As part of the programme of archaeological investigations along the route of the CTRL, Union Railways (South) Ltd (URS) commissioned the Museum of London Archaeology Service to undertake an evaluation comprising thirteen trial trenches situated in 2.7 ha of land between the villages of Sevington and Mersham. The area of investigation was bounded by the London-Folkestone railway line to the south and farmland to the west, north and east.

Archaeological features were located in 8 of the 13 trenches. Curvilinear ditches and slots were concentrated towards the eastern end of the evaluation area and may represent two prehistoric enclosures. Linear ditches were spread more evenly across the site and may indicate the survival of one or more field systems.

Pottery was recorded in seven of the twenty cut features. One largely complete bucket urn may be related to the Deverel Rimbury tradition of the mid 2nd millenium BC. Other sherds may be early 1st millenium BC in date. Occupation therefore appears to cover the middle and late Bronze Ages.

The middle Bronze Age coincided with the climatic optimum of the mid 2nd millenium BC when the climate of Britain was more favorable for the expansion of settlement onto poorer soils and into upland areas. The poorly drained soils of the Ashford area may therefore have been farmed at this time. Climatic deterioration in the late 2nd millenium meant that settlement in these areas was no longer practical and there was therefore a contraction of settlement in the early 1st millenium BC. (1-3)

<1> Museum of London Archaeology Service, 1998, West of Blind Lane: An Archaeological Evaluation (Unpublished document). SKE6939.

<2> Museum of London Archaeology Service, 1997, West of Blind Lane An Archaeological Evaluation Interim Report (Unpublished document). SKE6940.

<3> Oxford Wessex Archaeology Joint Venture, 2006, The Later Prehistoric Pottery from Excavations Along Section 1 of the CTRL (Unpublished document). SKE16486.