Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

Two sections of banking are visible on 1940s aerial photographs. The banks lie on the north side of a stream which lies north of the Sea Wall at Minster Sluice. It is likely that these are sections of the same feature but any link between the two sections is obscured by banking along the stream derived from its use as a stop line during WWII. The banks appear to be a continuation of a feature visible further to the north-west on the same photographs. This is likely to be medieval or earlier post-medieval in date and relate to the reclamation of land from the Wantsum Channel during these periods, perhaps a flood or reclamation bank. Both banks appear to have been plough-levelled by the 1960s as aerial photographs of this date show it as a cropmark.

Monument Types

• FLOOD DEFENCES (Unknown date)

Full description

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Two sections of banking are visible on 1940s RAF vertical aerial photographs [1]. The banks lie on the north side of a stream which lies north of the Sea Wall at Minster Sluice [2]. The western bank follows a NW-SE aligned course and runs for c.130m taking a straight course between the stream banks as it meanders southwards. The eastern section lies 67m to the east of this and follows a curving course to the north running between the stream banks for 70m as it meanders east and north-eastwards.

These banks appear to be a continuation of a bank visible on 1940s aerial photographs [1] and mapped intermittently to the north-west [2]. The feature as a whole is likely to be medieval or earlier post-medieval in date and relate to the reclamation of land from the Wantsum Channel during these periods. They may have functioned as a flood or reclamation bank. The banks appear to have been plough-levelled by the 1960s as Ordnance Survey vertical aerial photographs of this date show it as a cropmark [3].

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

<2> 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2011, South East Rapid Coastal Zone Assessment Survey - (SE RCZAS) Phase 1: National Mapping Programme Report (Unpublished document).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

Related records