A large midden-like deposit was discovered during evaluation trenching undertaken on land off Ashford Road in New Romney. This deposit had a considerable array of material within the fill, from pottery dating to c. 1225-1350AD. It was seen in two evaluation trenches. Within trench 2 the midden contained two fills: a dark brown mottled yellow silty clay fill and a dark brown-black clay upper fill with a large amount of oyster shell, CBM, animal bone, charcoal and pottery throughout. Due to the size of the feature it was not fully excavated and it is not clear whether the lower fill is the basal fill or not. Pottery dating from c. 1225-1325AD was recovered from the upper fill and was mainly made up from a series of sandy wares. In trench 2 only a single fill was seen of dark brown silty clay again with with a large amount of oyster shell, CBM, animal bone, charcoal and pottery throughout. The pottery was dated to c. 1250-1350AD. It is unclear whether the midden comprised refuse dumped on top of an exposed land surface, or whether it was deposited into a large natural depression in the ground. The sediment beneath the refuse fills looks like clean weathered alluvium but it is difficult to be certain. Analysis of the environmental material sampled from this midden, shows that the majority of material can be classified as domestic waste and the lower fill from trench 5 produced the largest amount of cereal caryopses, including freethreshing wheat (Triticum sp.), hulled barley (Hordeum vulgare) and oat (Avena sp.) (1) (informaiton summarised from source)

<1> RPS, 2020, Archaeological Evaluation Report, Land at Ashford Road, New romney, Kent (Unpublished document). SKE55254.