Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

A system of shallow banks, demarking two sub-rectangular enclosures, is visible as earthworks on 1940s aerial photographs. The features appear to have been ploughed out by the 1960s as aerial photographs of this date show them as cropmarks. The enclosures share a similar alignment to elements of the field layout shown on historic Ordnance Survey mapping and may represent a previously unrecorded element of this system. They are likely to be of medieval or post-medieval date and derive from land reclaimed from the Wantsum Channel.

Monument Types

• BANK (EARTHWORK) (Medieval to Post Medieval - 1066 AD to 1900 AD)
• FIELD SYSTEM? (Medieval to Post Medieval - 1066 AD to 1900 AD)

Full description

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A system of shallow banks is visible as earthworks on 1940s RAF vertical aerial photographs [1]. The interlinked banks cover an area 100m (WNW-ESE) x 50m (SSW-NNE) and demark two sub-rectangular enclosures measuring roughly 45m across. There is no bank on the western side of the westernmost enclosure, it is possible that this has been obscured by material dumped at the field edge from recent clearance of field drains or because this side of the enclosure was formed by the adjacent field drain itself.
The features appear to have been ploughed out by the 1960s as Ordnance Survey aerial photographs of this date show them as cropmarks [2].

The enclosures share a similar alignment to elements of the field layout shown on historic Ordnance Survey mapping and may represent a previously unrecorded element of this system [3]. The field system as a whole is likely to be of medieval or post-medieval date and derive from land reclaimed from the Wantsum Channel and these features are likely to be of a similar date.

A transcription of the features recorded from aerial photography exists within a GIS layer held by this HER [4].

<3> Ordnance Survey, 1858-73, Ordnance Survey 1:2500 1st Edition : 1872-1897 (Map). SWX11831.

<4> Wessex Archaeology, 2009-10, South-East Rapid Coastal Zone Assessment Survey - Aerial Photographic Transcriptions (Digital archive). SWX15705.

<4> Wessex Archaeology, 2011, South East Rapid Coastal Zone Assessment Survey - (SE RCZAS) Phase 1: National Mapping Programme Report (Unpublished document). SKE25955.

<4> 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