Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

A system of interlinked ditches is visible as a mixture of cropmarks and earthworks on 1940s RAF vertical aerial photographs. Recent aerial photography shows that they remain visible as cropmarks but are inconclusive as to whether the earthwork elements survive. The ditches are similar to those belonging to the field layout shown on the first edition Ordnance Survey map, likely to be of post-medieval date, and probably represent previously unrecorded elements of this system.

Monument Types

• DITCH (Post Medieval - 1540 AD to 1900 AD)
• FIELD SYSTEM (Post Medieval - 1540 AD to 1900 AD)

Full description

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A system of interlinked ditches is visible as a mixture of cropmarks and earthworks on 1940s RAF vertical aerial photographs [1].

The major element is a c.4m wide sinuous ditch, visible as an earthwork, which runs between two field drains for c.200m on roughly NNE-SSW alignment. Two further ditches, both visible as cropmarks and c.4m wide, run off this ditch just to the south of its mid-point. One runs eastwards on W-E alignment for c.130m, before stopping at a field drain. The other ditch runs westwards on a ESE-WNW for c.80m and also stops at a field drain. Recent aerial photography shows that these ditches remain visible as cropmarks but are inconclusive as to whether the major ditch remains as an earthwork [2].

These features are similar, both in terns of alignment and dimensions, to those belonging to the field layout shown on the first edition Ordnance Survey map and probably represent previously unrecorded elements of this system [3]. This field system is likely to be of post-medieval date.

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.

<3> Next Perspectives consortium via English Heritage, 2003, 2007, Next Perspective PGA georeferenced aerial photograph data, Tile Ref:PGA_TR3258_2003-08-14 (Graphic material). SWX15711.

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2011, South East Rapid Coastal Zone Assessment Survey - (SE RCZAS) Phase 1: National Mapping Programme Report (Unpublished document).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