Monument record TR 36 NE 732 - Early medieval sunken-feature building, Pysons Road

In 2005 an archaeological excavation discovered an early medieval sunken-feature building. The structure was 3.8 m x 2.8 m and 0.36 m deep. It had a post hole at each end and contained a hearth

Anglo-Saxon sunken-featured structure G52 located toward the eastern side of Area C1. This consisted of a subrectangular, east to west aligned pit which was 3.80 m. wide, 2.80 m. long and 0.36 m. deep with a circular post-hole at each end. The pit contained a primary beaten earth floor with traces of a rammed chalk surface toward the feature’s south-western corner and a small hearth or area of burning in the north-western corner. A number of finds were recovered from this feature which included the base of a Roman pot used as a ‘coaster’ or more likely as the base of a leather or woollen, draw string bag, a fragment of iron bucket or cauldron and a bronze pin. Small huts of this type were typical of those built between the sixth and ninth centuries and may be part of a small farmstead or village located somewhere further to the east, beyond the limit of the excavation. No further evidence of domestic occupation dating to this period was identified, although a number of ditches, a large rectangular enclosure and two disturbed, possible penannular ring-ditches within its confines may also be contemporary.(1)

<1> Canterbury Archaeological Trust, 2006, Ellington School, Pysons Road, Ramsgate, Kent: Archaeological Excavation Stratigraphic Report (Unpublished document). SKE29567.