Stone Street West, ARC SST 99
Wessex Archaeology, 2004. (updated 2017) https://doi.org/10.5284/1044759. How to cite using this DOI
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This work is licensed under the ADS Terms of Use and Access.
Primary contact
Stuart
Foreman
Senior Project Manager
Oxford Archaeology (South)
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Resource identifiers
- ADS Collection: 1844
- DOI:https://doi.org/10.5284/1044759
- How to cite using this DOI
Introduction
Wessex Archaeology was commissioned by Union Railways (South) Limited (URS) to investigate alluvial deposits at Fairmead Farm, Westenhanger (centred on URL grid point 92750 17350; NGR grid point TR 12747 37351). The site is known as Stone Street West (under the URS site code ARC SST99) and within Contract Area 440. The excavation formed part of a programme of archaeological investigation along the proposed route of the Channel Tunnel Rail Link (CTRL), and has been preceded by an environmental assessment and evaluation (ARC SST98).
The investigation revealed a 1.3m thick sequence of deposits that have been provisionally identified in terms of formation process and therefore potential chronological sequence, although no archaeological features or artefacts were recorded during the excavation.
Gravel and sand, identified at the base of the sequence, may be indicative of high-energy water action, and therefore possibly correlate either with seasonal discharge during the Devensian glaciation, or be associated with glacial retreat immediately following this glaciation (c. 110000-11000 BP). However, the following Late Boreal/ Early Atlantic period (c. 11000-9000 BP) is also associated with a series of high-energy .cut and fill. phases within alluvial zones. The presence of waterlogged plant macrofossils within later fluvial gravel probably precludes the possibility that this deposit is pre-Holocene, and is more likely to be Neolithic or Bronze Age in date (c. 4000-700 BC). Parallels with similar sequences recorded elsewhere in Kent suggest the distinct marker-event, probably indicative of a statis/ stabilisation horizon, may either be Late Bronze Age (c. 1100-700 BC) or Romano-British (AD 43-410) in date.
N.B. Much of this work here has been superseeded by works associated with the Phase Two and Schemewide programmes, but are included here for completeness. Those wishing to use the most current data are urged to view the Channel Tunnel Rail Link Section 1 Project pages.
