Yonsea Farm, Hothfield, Kent. Archaeological analysis during dismantling.
Oxford Archaeology (South), 2011. (updated 2017) https://doi.org/10.5284/1044789. How to cite using this DOI
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- ADS Collection: 2123
- DOI:https://doi.org/10.5284/1044789
- How to cite using this DOI
Overview
Unusually for Kent, the farm was a planned model farm. It was developed between 1816-1819 by the 9th Earl of Thanet as part of the Hothfield Estate. However, the name 'Yonsea Farm' was first recorded in the 13th century (Walker, 1998) leading to suggestions that the model farm was a rebuilding on an earlier site. No evidence was found for earlier occupation during an evaluation (ARC YFM 97) by the Museum of London Archaeology Services in 1997 or in the evaluation carried out by the OAU and reported here.
The majority of the buildings making up the farm complex were of one-phase with few later alterations. A high degree of uniformity was seen throughout in terms of building style, construction details and materials. The buildings were of brick and timber framing. The brickwork was laid in Flemish bond (with salt-glazed headers) where visible and English bond where not. Many of the farm buildings were timber-framed on brick plinths with common features of jowled knee braces and vertical butt-edged weatherboarding. Roofs were hipped, boarded and covered with slate. Common component features seen through the roof construction included tapered king-post trusses with raking struts and ridge boards, structural wrought iron jointing and bolted purlins carried on the underside of rafters. The farmhouse displayed a level of sophistication over the working buildings and is believed to have been designed by George Stanley Repton working in the office of John Nash (Robinson, 1998).
The archaeological evaluation carried out after the demolition of the buildings was designed to provide more information about the foundations of the buildings, reveal previously obscured elements and look for any evidence of activity prior to the 1816-19 model farm. No structures pre-dating the farm were identified. Of most interest was the additional information gained from the floors of the oast house roundels. Evidence of two different firing techniques were Yonsea Farm, Hothfield, Kent: Archaeological Analysis during Dismantling observed after the modern concrete floor was removed. The roundel to the south retained evidence of a hopper construction and that to the north had a sunken ash pit. R Walton, an authority on Kentish Oasts, visited the site and interpreted the different firing mechanisms as differences in fuel source, the southern roundel using charcoal and the northern roundel a modernisation designed to allow the use of coke or coal.
