Bower Road, Smeeth, Kent - Integrated Site Report

Oxford Archaeology (South), 2009. (updated 2017) https://doi.org/10.5284/1044823. How to cite using this DOI

Digital Object Identifiers

Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs) are persistent identifiers which can be used to consistently and accurately reference digital objects and/or content. The DOIs provide a way for the ADS resources to be cited in a similar fashion to traditional scholarly materials. More information on DOIs at the ADS can be found on our help page.

Citing this DOI

The updated Crossref DOI Display guidelines recommend that DOIs should be displayed in the following format:

https://doi.org/10.5284/1044823
Sample Citation for this DOI

Oxford Archaeology (South) (2017) Bower Road, Smeeth, Kent - Integrated Site Report [data-set]. York: Archaeology Data Service [distributor] https://doi.org/10.5284/1044823

Data copyright © High Speed 1 unless otherwise stated

This work is licensed under the ADS Terms of Use and Access.
Creative Commons License


High Speed 1 logo

Primary contact

Stuart Foreman
Senior Project Manager
Oxford Archaeology (South)
Janus House
Osney Mead
Oxford
OX2 0ES
UK
Tel: 01865 263800
Fax: 01865 793496

Send e-mail enquiry

Resource identifiers

Digital Object Identifiers

Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs) are persistent identifiers which can be used to consistently and accurately reference digital objects and/or content. The DOIs provide a way for the ADS resources to be cited in a similar fashion to traditional scholarly materials. More information on DOIs at the ADS can be found on our help page.

Citing this DOI

The updated Crossref DOI Display guidelines recommend that DOIs should be displayed in the following format:

https://doi.org/10.5284/1044823
Sample Citation for this DOI

Oxford Archaeology (South) (2017) Bower Road, Smeeth, Kent - Integrated Site Report [data-set]. York: Archaeology Data Service [distributor] https://doi.org/10.5284/1044823

Oxford Archaeology (South) logo

Introduction

Bower Road, Smeeth, Kent - Integrated Site Report

As part of an extensive programme of archaeological investigation carried out in advance of the construction of the Channel Tunnel Rail Link (CTRL), Oxford Archaeology (formerly Oxford Archaeological Unit) was commissioned to undertake a watching brief between Mersham and Barrowhill in Kent. In the course of the watching brief, a concentration of archaeological features was exposed during construction earthworks, near Bower Road, Smeeth (OS NGR 605946 138812), and subjected to detailed excavation. The excavation was carried out between July 1999 and September 1999, under the project management of Rail Link Engineering, on behalf of Union Railways (South) Limited (a subsidiary of London and Continental Railways).

The features recorded were principally of Roman date. However, a small assemblage of redeposited worked flint, ranging in date from the Mesolithic to early Bronze Age, was also recovered, suggesting some prehistoric activity in the area. Late pre-Roman Iron Age activity was indicated by a small quantity of pottery, recovered from a pond and a series of drainage ditches. Evidence for early Roman activity was limited, comprising part of a field system. By the first half of the 2nd century AD, a rural agricultural settlement seems to have been established, represented by the severely truncated remains of a timber structure, with large postholes and associated slight, ragstone wall footings. There were also ditched enclosures, fence lines, a waterhole and several pits. It is possible that the establishment of this settlement represents a shift from the nearby later prehistoric settlement at Little Stock Farm, which lies only 400m away, to the south-east, and appears to have been continuously occupied from the later Bronze Age until the late Iron Age. Ample evidence of crop processing activity and animal husbandry was found in the 2nd-century features. The ditched enclosure boundaries seem to have fallen into disuse in the late 2nd century AD, to be replaced by a large rectangular enclosure and a substantial 20-post timber building. A cremation burial was identified just outside the enclosure. This agricultural complex seems to have been in use until the late 3rd century, and may have continued into the 4th century, although at a much reduced level. Evidence of occupation continuing into the 4th century AD comprised three pits, including one pit with evidence of ritual deposition, and a small amount of pottery and coins deposited in the upper fills of earlier features.

There was limited evidence of post-Roman agricultural activity, including two field boundary ditches running across the main site, a group of slight, ragstone wallfootings interpreted as animal pens and a field boundary of medieval or post-medieval date. The latter were discovered during stripping to the south-east of the main excavation area.

The fieldwork events incorporated in this report are:

  • Bower Road Watching Brief - Area 440 (ARC WB440/95+900-97+100) - Watching Brief

ADS logo
Data Org logo
University of York logo