Monument record TR 25 NW 441 - An incomplete single ring ditch visible as a cropmark

An incomplete single ring ditch centred at TR 2171 5862 with an approximate diameter of 24.5m. The southern part of the ditch circuit is masked by a darker cropmark of a negative feature which appears to be surrounded by either upcast material or part of a structure.

This ring ditch is part of a collection of five probable Bronze Age barrows forming a linear cemetery running NE-SW alongside the Little Stour. It is possible that the barrow cemetery extends further to the north-east beneath Wickhambreaux village and south-west into adjacent fields. However the area to the south-west is cultivated with orchards and so traces of buried features are unidentifiable from aerial photography as with the village. As this site has been ploughed for a number of centuries all features appear to have been levelled. It is likely that very little of the barrow structures survive, though on the southern edge of the alignment deeper soil which appears to obscure parts of some of the ring ditches may have helped to preserve more of the buried remains. (1)

A ring ditch is visible as cropmarks on air photographs taken July 2nd 1986. Circa 26 metres in diameter, it is part of a linear group running roughly ne-sw to the north of and broadly parallel with the current course of the Little Stour. All are located on or below the 10 metre contour. The smaller ring ditch TR 25 SW 160 lies 15 metres to the east, while the double ring ditch TR 25 SW 162 is 120 metres to the southwest. (2)

<1> English Heritage, 2009, Wickhambreaux, Kent: Ring Ditch Survey (Unpublished document). SKE16345.

<2> 2001, Oblique aerial photograph (Photograph (Print)). SKE58743.