During investigations associated with the construction of the Ramsgate Harbour Approach, road in 1997/1998, two parallel ditches, running approximately north-east/ south-west, were discovered crossing the excavation area obliquely from the northern limit of excavation to the western. These features may represent boundaries for controlling animal movement to or from an enclosure excavated to the south-west.

The eastern ditch ran for more than 90m across the northern area of excavation and was made up of three main sections. The northern section of ditch was around 45m long, varying in width between 1m and 1.25m, up to 0.6m deep with a U-shaped profile. A complex sequence of cuts and recuts is suggested along the alignment, particularly at the northern end where variation in plan and profile suggests a continual process of recutting. This part of the alignment was filled by homogenous compact clayey silts from which 49 sherds of Bronze Age pottery were recovered, along with crumbs of heat-affected clay, oyster shell, charcoal, grain and seeds. At the southern end of the northern section the ditch became increasingly shallow and discontinuous. After a gap of c 1.5m, the middle section of ditch extended a further 25m, 1.2m wide and 0.1m deep, cutting through Segment 3 of the Outer Arc of the causewayed enclosure. It was filled by clay silts containing residual Neolithic sherds, six Beaker sherds and middle – late Bronze Age material. Approximately 0.5m to the west of the south-western end of this section of the ditch a 5.5m stretch of gully, at most 0.45m wide with a U-shaped profile just 0.14m deep, ran parallel to the main ditch. No finds were recovered from its fill. After a gap of about 2.5m the southern section of ditch ran for 15m into the western section. Its width varied between 0.5 to 0.7m, with gently sloping sides around 0.16m deep. No finds were recovered from its fill. The western ditch was situated between 1.6m and 2.4m from the north-west edge of the eastern ditch. This single feature covered just 35m in an unbroken line, although it seems likely that modern ploughing had truncated it completely towards the south-west (cf the much shallower southern end of the eastern ditch), and that the parallel arrangement with the eastern ditch originally continued beyond the limit of excavation. The western ditch, about 1.5m wide, generally had a shallow ‘v’ shaped profile throughout, with a maximum depth of 0.4m, and was filled by homogenous clayey silts. These produced 16 sherds of Bronze Age pottery, along with three late Iron Age sherds (perhaps intrusive), as well as evidently residual early Neolithic material (two sherds). About 25m south of the northern edge of excavation a series of recuts into the northern section of the eastern ditch was recorded. All were filled by clay silts that produced eight middle – late Bronze Age sherds in various fabrics, along with traces of heat-affected clay, burnt flint, mammal bone, eggshell, shellfish, fish teeth/bone, charcoal, grain, seeds, hazelnut/nutshells, two small fossils, fragments of (exotic) stone and iron. Distinct concentrations of worked flint were found at several specific points along the lines of the ditches. In the eastern ditch, one deposit produced almost 350 pieces including many cores and flakes as well as knapping debris, and a significant number of reworked or utilised flakes and blades, scrapers and a borer, along with occasional burnt unworked pieces. The fill of the southern extremity of eastern ditch yielded 135 worked flints and occasional burnt unworked pieces, with a similar profile of artefact types. The western ditch, near the northern limit of excavation, produced a further 166 artefacts, with significant numbers of cores, flakes and finished pieces, including a leaf-shaped arrowhead. These flint concentrations probably represent residual material derived from earlier Neolithic features. A number of smaller discrete features cut the fills of the parallel ditches. Several clustered near the recuts described above, including a pit which lay at right-angles to the main alignment of the eastern ditch. This was an elongated feature, 2.15m long, 0.55m wide and 0.34m deep, containing occasional worked flints (some burnt), fragmentary unidentified pottery and traces of oyster shell. Two small post-holes, 0.15 and 0.3m in diameter and 0.08m and 0.2m deep respectively also cut the ditch fills in this area. To the southwest, deposits in the central section of the eastern ditch and parallel gully were cut by two small pits, both filled with compact clayey silts. (information summarised from source) (1-2)

<1> 2019, Chalk Hill - Neolithic and Bronze Age Discoveries at Ramsgate, Kent (Monograph). SKE56208.

<2> Canterbury Archaeological Trust, 1997, Excavations at Chalk Hill, near Ramsgate, Kent 1997-98: Integrated assessment & updated research design (Unpublished document). SKE29640.