of) - 'A' (1) Iron Age settlement [NR] (site of) (2) 'C' Minor settlement at Ashenden's Pit, Sturry. (3) A pedestal urn in the British Museum was found in 1927 with several bases and part of a bowl during gravel digging a furlong NE of Sturry Vicarage. (ie Ashenden West Pit - centred TR 1788 6081 - 'B'). The site "probably served as a cemetery" in the late C1st BC/early C1st AD; four 'U' shaped depressions, "no doubt burial pits" were noticed. (4) The site was investigated in September 1932 by T.D. Kendrick and Norman Cook and found to consist of a circular ditch from which the majority of the Belgic sherds came. "Conversations with the workmen, however, suggested that cremations had also been found. These, of course, might have been Roman. Many pieces of Roman tile were found ontop of the ditch filling". (5) The site of the earthwork is shown as TR 1792 6071 - 'C' and annotated"Ashendens Pit' (6), but like the OS symbol it falls outside the limits of the pit. (4-6) Ashenden's Pit went out of use some 25 years ago and is now being levelled for a building site; what little is left is grassed over and nothing of significance was noted. No further information was gained at Canterbury or Maidstone Museums and none of the pottery found is held there; Herne Bay Public Library holds some Belgic pottery from the general area (see TR 16 SE 23). (7) Additional bibliography. (8,9-11)

<1> OS 25" (OS Card Reference). SKE48250.

<2> OS 6" 1961 (OS Card Reference). SKE48369.

<3> OS Iron Age Map Index 1962 52 (OS Card Reference). SKE48418.

<4> Ant J 8 1928 94-94 illust (A G Ince) (OS Card Reference). SKE33222.

<5> Maidstone Museum Arch Gaz (N Cook undated) (OS Card Reference). SKE46348.

<6> Maidstone Museum (KAS) 6" (anon undated) (OS Card Reference). SKE46351.

<7> F1 CFW 29-NOV-63 (OS Card Reference). SKE42819.

<8> Arch of Kent 1930 139 262 (R F Jessup) (OS Card Reference). SKE36882.

<9> BAR 90 Burial Practices in Iron Age Britain 1981 386 (R Whimster) (OS Card Reference). SKE37582.

<10> Field report for monument TR 16 SE 4 - November, 1963 (Bibliographic reference). SKE5552.

<11> Canterbury Archaeological Trust, 1994, A28 Sturry Bypass: A Interim Review of the Archaeological Resource and Historic Landscape (Unpublished document). SKE7002.

Sources and further reading