In 1998 an evaluation and an excavation were carried out by the Trust for Thanet Archaeology on the Oaklands Nursery site at Cliffsend. The remains of a plough damaged Medieval boarded groin were revealed during the excavation. The dyke or bund is composed of flint pebbles and cobbles. The logical reconstruction of this is that initially a ‘boarded groin was built using a sort of palisade trench set with upright posts retaining a sea barrier of wooden planks. Behind this was reared a revetment of flint cobbles and pebbles in a clay matrix. This was subsequently allowed to decay and was denuded by ploughing. Such a sea defence is shown on OS maps as following a northerly divergent line from the Ramsgate - Sandwich road, petering out about 400m south west of the excavated area. built in about the 13th century it was rendered redundant by the northern along shore drift of shingle, and superseded by a Tudor period sea wall that forms the base for Sandwich road. (information summarised from source) (1-2)

<1> Trust for Thanet Archaeology, 1998, Oaklands Nursery Site, Cliffsend, Ramsgate: Archaeological Evaluation (Unpublished document). SKE17301.

<2> Trust for Thanet Archaeology, 1998, The Oaklands Nursery Site Development, Cliffsend, Ramsgate; An Archaeological Excavation Report (Unpublished document). SKE17302.