In 2009 SLR carried out a strip, map and sample excavation. Evidence was found of Iron Age occupation. A ring ditch was located in the western part of the site. The ditch fills contained Late Neolithic/Early Bronze Age pottery and flints along with Middle Iron Age pottery. The ring ditch was c.11m across and was associated with five post hole. A rectilinear ditch system was found nearby and dated to the Iron Age along with a number of pits. A possible cremation burial was also found nearby. (1,3)

The ring ditch was found to consist of segments of ditch with a probable entrance on the south east side. No features were found within the enclosure. There were a number of post holes around the edge of the feature. There appeared to be concentrations of deposited material in the termini of the ditch segments. Pottery from these deposits was of the Earliest and Early/Middle Iron Age. It thought that the ring ditch, with its causeways, unusual arrangement of posts, lack of further structural elements and concentrations of material in the ditches represents a possible ritual site.

The nearby field system ditches contained an unurned cremation of a probably adult individual. Radiocarbon dating of the burnt bones and charcoal samples dated to the Middle Iron Age. The ditches therefore probably went out of use in the Middle Iron Age. (2)

<1> SLR Consulting Limited, 2010, Wrotham Quarry Northern Extension: Interim Report on a Programme of Archaeological Work (Unpublished document). SKE24461.

<2> SLR Consulting Limited, 2012, Wrotham Quarry Northern Extension: Interim Report on a Programme of Archaeological Work (Unpublished document). SKE25144.

<3> Laurence Hayes, Tim Malim and Thomas Wellicome, 2015, Late Bronze Age Cremation Burial and a Possible Rare Example of an Iron Age Shrine at Wrotham Quarry (Article in serial). SKE51683.