Monument record TQ 77 NW 1307 - The earthwork of an irregular mound which could be the remains of a medieval saltern mound.

The earthwork traces of an irregular mound measuring 14m x 23m which could be the remains of a medieval saltern mound. The mound is located at seen at TQ 7307 7842 at the corners of four fields, surrounded on all sides by water-filled ditches.

These mounds are the result of large-scale salt manufacturing where brine was extracted from salt-rich sands and sediments, concentrated and evaporated using process known as sleeching. The discarded waste material from the process built up around the production area into a sizeable mound, often with a hollow in the centred where a hut stood. These medieval saltern mounds are typically described as `floriate' in form because of their irregular lobed formation of dumped waste. They often occur in clusters around former and surviving tidal water-courses within the marsh. There has been considerable reclamation and subsequent sea wall construction since the medieval period which has isolated these sites from the sea.

First edition maps record this as the location of a former sheepfold. Many of these mounds are known to have been subsequently utilised as sheepfolds, sheep washes and stock refuges in the post medieval period because of their slightly elevated position in the readily flooded marshes.

This site was mapped from Environment Agency lidar imagery as part of the English Heritage: Hoo Peninsula Landscape Project. (1-3)

<1> Environment Agency, 2001, LIDAR TQ 7278 Environment Agency D0015733 APR-2001 (Digital archive). SKE57158.

<2> Historic England, Historic England Archive (Archive). SKE58569.

<3> Ordinance Survey, 1879, Ordnance Survey: Kent Epoch 1, 1:2500 1879 (Map). SKE55861.