Exploring Kent's Past

It should not be assumed that this site is publicly accessible and it may be on private property. Do not trespass.

Monument details

Summary

Two linear banks and numerous shallow ditches are visible on 1940s aerial photographs. The features cover and area 610m (N-S) x 500 (E-W) and appear to mark lost sub-divisions of the field system shown on the historic Ordnance Survey mapping of the area. These field systems are derived from fields developed following land reclamation from the Wantsum Channel and surrounding marshes between the 11th and 18th centuries. Although the precise date is unclear, the regularity of field shapes and rectilinear nature of boundaries suggest that these elements may derive from the latter end of this period.

A shallow circular earthwork, interpreted as a hay stack stance, is also visible within one of the fields in the east of the area on the 1940s photographs. The features appear to have been plough-levelled by the 1960s as Ordnance Survey vertical aerial photography of this date shows them as cropmarks.

Monument Types

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

Full description

If you do not understand anything on this page please contact us.

Two linear banks and numerous shallow ditches are visible on 1940s RAF vertical aerial photographs [1]. The features cover and area 610m (N-S) x 500 (E-W); all are roughly perpendicular to the fields shown on historic Ordnance Survey mapping [3] and they appear to mark lost sub-divisions of that field system. The features appear to have been plough-levelled by the 1960s as Ordnance Survey vertical aerial photography of this date shows them as cropmarks [2].

Field systems in this area are derived from fields developed following land reclamation from the Wantsum Channel and surrounding marshes between the 11th and 18th centuries. Although the precise date is unclear, the regularity of field shapes and rectilinear nature of boundaries suggest that the system may derive from the latter end of this period.

A shallow circular earthwork is also visible within one of the fields in the east of the area on the 1940s aerial photographs [1]. This measures c.6m in diameter and is interpreted as a hay stack stance, a mound for the drying and storage of hay in the damp environment of a riverside meadow. It also appears to have been levelled by the 1960s [2].

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