Four Anglo-Saxon structures and associated features including pits and ditches were identified during a 2016 excavation at Barton Court Grammar School. This phase of mid-late Anglo-Saxon activity which these features represented dated to around 700-950 AD.

The earliest feature originating from this phase of activity comprised a linear feature measuring 18m in length, 2.2m in width, and 0.40m in depth which was located to the west of the site and which extended beyond the limits of the excavation. This may have been a hollow way or a terrace

Four possible structures were identified, each represented by a series of post and stake holes, pits, and other shallow features potentially related to construction. These features measured around 0.06-1.17m in length, 0.06-0.90m in width, and 0.08-0.45m in depth). The scale of one of these structures was determined as around 6.4m in length, and 5.4m in width. A single sherd of mid-late Anglo-Saxon pottery was recovered from deposits associated with one of the structures.

Eight substantial pits were associated with this phase of activity at the site. These features measured between 1.44-2.67m in length, 0.62-1.67m in width, and 0.37-1.30m in depth. Artefacts identified within the fills of these features included sherds of Anglo-Saxon pottery, burnt daub, a single sherd of medieval pottery, alongside residual Roman brick, tile, and pottery.

Environmental sampling of features at the site identified ‘charred grain (free-threshing wheat and hulled barley and possibly traces of rye), traces of chaff (including traces of oat awns), a small number of legumes (including potentially cultivated pulses such as pea and bean), Rosaceae/Prunus fruit stones, charred fruit stones of sloe/blackthorn, and occasional weed seeds such as Rumex, and small and large-seeded wild grasses (Poaceae) including Bromus. Large quantities of charcoal were identified in a number of the samples’ (summarised from the original report, 1). Oyster and mussel shell, alongside bones from mammals, birds, and fish were also recovered. One of the pits which was sampled had a fill consistent with its use as a cess pit during the mid-late Anglo-Saxon period. The remains recovered from environmental sampling of post-holes at the site is thought to have originated from domestic cooking activities taking place within the structures. (1)

<1> Canterbury Archaeological Trust, 2017, Barton Court Grammar School, Longport, Canterbury, Kent CT1 1PH, Post-excavation assessment (Unpublished document). SKE57635.