The skeletal remains of twelve individuals some with body adornments and/or iron weapons such as knives and arrow heads were recorded during the watching brief. Of these, eleven were exhumed whilst the remaining one was present below the depth of the excavation for the drainage. It was agreed with KCC that as this would not be further disturbed it would be left in situ. The grave cuts were made into the natural chalk and each contained a single interment.

It is clear from the results of the watching brief that there is a previously unsuspected Anglo-Saxon cemetery within the field through which the service run was excavated. As the archaeological intervention was only concerned with deposits that were to be disturbed by the current works, the limits of the cemetery cannot be estimated with any great accuracy. However, comparison with other cemeteries in Kent would suggest it is most likely to be linear in shape, running along the crest of the hill on the south-east side of the field (Andrew Richardson 'pers comm'). It certainly extended further to the south-west as indicated by the unexcavated cuts exposed during the soil stripping and may also extend further to the north-east into the adjacent field.

Without knowing the limits of the cemetery it is impossible to estimate the total number of interments it contains. Considering the density of those revealed in the confines of the watching brief, even if it only covers a small area, the number of inhumations might be quite substantial. It is also clear that two phases of interment may be present.

Without expert analytical investigation being conducted on the skeletal remains very little can be said of their demographic profile. The aging of only one of the individuals has been estimated, that of the child, who was thought to be about five or six years old (58). The sexes of the group can, at present, only be supposed from the artefacts with which they were buried. (1)

<1> Pre-Construct Archaeology, 2005, An Archaeological Watching Brief of Land at Townsend Farm Road, St Margaret's at Cliffe, Kent (Unpublished document). SKE12588.