Monument record TQ 77 NE 57 - Unidentified mound, probable saltern identified by aerial photographs

An assessment of aerial photographs carried out by English Heirtage in 2009-2012 identified a possible saltern (salt producing site).(1,2)

The earthwork of a small roughly rectangular mound, probably a post medieval livestock refuge mound, is visible on aerial photographs taken in 1947. This mound is at TQ 7562 7900 and is one of three situated within a field on the coast by the parish boundary with Cooling (NMR 1531821 & 1531824). The field had been ploughed with narrow drainage channels that have the appearance of ridge and furrow and which predate the mounds. Refuge mounds provided an area of high ground for livestock to occupy in the event of a flood and numerous examples were built on the marshes of the Hoo Peninsula. This site was mapped from aerial photographs as part of the English Heritage: Hoo Peninsula Landscape Project.(3-4)

<1> Historic England, 2012, National Mapping Programme survey: Hoo Peninsula (Digital archive). SKE32442.

<2> English Heritage, 2013, Hoo Peninsula, Kent. Hoo Peninsula Historic Landscape Project (Bibliographic reference). SKE31432.

<3> RAF, 1947, RAF CPE/UK/1923 3014 16-JAN-1947 (Photograph). SKE58563.

<4> Environment Agency, 2001, LIDAR TQ 7478 Environment Agency D0015741 APR-2001 (Digital archive). SKE57163.