Monument record TQ 77 NE 1316 - The earthworks of a possible medieval saltern mound can be seen on aerial photographs taken in 1947

The earthworks of a possible medieval saltern mound can be seen on aerial photographs taken in 1947. This mound was situated towards the northern end of Cooling Marshes and was centred on TQ 7633 7797. The area of the mound was enclosed on three sides by drainage channels and on the southern side by the earthworks of a disused drainage channel that once connected with the others. These mounds represent the discarded waste material from salt manufacture, a process - known as sleeching - in which brine was extracted from salt-rich sands and sediments, concentrated and evaporated. Sites such as this could no longer operate once sea walls were constructed converting this area to fresh marsh. Sites such as this sometimes became the focus for later building, although no evidence of this has been discovered here. The mound and the disused channel appear to have since been levelled. This site was mapped from aerial photographs as part of the English Heritage: Hoo Peninsula Landscape Project.(1-2)

<1> Royal Air Force, 1953, RAF 82/713 315-316 6-FEB-1953 (Photograph). SKE58591.

<2> RAF, 1947, RAF CPE/UK/1923 4028 16-JAN-1947 (Photograph). SKE57230.

<3> Historic England, Historic England Archive (Archive). SKE58567.