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Monument details

HER Number:TQ 67 SW 1404
Type of record:Monument
Name:Semi-sunken feature Roman building, Springhead

Summary

Excavation in 2002-3 carried out as part of the Channel Tunnel Rail Link project found a semi-sunken feature building that overlay a roadside ditch. The building partly occupied a large hollow within the top of the infilled ditch. It might be suggested that this structure was used for baking or brewing on the basis of the hearths, ovens, probable storage vessels, and pits, as well as the concentration of quernstone fragments. (location accurate to the nearest 1m based on available information)


Grid Reference:TQ 6164 7267
Map Sheet:TQ67SW
Parish:SOUTHFLEET, DARTFORD, KENT

Monument Types

  • BUILDING (Roman - 75 AD? to 125 AD?)
  • HEARTH? (Roman - 75 AD? to 125 AD?)
  • INHUMATION (Roman - 75 AD? to 125 AD?)
  • METALLED SURFACE (Roman - 75 AD? to 125 AD?)
  • OVEN? (Roman - 75 AD? to 125 AD?)
  • PIT (Roman - 75 AD? to 125 AD?)
  • POST HOLE (Roman - 75 AD? to 125 AD?)

Associated Finds

  • POT (Roman - 75 AD? to 125 AD?)
  • QUERN (Roman - 75 AD? to 125 AD?)

Full description

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Excavation in 2002-3 carried out as part of the Channel Tunnel Rail Link project found a semi-sunken feature building that overlay a roadside ditch. The building partly occupied a large hollw within the top of the infilled ditch. The hollow was enlarged and extended to form an irregular sunken area c. 12 m x 6 m and 0.5 m deep. A line of post holes probably held the roof posts and formed a partition. The structure contained a number of pits, two pots, quern fragments, ovens and hearths. Pottery spanned the last quarter of the 1st century and the first part of the 2nd. The structure was infilled in the mid-2nd century. It has been interrpeted as a possible bakery or brew house. To the south was a small area of contemporary cobbling and a neonate burial (1)


<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 (Monograph). SKE31245.

Sources and further reading

Cross-ref. Source description
<1>XYMonograph: 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. [Mapped feature: #4631 structure, ]

Related records

TQ 67 SW 1409Part of: 'Property 3' at Roman settlement, Springhead (Monument)
TQ 67 SW 1477Part of: Roman roadside settlement, Springhead (Monument)