In 2005 the Swale and Thames Archaeological Survey Company carried out an excavation at Blacksole Farm, Beltinge.

In Areas A and B a number of archaeological features were found consisting of ditches and surface scatters. Nearly all the features had inclusions of slag iron, red roof tile fragments and post-medieval potsherds within their fills. The common occurrence of slag iron in an area next to a Blacksole Farmhouse suggests that iron working took place. This was probably associated with a farmyard smithy. The presence of thick-glazed, post-medieval pottery dates this activity to the nineteenth and/or last centuries. These areas can therefore be categorised as of low archaeological potential.(1)

An evaluation carried out in 2023 identified further evidence for iron production at the site comprising a deposit of smithing waste comprising clinker and bloom, and a deposit of crushed or vitrified brick which had been reused as a yard surface. (2)

<1> Swale and Thames Archaeological Survey Company, 2005, The Results of an Archaeological Evaluation on land at Blacksole Farm, Beltinge, near Herne Bay in Kent (Unpublished document). SKE51901.

<2> Swale and Thames Archaeological Survey Company, 2023, Archaeological Evaluation of land at Blacksole Farm, Margate Road, North of the Thanet Way, Herne Bay, Kent CT6 6LA (Unpublished document). SKE57401.