Monument record TQ 77 NW 1395 - ?Post-medieval stock refuge, Cliffe

The earthwork remains of an oval mound measuring 10m x 19m, probably an example of a 19th century or earlier stock refuge mound constructed on low-lying pasture within the marshlands of the Hoo Peninsula and the margins of the Thames Estuary. Centred at TQ 7437 7769, this is one of two similar mounds seen within the same field. The adjacent mound has been recorded separately in NMR Monument record: 416722. Such mounds have been referred to and identified in a contemporary paper on the subject (Spurrell, 1885).

This was mapped from RAF aerial photographs dating from 1953 as part of the English Heritage: Hoo Peninsula Landscape Project.

It is possible that this mound has its origins in the medieval as the remnant of a former saltern mound, many of which have been subsequently re-used as sheepfolds, sheep washes and stock refuges in the post medieval period because of their slightly elevated position in the readily flooded marshes.

Saltern 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.

Roman finds have been extracted from some of these sites, but are believed to be from the lower levels and not associated with the mounds. Post-Roman flooding and silt deposition has resulted in Roman sites lying typically several feet below the current land surface. (1-2)

<1> RAF, 1953, NMR RAF/713 01 0452 06-FEB-1953 (Photograph). SKE58868.

<2> Spurrell, F. C. J., 1885, Early sites and embankments on the margins of the Thames estuary. (Article in serial). SWX7560.