Monument record TR 36 SW 1355 - Substantial late Iron Age ditch, Ebbsfleet

During excavations associated with the Margate to Broadstairs pipeline, excavations in the compound 16 area revealed a section of substantial ditch. This was aligned north-east/south-west, re-working the same boundaries several times over in a fairly narrow time band. The complex of ditches and re-cuts should be compared to those found to the north-east in Area 16, the size and depth of the largest of these ditches being broadly similar. When observed together, these ditches potentially form a right-angled, south-east corner of an enclosure. This is likely to have been a boundary, perhaps between dry and wet land, which was frequently re-cut after flooding episodes. Such flooding or inundation was clearly indicated by deposits in Area 16, at points during the Iron Age and Early Romano-British periods. It is also possible that the ditches formed defensive or military boundaries, although the largest of the ditches in Area 16 does not appear to have an equivalent in Compound 16. The ditches ranged from 1.02 to 4.43m in width and 0.11 to 1.39m in depth. (1)

<1> Wessex Archaeology, 2008, Thanet's Longest Excavation: Archaeological Investigations Along the Route of the Weatherless - Margate - Broadstairs Wastewater Pipeline (Monograph). SKE53449.