Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

Remains of a wooden wreck located on the foreshore to the north of Tankerton, Kent, visible as an oval feature on a photograph taken in 1988, and sited to TR 1246567495. The site comprises substantial remains in the inter-tidal zone which are well preserved from the keel up to the turn of the bilge, including structural components still in situ. With one timber providing a felling date of AD 1531. It is carvel-built of oak with both treenails and ferrous fasteners seen lower down the hull and is perhaps most characteristic of a Northern European-built vessel of the late 16th to early 17th centuries, with a single mast and of some 100-200 tons. It lies near a site associated with the copperas industry, which may provide some context for the vessel's use and loss. Constructed of oak and carvel-built, this ship was a sailing vessel. In this offshore position the vessel would have been lost through a stranding or beaching event. The site was scheduled under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979 in July 2018.

Status: Site

Monument Types

• FEATURE (Earlier than 1998, Post Medieval - 1567 AD? to 1632 AD?)

Full description

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Remains of a wooden wreck identified on a photograph.

The wreck was visible as an oval feature on the photograph, which was taken in 1998 (Photograph: 3190. Location: Environment Agency).

Remains of a wooden wreck located on the foreshore to the north of Tankerton, Kent, visible as an oval feature on a photograph taken in 1988, and sited to TR 1246567495.

The site comprises substantial remains in the inter-tidal zone which are well preserved from the keel up to the turn of the bilge, including structural components still in situ. With one timber providing a felling date of AD 1531. It is carvel-built of oak with both treenails and ferrous fasteners seen lower down the hull and is perhaps most characteristic of a Northern European-built vessel of the late 16th to early 17th centuries, with a single mast and of some 100-200 tons.

It lies near a site associated with the copperas industry, which may provide some context for the vessel's use and loss. Constructed of oak and carvel-built, this ship was a sailing vessel.

The site was scheduled under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979 in July 2018.

Reasons for Designation:

* Archaeological potential: forming a primary source of evidence relating to indigenous Tudor / early Stuart shipbuilding techniques;

* Historic interest: potentially related to the late Medieval copperas industry along the north Kent coast, and;

* Rarity: as the only known surviving late Medieval shipwreck in south-east England.

In this offshore position the vessel would have been lost through a stranding or beaching event.

News item on the wreck site published on the Historic England site in July 2018, together with photographs demonstrating its intertidal location and the outline of a hull flush with the beach level.

<1> 1998, Photograph (Photograph (Print)). SWX10175.

<2> Historic England, National Heritage List for England (Index). SKE29372.

Sources and further reading