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Monument details

HER Number:TQ 67 SW 1415
Type of record:Monument
Name:'Property 8' at Roman settlement, Springhead

Summary

Excavations in advance of the Channel Tunnel Rail Link in 2002-3 identified a number of property boundaries west of the Ebbsfleet. This is Property 8. The property was aligned on the branch road that ran north from Watling Street. (location accurate to the neartest 1m based on available information)


Grid Reference:TQ 6159 7277
Map Sheet:TQ67SW
Parish:SOUTHFLEET, DARTFORD, KENT

Monument Types

  • BOUNDARY (Roman - 75 AD? to 200 AD?)
  • BUILDING? (Roman - 75 AD? to 200 AD?)
  • FENCE (Roman - 75 AD? to 200 AD?)
  • GULLY (Roman - 75 AD? to 200 AD?)
  • OVEN? (Roman - 75 AD? to 200 AD?)
  • PIT (Roman - 75 AD? to 225 AD?)
  • POST HOLE (Roman - 75 AD? to 200 AD?)

Associated Finds

Full description

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Excavations in advance of the Channel Tunnel Rail Link in 2002-3 identified a number of property boundaries west of the Ebbsfleet. This is Property 8. The property was aligned on the branch road that ran north from Watling Street. It was the most northerly area examined during the Channel Tunnel Rail Link works at Springhead and it is clear from previous archaeological projects that the area is at the very edge of the area of Roman activity although the excavators suggested there may yet be another property to the north of Property 8.

Modern terracing had truncated the archaeological depoists in much of the area, especially close to the Roman road. The road-side ditch that ran along Watling Street to the south would have been visible in section in this area. Its absence suggests that it may not have run this far north. Post holes and a gully suggested the presence of a building close to the road, possibly with a fence between it and the road. There were also a number of pits containing domestic rubbish outside the 'building'. One may have been used as a pot oven. Pottery from the pits suggested that most were filled in during the later 1st and 2nd centuries but one of the pits contained evidence that it may have stayed open into the beginning of the 3rd century. (1)

Location accurate to 2m based on available information.


<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 The Late Iron Age, Roman, Saxon, and Medieval Landscape (Unpublished document).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

Cross-ref. Source description
<1>Unpublished document: 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.

Related records

TQ 67 SW 1645Parent of: fenceline within 'Property 8' at Roman settlement, Springhead (Monument)
TQ 67 SW 1646Parent of: Gully within 'Property 8' at Roman settlement, Springhead (Monument)
TQ 67 SW 1647Parent of: Pot oven within 'Property 8' at Roman settlement, Springhead (Monument)
TQ 67 SW 1648Parent of: Rubbish pits within 'Property 8' at Roman settlement, Springhead (Monument)
TQ 67 SW 1477Part of: Roman roadside settlement, Springhead (Monument)