Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

The site was occupied from at least 700 until 850-75 AD. A variety of activities were practised at the site including fishing, spindlewhorl making, bone working and salt-making (known from a charter of 732). Amongst the bones was a considerable number form fish and birds which would have been caught locally. The ceramic assemblage included a high proportion of imported continental pottery and the site may have been a landing place for trading ships. Although similar to ceramic finds from London, Hamwic, Ipswich etc. the imported wares reaching Sandtun were perhaps from slightly different sources. Their date is uncertain, but the continental types appear to centre on the eighth century perhaps into the ninth.

The site lies on a dune of blown sand and shingle, on the northern edge of Romney Marsh. OD less than 5m.

Monument Types

• SALT WORKS (Early Medieval or Anglo-Saxon - 700 AD? (at some time) to 850 AD? (at some time))
• SETTLEMENT (SETTLEMENT, Early Medieval or Anglo-Saxon - 700 AD? to 875 AD?)

Associated Finds

• (Undated)

Full description

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[TR 12143388] In 1947-8, a Saxon occupation site was excavated on the sand-dunes at Sand Tun, West Hythe, by JPT Burchell and Dr. Gordon Ward. Work took place between 28/07/1947 - 10/09/1947, late November-December 1947 and Summer 1948. No results were published, but the majority of archive material was deposited with the British Museum and other material at Maidstone Museum and Hythe Museum (14). The finds included hearths, fish-hooks, shears, scamasaxes, bronze pins and cod-fish bones in large quantity; also found was a fairly complete Merovingian pot of continental pattern. An infant burial and the burial of a cat were found at the site but are not certainly contemporary with it; an adult burial was found here during the 1939-45 war and a child burial is also reported. The evidence points to a long, although seasonal, occupation through two distinct phases, probably a summer-camp for cod-fishers. Salt-pans at Sand Tun are mentioned in a conveyance of Sand Tun to the church in A.D.732 . The principals in the excavations are dead and the dunes are almost completely destroyed but the site of the excavation was pointed out by an observer, Mr. Jeffries, Hope Lands, West Hythe. The majority of the finds are in the British Museum but a small selection are exhibited in Hythe Museum. A fragment of Roman tile and oyster shell have also been found at Sand Tun (1)

Sandtun, near West Hythe, Kent. Excavated in 1947, but no report has ever been published. The fairly large number of interesting animal remains were identified by F C Fraser. A draw-knife, used for smoothing wood was also found there. Other Anglo-Saxon finds from Sandtun are mentioned by Wilson (a). One example of a North French import, a spouted pitcher of brown fabric with a burnished black surface was discovered. (2)

Sandtun, Hythe, a mound with two occupation-levels separated by a sterile layer was excavated by Mr J Birchell and Mr Gordon Ward. The North French spouted pitcher of the late eighth or early ninth century was found in the lowest layer. A burnished globular pot was also excavated. The upper layer yielded a sherd of pottery common to Normandy in the eleventh and twelfth centuries. This dates the lower level to probably the middle-Saxon period, and the upper to c.1066. Both layers yielded rough sherds of early medieval pottery of perhaps middle-Saxon date. (3)

TR 120340. Sandtum. Listed under Kent in the gazetteer of excavations at Medieval house and village sites. There are plans and records of the excavation in the British Museum. (4)

Sandtun, West Hythe, Kent. A settlement site where a large black burnished pot decorated with vertical grooves, was discovered. The site is unpublished, but G C Dunning has said that the coarse ware occuring in the same level as the pot indicates the late 7th or 8th century. (5)

Additional bibliography. (6 - 20)

Andrew Richardson, 2000, Gazetteer of Anglo-Saxon Cemeteries and Burial-Sites in Kent (Unpublished document). SKE29253.

<1> Dr Gordon Ward's unpub MSS in Maidstone Mus (OS Card Reference). SKE41506.

<2> BM Cotton Charters (OS Card Reference). SKE38191.

<3> KAS 6" (Maidstone Mus) (OS Card Reference). SKE45639.

<4> F1 CFW 10.06.63 (OS Card Reference). SKE42506.

<5> The Anglo-Saxons 1971 fig 14 (DM Wilson) (OS Card Reference). SKE49932.

<6> edited by D M Wilson, 1976, The Archaeology of Anglo-Saxon England, Arch of AS Eng (ed DM Wilson) 1976 312 (JG Hurst) 376-7 (J Clutton-Brock) 257 (DM Wilson) (Monograph). SKE6386.

<7> Md Arch 3 1959 21 32 (fig 9 3) (JG Hurst) (OS Card Reference). SKE46634.

<8> Des Md Villages (Ed M Beresford JG Hurst) 1971 156 (JG Hurst) (OS Card Reference). SKE39709.

<9> Arch Cant 70 1956 105 (VI Evison) (OS Card Reference). SKE35464.

<10> BMQ 15 1941-50 76 (OS Card Reference). SKE38202.

<11> Field report for monument TR 13 SW 7 - June, 1963 (Bibliographic reference). SKE5383.

<12> Archaeology South-East, 1993, An archaeological evaluation of land at Dyke Side Farm, West Hythe (Unpublished document). SKE6790.

<13> Chris Blandford Associates, 1992, A259 Dymchurch to M20 (Junction 11) Stage 1 Heritage (Unpublished document). SKE6769.

<14> Burchell, J.P.T. and Ward, G., 1947 -1948, Sand Tun, West Hythe Excavation 1947 - 1948 (Excavation archive). SKE8233.

<15> Canterbury Archaeological Trust, 1997, Report on Archaeological Investigations at Dykeside Farm, West Hythe (Unpublished document). Ske8234.

<16> Gardiner, M., Cross, R., MacPherson-Grant, N. and Riddler, I., 2001, Continental Trade and Non-Urban Ports in Mid-Anglo-Saxon England: Excavations at Sandtun, West Hythe, Kent, Arch J 154 (2001) pages 161-290 (Article in serial). SKE8232.

<17> Canterbury Archaeological Trust, 1997, Report on Archaeological Investigations at Dykeside Farm, West Hythe (Unpublished document). SKE8234.

<18> Chris Blandford Associates, 1994, A259 Dymchurch to M20 (J11) Draft Brief for Archaeological Field Evaluation (Unpublished document). SKE6884.

<19> Gardiner, M., Cross, R., MacPherson-Grant, N. and Riddler, I., 2001, Continental Trade and Non-Urban Ports in Mid-Anglo-Saxon England: Excavations at Sandtun, West Hythe, Kent, Arch J 154 (2001) pages 161-290 (Article in serial). Ske8232.

<20> Chris Blandford Associates, 1994, A259 Dymchurch to M20 (J11) Draft Brief for Archaeological Field Evaluation (Unpublished document). SKe6884.

Sources and further reading

Related records

Related thematic articles

• Anglo-Saxon Kent (Period Overview)