Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

Neolithic flakes, Belgic and Romano-British occupation site.

Monument Types

• DITCH (Early Iron Age to Roman - 800 BC to 409 AD)
• SETTLEMENT (SETTLEMENT, Early Iron Age to Early Medieval or Anglo-Saxon - 800 BC to 410 AD)

Associated Finds

• LITHIC IMPLEMENT (Neolithic - 4000 BC to 2351 BC)
• SHERD (Neolithic - 4000 BC to 2351 BC)
• VESSEL (Early Iron Age to Roman - 800 BC to 409 AD)

Full description

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Some Neolithic flakes and pottery ranging from Iron Age to the Romano-British period were found during a test excavation on an allotment site on East Cliff by Mr R Cross. (1)

Rescue-excavations on allotment land at Wear Bay Road, Folkestone, ahead of a Kent County Council school-building scheme were undertaken within 300 yards of the known Roman Villa (TR 23 NW 11). An extensive flint assemblage, with associated potsherds, was found deeply sealed in one area of the site and suggests an occupation-site, possibly of late-Neolithic date. A series of shallow ditches over most of the area produced pottery of Iron Age date, again suggesting an occupation site. At least two more ditches produced pottery of Romano-British date. A large quantity of unstratified Romano-British pottery of the second and third centuries was recovered from the top 0.30 metres disturbed by allotment-holders. Information supplied by B. Philp CIB Archaeological Rescue Unit. (2)

East Wear Bay. c. 150 metres west of the cliff-edge evidence of extensive Belgic and Romano-British occupation was revealed during an excavation on open land on the East Headland. Stray finds had been reported from the site and much Belgic and Roman material had been found over a number of years by allotment holder Mr Smith. This included c.1500 potsherds, several Roman roof tiles, one bearing the stamp 'CLBR', several quern-stones and many flint flakes. In 1973 a new primary school was planned on the site of the allotment. The Kent Archaeological Rescue Unit realising the potential of the site obtained permission from Kent County Council for an excavation to take place. (Site 1 - illustration card). The site consisted of an area 22 x 6 metres in the south-east corner and three small trenches in the adjacent allotment. Short lengths of at least nine linear features of late 1st century - 3rd century AD in date were found. These included ditches, gullies which were perhaps part of enclosures, containing pottery c AD 10-70, a field system c late 2nd century in date and pits and deposits containing over 300 flints and potsherds of late Neolithic or early Bronze Age date. The pottery collected by Mr Smith consisted of c. 77% of local native ware, Belgic in character and overlapping the conquest to c AD 80; c. 6% fine native copies of Gallo-Belgic wares c. 50-100 AD; c. 17% Romanised wares of late 2nd - early 3rd centuries. Neolithic occupation was confined to a bowl-shaped area and two pits, which may indicate a nearby settlement. There were Belgic and Roman finds over the entire area pointing to continuous occupation from 1st century BC to early 3rd century AD. The early ditches indicate a late-Belgic community and this settlement may have developed into the villa complex (TR 23 NW 11). (3)

<1> Arch Cant 88 1973 221 (A H Gibson) (OS Card Reference). SKE35953.

<1> Gibson, A. H., 1973, Investigations & Excavations During the Year: Folkestone, Arch Cant 88 1973 221 (A H Gibson) (Article in serial). SKE8387.

<2> Arch Excavations 1973 HMSO 1974 49 (OS Card Reference). SKE36497.

<3> Keller, Peter, 1982, Rescue Excavations in Folkestone From 1973, KAR 69 1982 207-209 (P Keller) (Article in serial). SKE8382.

<4> Southern Water Services, 1993, Dover & Folkestone Wastewater Treatment scheme Environmental Statement (Unpublished document). SKE6815.

Sources and further reading