Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

A group of earthworks are visible lying immediately north of the motte and bailey site at Mary-le-Bone Hill on 1940s RAF vertical aerial photographs. The features comprise a substantial bank and ditch and a shallower set of double ditches.

Recent aerial photography indicates that some of these features have since been plough levelled. It is thought that these features could relate to the defensive works at Mary-le-Bone Hill and, if so, are likely to be medieval in date. It is possible that they, and the adjacent field boundaries who share similar alignments, may represent hitherto unrecorded circuits of defences around the site.

Monument Types

• DITCH (Undated)
• BANK (EARTHWORK) (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD?)

Full description

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A group of earthworks are visible lying immediately north of the motte and bailey site at Mary-le-Bone Hill (TR 35 NW 114) on 1940s RAF vertical aerial photographs [1]. The features comprise a substantial bank and ditch and a shallower set of double ditches.

The substantial ditch runs parallel to, and c.30m to the north of, the field boundary in which the mote and bailey lies. The ditch also appears to continue the alignment of a stream course that forms boundaries to the south and east. It runs for c.180m, with a width varying between c.9-13m, and a follows a sinuous SW-NE alignment having kinks in its course close to either end.

The substantial bank lies immediately north of the ditch and follows a divergent alignment from it, having a broadly SSW-NNE alignment. The bank follows a highly sinuous course for c.110m, being S-shaped in plan, and is c.10m wide. The bank terminates at the boundaries of the field in which it lies and no continuation is visible in adjacent fields. It is possible that the feature was previously more extensive as the termination looks somewhat artificial with both ends of the feature looking quite abrupt.

The double ditches lie on the north-eastern edge of the recorded extent of the features associated with the motte and bailey. They are much more ephemeral than the two features discussed above; this may be due to plough damage as they lie in ploughed field whereas the others are under pasture. Both ditches are c.3m wide and follow a curving NW to SSE course roughly parallel to, and 150m north of, the northern side of the motte. The southern ditch is visible running for c.40m whereas the northern ditch is more extensive, running for c.100m. The ditched features continue the alignment of a curving field drain lying immediately to the east.

Recent aerial photography from 2003 shows that the double ditches have since been plough levelled and that the substantial ditch remains as an earthwork. It is not clear from these photographs whether or not the bank remains as an earthwork [2].

It is thought that these features could relate to the defensive works at Mary-le-Bone Hill and, if so, are likely to be medieval in date. It is possible that they, and the adjacent field boundaries who share similar alignments, may represent hitherto unrecorded circuits of defences around the site.

A transcription of the features recorded from aerial photography exists within a GIS layer held by this HER [3].

<2> Next Perspectives consortium via English Heritage, 2003, 2007, Next Perspective PGA georeferenced aerial photograph data, Tile Ref: PGA_TR3258_2003-08-14.jpg (Graphic material). SWX15711.

<3> Wessex Archaeology, 2009-10, South-East Rapid Coastal Zone Assessment Survey - Aerial Photographic Transcriptions (Digital archive). SWX15705.

<3> Wessex Archaeology, 2011, South East Rapid Coastal Zone Assessment Survey - (SE RCZAS) Phase 1: National Mapping Programme Report (Unpublished document). SKE25955.

<3> 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