Monument record TR 26 NE 1310 - Medieval Site 6 , enclosures - Plateau 1, Thanet Earth

Summary

The medieval features on Thanet Earth dated to between the mid-eleventh century to the early part of the fourteenth (possibly extending to AD 1350). The activity is primarily agricultural in nature with significant elements of domestic occupation. A site wide system of enclosures appears to be intimately related to various trackways across the site. The activity around these enclosures has been grouped into a number of Medieval ‘sites’. Site 6 comprised a north-south aligned string of adjacent enclosures, all rectilinear, along the extreme western edge of the northern part of the site (Plateau 1 and its pond area), c. 160– 190m west of Trackway 28. They were only partially exposed, with the western extent lying beyond the limits of excavation. Parts of 9 enclosures were identified in total, they overlay part of the medieval field system which was exposed across the site. It seems likely that this site represents a series of agricultural paddocks. (location accurate to the nearest 1m based on available information)

Location

Grid reference Centred TR 2846 6738 (36m by 308m) (22 map features)
Map sheet TR26NE
County KENT
District THANET, KENT
Civil Parish ST NICHOLAS AT WADE, THANET, KENT

Map

Type and Period (2)

Full Description

The medieval features on Thanet Earth dated to between the mid-eleventh century to the early part of the fourteenth (possibly extending to AD 1350). The activity is primarily agricultural in nature with significant elements of domestic occupation. A site wide system of enclosures appears to be intimately related to various trackways across the site. The activity around these enclosures has been grouped into a number of Medieval ‘sites’

Site 6 seems seem to be a series agricultural enclosures or paddocks, with little sign of actual habitation though It is unclear whether any of its enclosures were later occupied as evidence for this may have been outside the examined area. The enclosures were superimposed over an earlier arrangement of medieval ditched field boundaries aligned in similar fashion, and it seems likely that a further droveway (perhaps still marked by an extant lynchet to the south of Plateau 2), bordered these outside the site area on the west as none of this activity extended much more than 20m from the western edge of site. The northern complex consisted of three Phase 2 or early Phase 3 enclosures only very partially revealed in the pond area, while in the main part of the plateau numerous overlapping enclosures were revealed in the north-west corner. The northern enclosures were of single phase but insecurely dated, the main complex more firmly of Phase 2 and 3, with at least six or seven separate, overlapping enclosures (Enclosures 26–32) discernible. All of these enclosures were relatively devoid of any internal activity suggesting they were paddocks for animals or crop/manure storage, but the complex development of Enclosures 26 to 32, similar to other sites, suggests that more activity may have been carried out to the west, external to the site. Thus it remains possible that some of these developments were similar to the more complex later arrangements adjacent to Trackway 28.
(1) (information summarised from source)


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

Sources/Archives (1)

  • <1>XY Monograph: Canterbury Archaeological Trust. 2023. Beneath the Seamark: 6000 Years of an Islands History. [Mapped feature: #111898 enclosures, ]

Finds (0)

Protected Status/Designation

  • None recorded

Related Monuments/Buildings (0)

Related Events/Activities (1)

  • Event Boundary: Excavations at Thanet Earth 2007-2008 (EKE14749)

Record last edited

Jul 5 2023 8:21PM