Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

An area of heavy granite sets, probably representing the original surface of the yard of the Oil Cake Manufactory was located during a watching brief undertaken by Kent Archaeological Rescue Unit, off Limekiln Street Dover. (location accurate to the nearest 1m based on available information)

Monument Types

• WORKING SURFACE (granite sets, Post Medieval to Modern - 1885 AD? to 1960 AD?)

Full description

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An Archaeological watching brief was undertaken by Kent Archaeological Rescue Unit in 1999 ahead of the development of a site off Limekiln Street, into a workshop and welfare facility. The site is a triangular plot situated between the Dover-Folkestone-London railway line, to the north, the Dover south service station to the south and the high brick retaining wall (abutting the cliff face) to the west. Archaeological observations were made on all of the foundation trenches and numerous features were recorded. This included an area of heavy granite sets, probably representing the original surface of the yard of the Oil Cake Manufactory, within the south, east and internal foundation trenches. The granite sets were a maximum of 45cm by 24cm by 16cm deep and a minimum of 24cm by 22cm by 13cm deep. This area measured a minimum of 22m in length E-W by about 8m wide N-S and ran diagonally E-W across the site, apparently turning sharply south at its west end. The sets were laid on edge with no apparent bonding onto a 3-5cm bed of loose pebbles, sand and chalk grits. This lay directly on the natural chalk. The upper surface of the granite sets were worn very smooth, many of these granite sets were recovered by to contractors for re-use elsewhere. This yard would have provided access for vehicles bringing materials and produce in and out of the site via Limekiln Street, and probably provided a substantial area for on-site storage. (summarised from source)(1)

<1> Kent Archaeological Rescue Unit, 1999, Limekiln Street, Dover - report on an archaeological watching brief (Unpublished document). SKE6615.

Sources and further reading

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