Monument record TQ 87 NW 1281 - ?Medieval saltern mound

The earthwork remains of a small sub-circular mound measuring 20m x 16m seen at TQ 8011 7797 on the southern edge of St Mary's Marsh which may be remains of a medieval saltern mound. This was mapped from aerial photographs as part of the English Heritage: Hoo Peninsula Landscape Project.

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.

Many of these mounds were 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 form of mound has been referred to and identified in a contemporary paper on the subject (Spurrell, 1885).

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, 1947, NMR RAF/CPE/UK/1923 3005 16-JAN-1947 (Photograph). SKE55858.

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