A group of four shallow circular earthworks are visible on 1940s RAF vertical aerial photographs [1]. The mounds all measure c.8m in diameter and are interpreted as hay stack stances, mounds for the drying and storage of hay in the damp environment of a riverside meadow. They appear to have been plough-levelled by the 1960s as Ordnance Survey vertical aerial photographs of this date show them as cropmarks [2]. Similar features have been recorded across the floor of the Stour Valley between Upstreet and the coast and this part of the valley has a particularly dense concentration (see Related Monuments). They appear to represent an integral part of the medieval or post-medieval farming landscape in this area.

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

<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2011, South East Rapid Coastal Zone Assessment Survey - (SE RCZAS) Phase 1: National Mapping Programme Report (Unpublished document).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South East Rapid Coastal Zone Assessment Survey National Mapping Programme Components 1&2: Results of NMP Mapping (Unpublished document).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.