In 2004 Wessex Archaeology carried out an evaluation. Medieval features were found in the northwest of the site. (1)

In 2004 and 2005 Wessex Archaeology excavated the site. Numerous ditches made up a series of enclosures. Within the enclosures were two large sunken hollows, one containing a hearth and an oven, several pits, post holes, mettaled surfaces and a drier. The activity on the site was broadly divided into two phases, one from the mid 11th century to the early 13th century and the other from the early 13th century to the mid 14th century.

In the first medieval phase a large rectangular enclosure was laid out with a bakery in its northeast corner. This site was used and reorganised during the period with adjustments to the layout. The kitchen, with the oven and hearth, was in a large hollow which may have had a structure over it. There were possible post impressions but no recognisable pattern to the arrangement. Material found in the backfilled post holes and hollow suggests that the walls could have been of chalk cob. The oven was 2m in internal diameter and was probably used for baking bread. Archaeomagnetic dating of the floors associated with the oven produced dates between 1180 and 1230. The oven or corn drier also in the enclosure was also of late 12th or early 13th century date. The fragments of quern stone found in the demolished remains of the bakery suggest processing of flour on the site prior to baking.

The second phase of medieval use of the site suggests some continuity from the earlier phase but is less easily understood. There were a number of ditches and features but their distribution is complex. A hollow within an enclosure of this phase is also of uncertain function. A metalled ramp lead down into the feature and it could be the remains of a structure. (2-3)

<1> Wessex Archaeology, 2005, Fulston Manor, Phase One, Sittingbourne, Kent: Archaeological Evaluation Report (Unpublished document). SKE17881.

<2> Wessex Archaeology, 2006, Fulston Manor, Sittingbourne, Kent: Assessment of the Result of the Excavation of a Small Medieval Farmstead (Unpublished document). SKE17884.

<3> Wessex Archaeology, 2008, Fulston Manor, Sittingbourne, Kent: Report for Publication (Unpublished document). SKE17885.