Earthworks are visible covering an extensive area between the village of Sarre and the River Wantsum on 1940s RAF vertical aerial photographs [1]. They cover an area 900m (NW-SE) x 170m (NE-SW) and are composed of interlinked and overlapping linear banks and ditches and a single flat-topped mound-like feature. The latter feature is interpreted as a possible house platform. Some of the linear features appear to be related to drainage whilst others follow similar alignments to boundaries and roads within the village. Although the features are undated they are similar in character to plot boundaries and drains derived from medieval settlement. It is possible that Sarre is a previously unrecognised shrunken medieval village. Examination of modern aerial photographs indicates that these features have been levelled [2].

A transcription of the features recorded from aerial photography exists within a GIS layer held by this HER [3].

Drainage ditches flanked by earthwork banks forming part of flood defences of medieval/post-medieval date were visible as cropmarks in Next Perspectives APGB Imagery 21-APR-2007 and 14-APR-2015. Lengths of the banks were visible as earthworks in LIDAR Environment Agency DTM 07-DEC-2017. These features augment those recorded by authority (1), using more recent sources, although they all appear to have been levelled (Next Perspectives APGB Imagery 07-APR-2021). They were mapped as part of the Historic England Isle of Thanet project in 2024. (4-7)

<2> Google Earth (Graphic material). SWX15704.

<3> Wessex Archaeology, 2009-10, South-East Rapid Coastal Zone Assessment Survey - Aerial Photographic Transcriptions (Digital archive). SWX15705.

<3> Wessex Archaeology, 2011, South East Rapid Coastal Zone Assessment Survey - (SE RCZAS) Phase 1: National Mapping Programme Report (Unpublished document). SKE25955.

<3> Cornwall Council Historic Environment Projects and Gloucestershire County Council, 2011, South East Rapid Coastal Zone Assessment Survey National Mapping Programme Components 1&2: Results of NMP Mapping (Unpublished document). SKE25954.

<4> Next Perspectives, 2003-2021, Next Perspectives APGB orthophotography, Next Perspectives APGB Imagery 21-APR-2007 (Archive). SKE57110.

<5> Next Perspectives, 2003-2021, Next Perspectives APGB orthophotography, Next Perspectives APGB Imagery 14-APR-2015 (Archive). SKE57110.

<6> Environment Agency, 2017, 2019, LIDAR Environment Agency 1m DTM, LIDAR Environment Agency DTM 07-DEC-2017 (Archive). SKE57108.

<7> Next Perspectives, 2003-2021, Next Perspectives APGB orthophotography, Next Perspectives APGB Imagery 07-APR-2021 (Archive). SKE57110.