Two ring ditches plus other features were excavated in 1974 in advance of work to widen the A2 near Bridge. details as follows:

Barrow 1 (TR 19295324) - ring ditch 45ft in diameter. No internal features. The barrow was cut by a narrow, straight ditch which terminated a little to the E, just short of a group of postholes. The straight ditch belonged to a field system of probable Iron Age date, and the postholes are assumed to be contemporary. Iron Age pottery occured in the fills of both. The interior of the barrow/ring ditch was devoid of features. The ring ditch is effectively undated, though presumably belongs somewhere in the Bronze Age.

Barrow 2 (TR 19265331) - ring ditch 60ft in diameter. At one point the ditch fill contained a large deposit of burnt flints. Within the area contained by the ring ditch were a total of 10 cremation deposits arranged in an arc c6-7ft within the line of the ditch, suggesting that they may represent secondary interments. 5 cremations were in pots, the other 5 were in pits, though of course they may originally have been deposited in organic containers. All but one of the pots was inverted, and all fitted tightly into pits. A further group of 6 cremations was found outside the ring ditch, a short distance to the NE. All were badly plough damaged. Two C14 dates were obtained from cremations, one from each group, providing a mean date of 980 +/- 60 BC. Unfortunately, the original dates are not quoted in the excavation report. Calibrated, this mean date falls in the range 1320-970 BC (93.7% probability), ie the latter part of the Middle Bronze Age. The pottery associated with the cremations confirms a later 2nd millennium BC date, and conforms with the current pattern of later Bronze Age Deverel-Rimbury and post-Deverel Rimbury ceramics from East Kent. The excavation report appears to favour a similar date for the ring ditch itself, although as noted, the location and arrangement of the cremation deposits allows for the possibility that they are secondary, later than the cutting of the ring ditch itself. (1-2)

The site is situated on the gentle south facing slope of an east-west ridge in an area of chalk downland. There are no upstanding earthworks and the site was not visible as a soil mark. It is situated in a field which is under permanent arable cultivation and had recently had a cereal crop harvested. (3)

<1> Arch Cant 96 1980 166-173 (N Macpherson-Grant) (OS Card Reference). SKE36239.

<2> Canterbury Archaeological Trust, 1992, Canterbury's Archaeology 1991-1992 (Article in serial). SKE54740.

<3> English Heritage Alternative Action Report (Unspecified Type). SWX20583.