Initial evaluation work at Shrubsoles Hill suggested the majority of archaeological features on site were of early Saxon (early medieval) date. (1)

A series of early medieval features (450/550 - 700 AD) were recorded during the excavation program at Shrubsoles Hill. These features included gullies, pits and two possible sunken featured buildings, which suggest dispersed early medieval activity on the site. The full extent of the site is not clear from the reports but it could possibly extend further than the area under excavation. The reports also suggest possible association and reuse of an earlier bronze age barrow (TQ 97 SE 43). (2-5)

The extensive excavation program showed that the majority of the features recorded on the site were of prehistoric date and that the later early medieval features lay within a bronze age landscape (see TQ 97 SE 44), that included the Bronze Age barrow [TQ 97 SE 43] a Late Bronze Age cemetery [TQ 97 SE 45] and some limited Iron Age activity [TQ 97 SE 46].

<1> Thames Valley Archaeological Services, 1999, Shrubsoles Hill, Brambledown, Isle of Sheppey, Kent: Archaeological Evaluation (Unpublished document). SWX7069.

<2> Thames Valley Archaeological Services, 1999, Shrubsoles Hill, Brambledown, Isle of Sheppey, Kent: Interim Report on the Excavation (Unpublished document). SWX7070.

<3> Thames Valley Archaeological Services, 2000, Shrubsoles Hill, Brambledown, Isle of Sheppey, Kent: Post-Excavation Assessment (Unpublished document). SKE6565.

<4> Thames Valley Archaeological Services, 2001, Shrubsoles Hill, Brambledown, Isle of Sheppey, Kent A Draft Publication Report (Unpublished document). SKE12294.

<5> Thames Valley Archaeological Services, 2003, Bronze Age, Roman and Saxon sites on Shrubsoles Hill, Sheppey and at Wises Lane, Borden, Kent: A Landscape of Ancestors and Agriculture by The Swale (Monograph). SKE12323.