The ditches of a large defensive enclosure of Late Iron Age date were identified on the west shore of the Ebbsfleet peninsula in Zone 4 and 6. This enclosure is sited on what would have been the banks of the former Wantsum Channel which formed the western side of the defences. As a result of three separate stages of work, ten sections have been excavated across the eastern and northern lengths of the enclosure. In all sections the ditch was seen to be a similar size and shape and each section has been dated to the late iron age by the artefact assemblage that it produced. It would have enclosed a large area of over 20ha. In all excavated sections the ditch was cut by a substantial V shaped ditch up to 5m wide and between 1.5 and 3m deep. This ditch is early Roman in date. No certain traces of a rampart were found nor were there any foundations for watch towers or gates. The layers of fills within the ditch may suggest that there was an earthwork of some sort, but no certain evidence was uncovered and it may have been set some distance from the ditch.

The chronological relationship of the Iron Age settlement in Zone 6 with this ditch is not very clear but the limited stratigraphic evidence suggests that the settlements were occupied before the defensive enclosure was built. It seems clear from the pottery and excavated evidence that there was a change in the size and character of the settlement in Zone 6 and possibly also Zone 4 around the time that the defensive enclosure was constructed. From the middle of the 1st century BC no new features were created and it was only in the Roman period that we see evidence for settlement in Zone 6.

The enclosure is comparable in size to a hillfort, though its late Iron Age date and waterside position may point towards it being an enclosed oppida. There may also be an association with Julius Caesar’s invasions of Britain in 55/54 BC. (information summarised from source) (1)

<1> Andrews et al, 2015, Digging The Gateway: Archaeological Landscapes of South Thanet. The Archaeology of East Kent Access (Phase III) Vol 1: The sites (Monograph). SKE55517.