Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

Excavation in trench 12 during an evaluation undertaken by Oxford Archaeological Unit in Dover town centre in 1988-91 revealed a number of Medieval pits and two stone packed features which may represent foundations or post pads (location accurate to the nearest 5m based on available information).

Monument Types

• RUBBISH PIT (Early Medieval or Anglo-Saxon to Medieval - 1000 AD? to 1299 AD?)
• Wall Foundation (Medieval - 1200 AD? to 1299 AD?)

Associated Finds

• ASSEMBLAGE (Early Medieval or Anglo-Saxon to Medieval - 1000 AD? to 1200 AD?)
• SHERD (Early Medieval or Anglo-Saxon to Medieval - 1000 AD? to 1299 AD?)

Full description

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Trench 12 revealed a dense number of pits which had been cut into the Shore fort wall and bastion. The earliest excavated pit was cut right through the core of the Shore fort wall and contained a small amount of 11th and 12th century pottery. Cutting this pit is another which contained a quantity of shell, fish bone and animal bone and clearly represents a domestic rubbish pit. Pottery was also recorded in this rubbish pit, it included a residual sherd of Ipswich ware, imports from northern France and a fragment of 13th century Aardenburg-type ware, but the majority of the pottery uncovered dates to the late 11th and 12th century.

Alongside these pits two stone packed features were located, the more northern of these two features extended beyond the northern limit of the trench and contained six large water worn limestone pebbles at its bottom. The southern feature contained a spread of small shaped chalk blocks and unshaped chalk fragments up to 0.3 by 0.5m covered by a layer of silty loam and chalk. There then followed two successive layers of roughly shaped chalk blocks up to 0.3m by 0.4m. Both of these stone packed features must be of 13th century date or later but neither can be dated more closely. It is difficult to interpret these features with any certainty but one possible interpretation is that the southern feature represents the foundation or post pad for a gate or large door post while the northern feature is the foundation for an associated wall. (1)

<1> Wilkinson, D. R. P., 1995, Archaeologia Cantiana, Excavations on the White Cliffs Experience site, Dover, 1988-91. Vol. 114 (Article in serial). SKE31729.

Sources and further reading