A small area of Anglo Saxon occupation was uncovered during excavations at Thanet earth, in the south western part of Plateau 8, clustered around Barrow 6. The features included two sunken-featured buildings, three other possible buildings, an enclosure, a well and a few pits and other smaller features. The Anglo-Saxon features would appear to form a small settlement, probably a farmstead. It is likely that other buildings were also present (but have been removed) based on the large quantity of domestic and other debris discovered within the backfilled structures.

The buildings excavated at Thanet Earth do not at first glance appear to fit in with the more commonly identified two post structures and it is possible that the Thanet Earth buildings (particularly SFB 2) may simply represent a variation on a theme. SBF 2 was the larger of the two definite SFBs, the area of the feature was c. 9.1m, but it may have in fact been larger. It was formed by a well-defined, roughly east–west aligned rectangular cut 3.4m long, 2.9m wide by 0.8m deep with slightly rounded corners. Nine post holes were cut into the base, the deepest at each end of the longitudinal axis with the remaining posts arranged around the sides of the pit’s base. SFB 3 was likely an ancillary sunken-featured structure, it lay 26m to the west, no more than 10m from the ditch of Barrow 6. This building was small, consisting of a rectangular cut 2.18m wide, 2.2m long (basal area c3.96m²) and 0.3m deep. Structure SFB 4 was found 45m north-east of SFB 2. It consisted of a shallow roughly sub-rectangular cut with a triangular protrusion positioned at its southern end. The feature was 3.3m wide, 7.3m long but only 0.15m deep. The flat base was covered by a metalled, flint surface. The most enigmatic of the Anglo-Saxon buildings was SFB 5 that remains difficult to fully understand, largely due to heavy truncation by later ploughing. This potential structure was situated 35m north of SFB 3 and consisted of a sub-rectangular cut, aligned roughly east–west, 2.3m wide, 2.76m long and 0.25m deep. In addition to these buildings various features to the immediate south and south-east of SFB 2 probably relate to this area of settlement, though not all can be accurately dated. These included an enclosure situated 33m to the south east which was defined by a curvilinear ditch 16.5m long 0.55m wide by only 0.15m deep. Such features probably formed stock enclosures with parallels including examples at West Heslerton, Yorkshire, Market Way, Canterbury and Wainscott near Strood. About 13.5m to the west of the enclosure was a circular feature 4.6m in diameter at its top. The profile of this feature sloped at a moderate angle to a vertical shaft approximately 1.25m in diameter. Such a form is typical of the profiles of wells, with the upper part of the cut formed by an erosion cone. Hand auguring indicated a minimum depth of 2.4m. Present in the upper backfills of the well were several fragments of medieval pottery (AD 1125–1200) perhaps indication that the feature remained extant into the medieval period (though had a saxon origin). A few other features including pits and the possible re use of a Roman quarry as a midden were also discovered across the site. The pottery recovered from the sunken featured buildings, particularly the fragment of bossed urn from SFB 2 would seem to indicate that the settlement was occupied
from at least the mid-to late fifth century and it is likely that activity ceased during the sixth century. That the settlement was quite short-lived is emphasized by the lack of pits or other features, and minimal recovery of later cultural and environmental material. Despite this the fifth century origin places the Thanet Earth settlement amongst the earliest known Anglo-Saxon sites in Kent.(1) (information summarised from source)

<1> Canterbury Archaeological Trust, 2023, Beneath the Seamark: 6000 Years of an Islands History (Monograph). SKE55405.