A triple-ditched barrow was visible on aerial photographs at Lord of the Manor near Ozengell, one of the Lord of the Manor barrow group. The barrow's three ditches rep[resent three different phases of construction at narrow intervals. The grave contained the crouched burials of a male and female but no grave goods. Secondary burials included five inhumations and a cremation accompanied by an arrowhead.

The site was excavated by the Thanet Archaeological Unit from 1976 to 1982.

TR 354653. Early Bronze Age three ring ditched barrow ['B'] excavated in 1976 by the Thanet Archaeological Unit. The three ring ditches represent three phases, at fairly narrow intervals. The primary grave contained the crouched burials of a man and a woman, but no grave goods; the secondary burials consisted of five inhumations and a cremation in a cord decorated pot, accompanied by a barbed and tanged arrowhead. The final outer ditch of the third phase was wider and deeper than others, the upcast from its cutting being used to fill in the earlier ditches. This ditch remained open and its upper levels contained a series of Early Iron Age pottery, and C1st AD Romano-British pottery.(1,2)

TR 356653. Barrow group situated on both sides of the A256 about 100 m N of the railway bridge, excavated between 1976 and 1982 by the Thanet Archaeological Unit. Site 1 - Three concentric ditches were revealed, the outer one 20.0m in diameter. At the centre of the barrow was a pit containing a double crouched burial. Around this was arranged five inhumation burials and a cremation burial contained in a small cord-decorated urn. The outer ditch is very likely a ceremonial enclosure of the period 2200 - 1900 BC. The site was probably refurbished and the inner ditches cut to convert the enclosure into a round barrow, perhaps a century or so later.(3)

"The ring-ditched enclosures marked as LOM 1-6 are part of a possibly middle, certainly late neolithic to early Bronze Age ceremonial landscape in use between c. 2800-1700 BC. Of these LOM1, 2D, 3A and 2 smaller ring-ditches were entirely stripped and excavated in 1976 and 1977, LOM 5 (the triple-ditched enclosure) sample trenched during the 1980s and LOM 6 remains unexcavated as a Scheduled Monument.

The first main phase of later neolithic activity is represented by the large enclosures that were later occupied by barrows. LOM 1 had no internal feautres but produced large quantities of residual later neolithic worked flint and grooved ware pottery. LOM 2D was smaller but had a causewayed entrance on its south-west side and a chalk platform with a hearth area inside a small post built structure with a porch. The flint and pottery was again late neolithic. LOM 3A also had no features but produced large quantities of flint and the skull of a young woman from the primary fill of the ditch.

The second main phase of neolithic activity saw the continuing use of the enclosures for social gathering and ceremonies. Fragments of beaker pottery were recovered from "the first two enclosures." LOM 1 produced sherds of finely made beakers with decoration using careful corded and comb-tip decoration dated to c. 2300-2000 BC."

In 2012 the Thanet Archaeological Society cut a trench (trench 1) across the barrow's outer ditch. The trench found a cluster of 4 or 5 circular pits cut into the edge of the ditch. None had finds or definite cremation remains but it seemed likely they were votive in some way. They were cut in the upper fill and may be later Bronze Age in date. An animal bone was discovered and sent for radiocarbon dating. The report notes that the trench also produced part of a iron age pot that may have come from east of the barrow towards the road. (4)

At the centre of the inner ring ditch, the excavations recorded a double crouched burial surrounded by five inhumations and a cremation. It is suggested that the outer ditch is the remains of a Neolithic Henge monument and the inner ditches were cut during the Bronze Age to convert the enclosure into a round barrow (5)

<1> OS Card / NAR index entry. Arch Cant 92, 1976, 254-5 (OS Card Reference). SKE48406.

<2> Trust For Thanet Archaeology, 1977, The Excavation of a Neolithic/Bronze Age Site at Lord of The Manor, Haine Road, Ramsgate (Monograph). SWX7109.

<3> Isle of Thanet Arch Unit Interim Report 1976, 13-17
and 1977-80 (OS Card Reference). SKE44523.

<4> Thanet Archaeological Society, 2012, Lord of the Manor, Ramsgate (Bibliographic reference). SKE32078.

<5> CgMs Consulting, 2013, Archaeological desk-based assessment (including uxo risk assessment), Land at Ozengell Park, Ramsgate, Kent (Unpublished document). SKE31450.