Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

Two shallow circular earthworks, interpreted as a hay stack stances, are visible on 1940s aerial photographs. They appear to have been plough-levelled by the 1960s as aerial photographs of this date show them as a cropmark.

Monument Types

• STACK STAND (Medieval to Post Medieval - 1066 AD to 1900 AD)

Full description

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Two shallow circular earthworks are visible on 1940s RAF vertical aerial photographs [1]. They lie 20m apart and the south-western mound is the larger of the two, measuring 10m in diameter, with the smaller of the two measuring 7m in diameter. The features are interpreted as hay stack stances, mounds for the drying and storage of hay in the damp environment of a riverside meadow. They appear to have been plough-levelled by the 1960s as Ordnance Survey vertical aerial photographs of this date show both as cropmarks [2]. Similar features have been recorded across the floor of the Stour Valley between Upstreet and the coast, see Related Monuments. They appear to represent an integral part of the medieval or post-medieval farming landscape in this area.

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2011, South East Rapid Coastal Zone Assessment Survey - (SE RCZAS) Phase 1: National Mapping Programme Report (Unpublished document).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South East Rapid Coastal Zone Assessment Survey National Mapping Programme Components 1&2: Results of NMP Mapping (Unpublished document).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

Related records