Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

A section of possible flood defences are visible as earthworks immediately north of the Stour on 1940s aerial photographs. They consist of a bank, flanked by a ditch on its northern side, which follows a sinuous course roughly parallel to the river for 104 m. East of the railway embankment, the alignment of the features may be continued by field boundaries shown on historic Ordnance Survey mapping. It is probable that the features are flood defences of medieval or post-medieval date. They appear to have been levelled by the late 1970s as aerial photographs of this date show no such features at this location.

Monument Types

• BANK (EARTHWORK) (Unknown date)
• DITCH (Unknown date)

Full description

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A section of possible flood defences are visible as earthworks immediately north of the Stour on 1940s RAF vertical aerial photographs [1].

The features consist of a bank, flanked by a ditch on its northern side, which follows a sinuous course roughly parallel to the river for 104 m. The bank is c. 3m wide and the ditch c. 5m wide. Any westward continuation of the bank and ditch is masked by debris from recent dredging of the river [1], whilst the feature is truncated by the railway embankment to the east. East of the railway embankment, the alignment of the features may be continued by field boundaries shown on historic Ordnance Survey mapping [2]. It is probable that the features functioned as flood defences and are medieval or post-medieval in date. The banks appear to have been levelled by the late 1970s as vertical aerial photographs of this date show no such features at this location [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2011, South East Rapid Coastal Zone Assessment Survey - (SE RCZAS) Phase 1: National Mapping Programme Report (Unpublished document).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