Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

A group of five shallow circular earthworks, interpreted as hay stack stances, are visible on 1940s RAF vertical aerial photographs. They appear to have been plough-levelled by the 1960s as Ordnance Survey vertical aerial photographs of this date show them as cropmarks.

Monument Types

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

Full description

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A group of five shallow circular earthworks are visible on 1940s RAF vertical aerial photographs [1]. The mounds lie within two separate fields and are spread over an area measuring 200m (E-W) x 50m (N-S). The majority of the mounds measure between 7-8m in diameter, the north-westernmost is the largest measuring 14m 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 them 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2011, South East Rapid Coastal Zone Assessment Survey - (SE RCZAS) Phase 1: National Mapping Programme Report (Unpublished document).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South East Rapid Coastal Zone Assessment Survey National Mapping Programme Components 1&2: Results of NMP Mapping (Unpublished document).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