Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

A rectangular enclosure with internal features containing buildings, all of medieval date visible as a cropmark on aerial photographs. The northern half is now destroyed

Monument Types

• ENCLOSURE (Medieval - 1200 AD? to 1425 AD?)
• EXTRACTIVE PIT (Post Medieval - 1540 AD to 1900 AD)

Associated Finds

• SHERD (Medieval - 1200 AD? to 1425 AD?)

Full description

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TR 315679. Located to the nearest fifty metres. Cropmarks of an enclosure. Site no. 114. (1)

Description from record TR 36 NW 148:
TR 316678. Cropmarks of enclosures. At least three large rectangular enclosures with internal features can be seen as cropmarks. This could be a Romano British site associated with one or other of two villa sites nearby (see TR 36 NW 30). (2)

The enclosure is bisected by Manston Road.

In 2010 Archaeological Surveys Ltd carried out a geophysical survey. The enclosure with its internal features were visible in the results. The linear cropmark and possible pit to the east were also detected. (3)

In 2010 the Trust for Thanet Archaeology carried out an evaluation. Features within the enclosure were investigated and found to be robbed foundations for stone-built structures. Pottery from these features dated from the 13th to the late 14th or early 15th century AD. It is thought that the site was probably occupied in the 13th century and robbed in the early 15th. (4)

Cropmarks of a large medieval rectilinear settlement enclosure (described above) are visible on a number of aerial photographs -CUCAP BTG71 26-JUN-1975, HEA 29750/28 29-JUN-2015, Next Perspectives APGB Imagery 14-APR-2015 and Next Perspectives APGB Imagery 05-MAY-2018, and has been mapped as part of the Historic England Thanet Landscape Mapping Project 2024. The site is bisected diagonally by the course of the B2050 Manston Road. The enclousre is defined by a sing ditch with traces of internal structures and pits, some associated with buidings. The southern half (south of the Manston Road remains, but the northern half of the site has been excavated and is presumed destroyed by the stripping and excation of the field for a golf course. This part of the site was mapped from photographs pre-dating this. The cropmark traces of a number of large pits are scattered within and outside the enclosure, presumed to post-date the site. (5-8)

<1> Thanet Arch Heritage c1982 9 (Thanet Dist Council & Isle of Thanet Arch Unit) (OS Card Reference). SKE49864.

<2> Isle of Thanet Arch Unit Sites and Mons Archive 1988 Rec no 114 (OS Card Reference). SKE44559.

<3> Archaeological Surveys Ltd, 2010, Land adjacent to Two Chimneys Caravan Park, Birchington, Kent: Magnetometer Survey Report (Unpublished document). SKE24799.

<4> Trust for Thanet Archaeology, 2010, Land Adjacent to Two Chimneys Caravan Park, Shottendane Road, Birchington: Archaeological Evaluation (Unpublished document). SKE25178.

<5> Historic England Archive, 1949-1976, Historic England Archive CUCAP oblique aerial photographs, CUCAP BTG71 26-JUN-1975 (Archive). SKE57107.

<6> Historic England Archive, 1964-2005, Historic England Archive Ordnance Survey vertical aerial photographs, HEA 29750/28 29-JUN-2015 (Archive). SKE57105.

<7> Next Perspectives, 2003-2021, Next Perspectives APGB orthophotography, Next Perspectives APGB Imagery 14-APR-2015 (Archive). SKE57110.

<8> Next Perspectives, 2003-2021, Next Perspectives APGB orthophotography, Next Perspectives APGB Imagery 05-MAY-2018 (Archive). SKE57110.

Sources and further reading