Archaeological
Strategy
Archaeology
has been incorporated into the road scheme from the outset. When
improvements were just a glint in the engineer's eye, KCC Highways
consulted the County Archaeologist and other interested parties.
A study combining all known archaeological data for an area within
which a route would be selected was commissioned from the Trust
for Thanet Archaeology. This showed the archaeological wealth of
the area and suggested that remains would be encountered wherever
the road ran.
The impact could
be lessened by a solution minimising landtake: a route alongside
the existing road was thus preferred. To refine the picture, a geophysical
survey was conducted along the whole of the route. By measuring
variations in the magnetic properties of different soils it is possible
to locate buried features such as ditches, pits and walls. Trial
trenches were then cut in three selected areas to clarify the geophysical
results. Based on this knowledge it was decided that the most effective
way of dealing with the archaeology was to strip the topsoil along
the whole of the route, which would have to be removed in any case,
several months in advance of the construction works.
The Canterbury
Archaeological Trust, assisted by the Trust for Thanet Archaeology,
was then commissioned to undertake the investigation of the features
exposed, from July 1994 to February 1995. The strategy has been
more than justified, adding important new material to our archaeological
heritage and providing a transect across a truly historic landscape
showing the changing use of this part of Thanet through time.
Mount
Pleasant
At the east
end of the site is a length of hollow way, part of medieval Dun
Street, shown on a map of Thanet by Thomas of Elmham c.1410 AD but
probably much older. Near by, a large circular feature may be a
chalk quarry. Twenty metres away stood a small hut, its remains
consisting of a circle of six post holes with smaller ones for a
porch on one side, it could not be closely dated but is identical
to an Iron Age hut, perhaps a shrine, discovered some years ago
at Lord-of-the-Manor, about 4.5km (3 miles) to the east.
Anglo-Saxon
cemetery
Eighteen graves
were found in a small Anglo-Saxon cemetery, some with traces of
wooden fittings. Most had no grave goods but two held spearheads,
three had knives, one a pot, probably made in northern France c.650-675
AD and one a buckle of c.670 - 700 AD. A track crossed the cemetery,
perhaps leading to Minster Abbey at the foot of the hill. It is
tempting to equate the burials here with early converts to Christianity
shortly after the Abbey was founded by Domneva in c.670 AD.
Ring
Ditch Cemetery 'A'
A single ring
ditch lay west of the cemetery. Cropmarks visible on aerial photographs
indicate that it formed part of a larger cemetery. The burial mound
which this once surrounded did not survive but the base of a cremation
in an upturned urn was found by its inner edge. A fine middle Bronze
Age cordoned urn (1600-1400 BC) was broken and the sherds deposited
in the ditch. Clay filled ice-wedges (fissures caused by freezing
and thawing during the Ice Ages) are common on the site and show
clearly in the ditch sides.
Beaker
burials
A crouched Beaker
burial (early Bronze Age) was found near by, a group of three under
the Roman settlement and three more near the western barrows. The
graves may have had plank linings. Associated finds included pottery
provisionally dated to c.2000-1700 BC and two bronze bracelets,
amongst the earliest personal metal ornaments in Britain. A further
remarkable find from one grave was a necklace comprising over 200
tiny, well-made jet beads. Jet is quite rare in this part of Britain
and such fine personal ornaments indicate the access this community
had to precious items through trade, craftsmanship or status.
Roman sickle
The
Roman Village
Perhaps the
most exciting find at Monkton has been that of a Roman settlement
overlooking the harbour and fort of Rutupiae (Richborough). It is
remarkable for its buildings, forming a complex without parallel
in Britain. Some two dozen 'sunken featured' buildings have been
found, superficially similar to grubenhauser commonly found from
the 4th century in Anglo-Saxon settlements. Large quantities of
local and imported Roman pottery were found throughout the settlement,
mostly late 1st-early 2nd century to the west, mid 2nd-early 3rd
to the east. Finds include bill-hooks, shears, spindle-whorls and
querns, suggesting agricultural and domestic activities. The buildings
show as rectangular hollows varying in depth but originally probably
cut about 1 metre below contemporary ground level. Turf walls, capped
by a simple roof, may have been built around the hollow. Many huts,
which stood in ditched enclosures, had hearths and several interconnecting
doorways. The site provides wonderful material for speculating who
was responsible for such unusual buildings and why they were cut
into the chalk - was it to shelter from the high winds which often
blast the site?
As well as the
huts there were working hollows with access ramps and cellars with
steps. Several buildings contained troughs or bins, with rammed
chalk sides, which may have been used for storage or for work such
as milling grain. Two larger troughs surrounded by worn walk ways
may represent similar work carried out on a larger scale. One is
associated with a working hollow and perhaps with a cellar. Many
ditches, pits and posts were scattered through the settlement. Six
large posts may have supported the raised floor of a granary. Another
probable granary is represented by beam slots. For safety reasons,
only the uppermost layers of backfill in a well serving the settlement
were excavated but an auger core will be taken from its full depth,
from which we hope to recover pollen and water-logged, charred and
mineralised organic remains which will help to reconstruct the contemporary
environment and establish which crops were cultivated by the villagers.
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Above:
7th century wolf's head buckle
Left: Early Bronze Age bracelet
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Hollow
ways
A track skirted
the village, often changing course as parts became too muddy to
pass. a small square building flanked the track, its walls stood
on sill beams set in slots. A fine chase-cup of Rhenish ware from
the Cologne area, decorated with hounds and dated to around the
mid 2nd century AD was buried just inside the door, suggesting use
as a shrine. The road met another running from the crest of the
hill to the old shore-line at Monkton. Though used in the Roman
period both roads may have earlier origins and might have continued
into the Anglo-Saxon period. Near the junction, slots mark another
timber building, probably Roman, and a large circular cut may have
been a chalk quarry. A few graves, some with Roman pots, were also
scattered around the junction.
Parish
Boundary
A ditch cuts
across the site west of the tracks, coinciding exactly with the
parish boundary between Minster and Monkton. Thomas of Elmham's
map shows this as the route which, according to legend, was taken
by Domneva's tame deer which marked out Minster's bounds in the
7th century. A royal servant, Thunor, tried to thwart Domneva and
was swallowed by the earth. In the 18th century the line was still
marked by a lynch (bank) but by 1933 only a short stretch in the
grounds of Cleve survived. A medieval warning had obviously gone
unheeded:
Fair
Thanet for this lynch Domneva thanks,
Keeps the deer's course, nor wanton harm it show,
Who ploughs and sows and damages its banks,
Shall reap with Thunor in the abyss below.
Ring
Ditch Cemetery 'B'
Ring ditches
mark the positions of four Bronze Age barrows near the site centre.
The central pair (one double-ditched) had very irregular ditches
running into each other. None of the primary burials survived intact
but cremations in urns have been found in small pits outside the
rings.
The
12th century farmstead.
To the west
lie twin ditched enclosures holding a 12th century farmstead. Slots
held walls of continuous posts defining three buildings. Two were
probably houses but the other, of two phases, may have been a barn
or byre. A cess pit, ditches, fence-lines and a well or dene-hole
(chalk mine) were also found and posts to the west may mark another
building. At least two buildings may have had cruck-posts, curved
timbers carrying much of the weight of the roof. Evidence for 12th
century crucks is extremely rare. Monkton may add to a long-running
debate on their origin.
Ring
Ditch Cemetery 'C'
A line of at
least eighteen large post-holes runs due west across and beyond
the enclosures, possibly marking a ceremonial way leading to a double
ring ditch. These ditches date back at least to the Bronze Age and
had a complex history. They probably enclosed a burial mound and,
at over 40m in diameter, represent one of the largest such sites
ever excavated in Kent. Ring ditches define four more Bronze Age
barrows flanking this major monument, opposite the entrance to the
valley of the Stour.
Overall plan
of the site
One of the sunken-floored
structures in area 4. Scale 2m.
The
archaeological work was organised by the County Archaeologist
on behalf of KCC Highways and the Department of Transport, who funded
the project.
The fieldwork was undertaken by the Canterbury Archaeological Trust
assisted by the Trust for Thanet Archaeology.
In recognition of the importance of the remains, English Heritage
have made some additional funds available through a Grant in Aid
of Research and are providing specialist services.
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