Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

During works associated with the Channel Tunnel Rail Link in 2002, three late iron age pit groups were discovered, within a larger late Iron Age Ritual Landscape and close to the site of a possible rocessional way. The first of these pit groups was contained within a small enclosure. (location accurate to the nearest 1m based on available information

Monument Types

• ANIMAL BURIAL (Late Iron Age to Roman - 100 BC? to 150 AD?)
• ENCLOSURE (Late Iron Age to Roman - 100 BC to 409 AD)
• HEARTH (Late Iron Age to Roman - 100 BC to 409 AD)
• PIT (Late Iron Age to Roman - 100 BC to 409 AD)
• POST HOLE (Late Iron Age to Roman - 100 BC to 409 AD)

Associated Finds

• POTTERY ASSEMBLAGE (Late Iron Age to Roman - 100 BC? to 150 AD?)

Full description

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During works associated with the Channel Tunnel Rail Link in 2002, three late iron age pit groups were discovered, within a larger late Iron Age Ritual Landscape and close to the site of a possible rocessional way. The first of these pit groups was contained within a small enclosure. It comprised as many as seven pits within a small, probably rectangular enclosure located towards the base of the slope approximately 100m north of the springs. The surviving enclosure, defined by shallow, slightly curving gullies on the north and south sides, measured approximately 17.5 m square. All apart from one of the pits contained late Iron Age pottery, while four of the pits and one gully also contained a few early Roman sherds in their upper fills. Two further pits on large and oval and the other sub-rectangular were loctaed close but not within the enclosure. The oval contained had a horse burial at the base of the uppermost fill, perhaps representing a closing deposit of some form. Pottery from these two pits indicates a mid-1st century date and, like virtually all of the material from the three pit groups, is probably pre- rather than post-Conquest. (1) (information summarised from source)

<1> Oxford Wessex Archaeology Joint Venture, 2010, Settling the Ebbsfleet Valley. CTRL Excavations at Springhead and Northfleet, Kent. The Late Iron Age, Roman, Saxon, and Medieval Landscape (Unpublished document). SKE31245.

Sources and further reading

Related records