Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

Series of linear features and possible enclosures, visible as cropmarks in the 2007 Google Earth image.

Summary from record MWX43157:

Two ring ditches, several linear ditched features and pits are visible as cropmarks in fields immediately south of West Stourmouth on 1980s and 2000s aerial photographs. Although undated, the majority of features probably represent remains of later prehistoric activity.

Monument Types

• ENCLOSURE? (Unknown date)
• FIELD SYSTEM? (Unknown date)
• LINEAR FEATURE (Unknown date)

Full description

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Series of linear features and possible enclosures, visible as cropmarks in the 2007 Google Earth image.

Possibly a series of overlapping enclosures or field systems, though the cropmarks are unclear.

Description from record MWX43157:
Two ring ditches, several linear features and pits are visible as cropmarks in fields immediately south of West Stourmouth on 1980s and 2000s aerial photographs [1-2]. Interpretation of the features is hampered by the fact that many are only partially visible; cropmarks show only in small sections of the field, the remainder is either not conducive to cropmark production or covered by cropmarks derived from geological features.

The larger of the two ring ditches is 31m in diameter and two pits lie within its interior. The smaller ring ditch lies 30m to its NE and is visible as partial circuit, 25m in diameter. A 50m length of a sinuous ditch, aligned approximately SW-NE, lies immediately to its north. Any further continuation of this feature is obscured by geological marking. A series of ditches and several large sub-rectangular pits lie 35m to the north of this feature. The ditches appear to be fragments of an enclosure system and parts of at least one sub-rectangular enclosure are visible. These features have been interpreted as remains of later prehistoric activity. Settlement activity may be suggested by the presence of enclosures and pits whilst the ring ditches may represent the plough-levelled remains of round barrows.

A wide linear feature runs through the centre of the cropmark group. It is aligned NNE-SSW, and visible in two sections; the northern is 36m long whilst the southern is 44m long, they are separated by a gap of 36m. It is probable that the feature continues through this gap but is obscured by geological marking in this area. The feature appears to cut through the larger ring ditch and continue the alignment of a mapped track to the north and may, therefore, represent the remains of a hollow-way of medieval or post-medieval date.

A transcription of the features recorded from aerial photography exists within a GIS layer held by this HER [3].

<3> Wessex Archaeology, 2009-10, South-East Rapid Coastal Zone Assessment Survey - Aerial Photographic Transcriptions (Digital archive). SWX15705.

<3> Wessex Archaeology, 2011, South East Rapid Coastal Zone Assessment Survey - (SE RCZAS) Phase 1: National Mapping Programme Report (Unpublished document). SKE25955.

<3> Cornwall Council Historic Environment Projects and Gloucestershire County Council, 2011, South East Rapid Coastal Zone Assessment Survey National Mapping Programme Components 1&2: Results of NMP Mapping (Unpublished document). SKE25954.

Sources and further reading