Monument record TQ 96 SE 1167 - Roman roads, settlement activity and burials, land adjacent to the A2 150m north west of Ospringe

In December 2015 and March 2016 an evaluation revealed remains of a Roman road crossing the site, orientated northeast to south-west, and the remains of another road parallel to Watling Street. It also revealed a Roman inhumation burial, two possible inhumations, two cremations and Roman features, principally ditches.

Text below taken from the report:
"Trench 1 contained Roman ditches and Layer L1038 which was located between the linear features. The latter may have been associated with a road crossing the site north-east to south-west. The ditches were located in two groups of three, c.4.50m apart, each group consisting of parallel and re-cut ditches

Trench 6 contained seven Roman ditches..likely associated with a road. It also contained two additional Roman ditches .., which contained Roman finds

Trench 7 contained three Roman Ditches .., a possible Roman gully .., two previously-excavated cremation burials.. and a possible inhumation burial.. The majority of the trench was located within the truncated area of the previous excavations: the entire south-eastern and eastern arms of the trench contained only backfill of the excavations while the remainder of the trench was partially truncated. In addition the trench also contained a large archaeological pit, associated with the 1920s excavations.

Trench 8 contained two Roman ditches .., a Roman inhumation burial .., a possible inhumation burial .. and two undated ditches.

Trench 9 contained three Roman ditches and a layer, all associated with the road which traversed the site north-east to south-west. The features were located during by the geophysical survey and they were present in Trenches 1 and 10. An additional Roman ditch was also present in the trench.

Trench 10 contained Roman features: five ditches and , two pits and two layers. Layer L1099 and Ditches F1043, F1047 and F1077 were associated with the road which traversed the site and was also located in Trenches 1 and 9.

Trench 13 contained Ditches. Ditch Terminus F2007 was linear in plan (4.10+ x 0.78 x 0.26m), orientated east / west. It had moderately sloping sides and a concave base. Its fill, L2008, was a firm, mid orange brown, clay silt and it contained Roman (late 1st – early 3rd century) pottery (11; 100g) CBM (1g) and animal bone (41g). Pit F2009 was sub circular in plan (0.32 x 0.30 x 0.05m). It had gently sloping sides and a concave base. Its fill, L2010, was a mid orange brown clayey silt with occasional small, sub-angular flint. It contained Roman (late 1st – early 3rd century) pottery (1; 2g)."(1)

<1> Archaeological Solutions, 2016, LAND ADJACENT TO THE A2, FAVERSHAM, KENT. AN ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVALUATION (Unpublished document). SKE31682.