Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

Palaeochannel found at Waterbrook Farm in 1993 during an excavation.

Monument Types

• PALAEOCHANNEL (Prehistoric - 500000 BC to 42 AD)

Full description

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An evaluation in 1992 and a subsequent excavation in 1993, both carried out by Canterbury Archaeological Trust, at Waterbrook Farm found a palaeochannel was observed as a previous course of the River East Stour and was sample excavated. The feature itself is assumed the features was phases 1-3 (Prehistory/Neolithic - Pre/Early Romans). Due to waterlogged deposit it may be possible to retrived organic material from the samples. No datable arctefacts arose but it appears the paleochannel probably existed before th 1st century and fell out of use after. (1)

The archaeological features represented a short lived, though continuously occupied native settlement. Ceramic evidence suggests that a continuously occupied native settlement site was enclosed in the late Iron Age and continued in use for c.150 yrs into the Roman period with occupation mostly situated on a low rise in the flood plain. The site lay adjacent to a relict channel of the East Stour, which probably once formed an oxbow encircling the settlement on 3 sides. The abrupt termination of the occupation in the 2nd century AD may have been due to the wetness of the site. (2)

<1> Canterbury Archaeological Trust, 1999, Waterbrook Farm, Ashford: Report on Evaluation Trenching in 1992, Report and Assessment of Excavations in 1993 (Unpublished document). SKE6589.

<2> The Ashford Great Park Partnership, 1993, Great Park Ashford, Development Brief Consultation Draft (Unpublished document). SKE6818.

Sources and further reading