In 2002 Canterbury Archaeological Trust carried out an evaluation and an excavation at Ickham Court Farm. In Area B of the excavation evidence was found of Anglo-Saxon occupation: principally two sunken floored buildings. The first consisting of a sub-rectangular pit 4.5m by 3.3m and 0.45m deep with post holes at either end and stake holes in the base. The second was heavily truncated by recent activity. The first was better preserved and within this building there was a large oven in the north-east corner and a small hearth on the floor to the north. The oven was c.1.4m in diameter and had been cut into the floor and was built against and into the corner of the pit. Part of the dome of the oven survived within the pit. The hearth was sampled for archaeomagnetic dating and provided a result of AD 1115 to 1160 [2]. There were a total of 69 stake holes within the building, but there was no discernable pattern, beyond them appearing to be absent from the south-eastern corner. Two ditches nearby may be related to the same phase of activity. The sunken floored buildings appear to have silted up both during the use of the oven and then completely in the late 11th or early 12th century (based upon sherds within the fills).

A number of later medieval ditches were also found on the site, most likely comprising the property boundaries of the medieval farm. (1)

<1> Canterbury Archaeological Trust, 2003, An Assessment Report of the Archaeological Excavation at the former site of Ickham Court Farm, Ickham, Kent (Unpublished document). SKE17476.

<2> English Heritage, 2002, Ickham Court Farm, Ickham, Kent: Archaeomagnetic Dating Report 2002 (Unpublished document). SKE25944.