A group of medieval ditches were uncovered during an archaeological evaluation of land to the rear of the White Stag on Monkton Street, Monkton, Thanet. Features were uncovered in all five of the trenches and suggest a complex medieval field system with a possible enclosure.

In detail: in trench 1 a ENE-WSW aligned ditch was exposed in WSW end of evaluation trench. This was 1.2metre wide, 0.26metre deep and had moderately sloping sides and flat base. It was filled by secondary fill comprising mid compaction, dark brown silty loam with occasional chalk flecks and moderate flint. 2m further to the east a parallel ditch was located. This was 1.2metre wide, 0.3metre deep and had a steep slope at SSW side, stepped slope at NNE side and narrow concave base. It was filled by secondary fill comprising mid compaction, dark brown silty loam with occasional chalk flecks and flints. The ditches were running across the trench at 45 degree angle to its SE wall. Another ditch was perpendicularly aligned to other two and located near the middle of the trench in its eastern part. This was 1.1metre-wide, 0.68metre deep and had moderately sloping sides and concave base. It was filled by primary fill comprising brown loam with freq. Flints. Subsequently that was capped by a secondary fill comprising brown silty loam with rare flints and animal bones. The ditches were interpreted as a drains and amount of recovered finds was very low. Trench 2 revealed one ditch located in SE end of the trench. It was NNE-SSW aligned linear ditch that had moderately sloping sides, concave base and gradual break of slope at the top. Feature was 1.5metre wide and 0.44metre deep. It was filled-in by single secondary deposit comprising mid compaction, dark brown clayey loam with occasional chalk granules and flints. There was no noticeable difference between subsoil and infill deposits. The ditch was interpreted to be a field drain. Trench 3 revealed one large ditch, another smaller linear and a pit. The pit was located in NW part of the trench, near its centre. The feature was oval in plan; it had moderately sloping sides and flat base. It measured 0.9metre in diameter and was 0.15metre deep. The smaller ditch was located in SE part of the trench near the centre. The L-shaped ditch in plan had its parts E-W and N-S aligned respectively. 1.2metre long section of the ditch has been excavated and it revealed near vertical sides and flat base. Feature was 0.4metre wide, 0.3metre deep and filled-in by single fill comprising mid compaction, dark brown clayey-silt with moderate amount of chalk granules and flints (angular and sub angular). Also a small abraded fragment of Medieval pottery was recovered. The large NE-SW aligned ditch was revealed in SE part of the trench. It had moderately sloping sides, narrow concave base and gradual break of slope at the top. Feature was 2.2metre wide and 0.86metre deep. It was filled with four sub sequential deposits. It was interpreted to be a field drain ditch and produced very low amount of anthropogenic inclusions from relatively large volume that was excavated. Trench 4 exposed natural geology truncated by three linear cuts. One was exposed in NE end of the trench and was running across it at 45 degree angle. The ditch edges were well defined prior to excavation and about the half of exposed length had been excavated. Linear ditch was WNW-ESE aligned; it had near vertical side slope and flat base. Feature was 0.96metre wide, 0.29m deep and was filled with single context comprising mid compaction, dark brown clayey loam with infrequent chalk granules and occasional flints. Feature was aligned with a ditch exposed in Trench 1 and it’s expected that both sections are part of the same ditch. A second E-W aligned ditch was located near the middle of the trench in its NW part. This feature was 0.5metre wide, 0.25metre deep and was filled with single context comprising mid compaction, dark brown clayey silt with occasional chalk flecks. It had similar alignment to the a ditch exposed in Trench 3 and it’s expected that both sections are part of the same ditch. The third was a NNE-SSW aligned linear ditch located in SE end of the trench. The excavated 1metre long section revealed a cut that had steep sides slope and flat base and that the feature was 0.95metre wide, 0.68metre deep and was filled-in by single context comprising mid compaction, dark brown silty loam with occasional mid brown blotches of silty loam with infrequent chalk flecks. Small fragment of abraded Medieval pottery was recovered from this context. All three discussed above features were interpreted as a field drain ditches. Trench 5 revealed a single NNE-SSW aligned ditch which located in the middle of ESE part of the trench. It had steep sides slope and flat base and was 1.2metre wide and 0.68metre deep. Its single fill had mid compaction, dark brown colour with occ. mid brown blotches; it was composed of silty loam with occ. chalk flakes and occ. Flints. A small fragment of abraded Medieval pottery was recovered from this context. (1)
(information summarised from source)

Swale and Thames Archaeological Survey Company, 2020, Archaeological Evaluation On Land To The Rear Of The White Stag, 70 Monkton Street, Monkton, Ramsgate, Thanet, Kent (Unpublished document). SKE56848.