The Oxford Archaeological Unit (OAU) was commissioned by Union Railways (South) Ltd (URS) to undertake detailed archaeological investigation west of Blind Lane, Sevington, Kent. This work formed part of an extensive programme of archaeological investigation carried out in advance of the construction of the CTRL.

The excavation area exposed at least 16 ditches, five gullies, three postholes and two undated charcoal-filled pits. A Deverel-Rimbury bucket Urn recovered during the evaluation from one of a pair of parallel ditches indicates that this possible trackway is middle-late Bronze Age in date - c. 1750BC - 1150BC. One of these ditches had been recut. (TR 04 SW 122)

Pottery from the remaining ditches was sparse. A late Iron Age or early Romano-British date (c. 100BC - 200AD) is indicated for eight of the ditches and two smashed vessels were found in adjacent cuts forming part of a single Romano-British boundary. One of the vessels was a fragmented handled jar dated to c.50 - 200AD. Some intercutting and recutting of the ditches suggests there are three phases to the late Iron Age/Roman activity, but it probably represents a relatively short-lived period of activity. A large natural depression in the centre of the excavation area contained a thin deposit of waterlain sand and clay, which was overlain by colluvial deposits. The areas adjacent to the depression revealed areas of erosion, which produced late Iron Age/early Roman pottery as well as some struck flint.

The site is situated c. 300m south of a dense surface concentration of pottery and flintwork, and an extensive cropmark complex of ring ditches, enclosures and field boundaries, which probably include a later prehistoric and Roman settlement focus. This suggests that the later Prehistoric and early Romano-British farming communities in the area may have favoured the better-drained geology of the Hythe Beds for settlement sites, rather than the heavy Atherfield Clay.

A total of 426 pottery sherd were recovered from the site. 218 of these represent two fragmented early Roman vessels (c.50 - 200 AD). There were few diagnostic sherds apart form the two vessels. A total of 111 pieces of struck fliint and five pieces of burnt flint were recovered from topsoil, colluvial deposits or erosional features. A small assemblage of poorly preserved bone was recovered from the site.

Two metal artefacts were recovered: a copper alloy Late Iron Age brooch (La Tene I) and a copper alloy pin (1).


The Bronze Age ditches are not thought to be a trackway, and are not extensive enough to be called a field system, so their exact function, apart from being boundaries of some kind, is unknown. There appears to have been a gap in activity between the Late Bronze Age and Late Iron Age, a pattern that is matched at other sites along the CTRL route and more iwdely in the whole of southern England. The Roman field sytem apears to have been laid out in the Late Iron Age, but pottery become rare after AD70 though the field system appears to have continued until into the 2nd century, again a pattern that is seen elsewhere in the CTRL excavations. A deposist of 13th-14th century pottery suggests one ditch may be of this date. A number of ditches have been qualified as modern due to their relationship to modern field boundaries. (2-3)

<1> Oxford Archaeological Unit, 1999, West of Blind Lane, Sevington, Kent: Detailed Archaeological Works Interim Report Final (Unpublished document). SKE6958.

<2> Oxford Archaeological Unit, 2001, West of Blind Lane Post Excavation Assessment Report (Unpublished document). SKE16426.

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