| Title: |
Land at Former Kent County Council Premises, Springfield, Maidstone, Kent. An Archaeological Assessment |
| Number of Pages: |
31 |
| Biblio Note |
Please note that this is a bibliographic record only, as originally entered into the BIAB database.
The ADS have no files for download, and unfortunately cannot advise further on where to access hard copy or digital versions.
|
| Publication Type: |
Report
|
| Abstract: |
The site under consideration was located at the Springfield Complex, Sandling Road. This property was the former offices for Kent County Council, incorporating a Grade II Listed Mansion House and an underground bunker building in 1964 as an emergency centre and county control centre for civil defence in the event of a war. The local area was considered to have potential for archaeology, but was not in a priority area. The proposed scheme would involve the demolition of the buildings currently on the site, except for the grade II Listed house. They would be replaced by new office buildings to the south of the site, and new residential to the north of the site. The redevelopment would also contain a four level parking block with hotel above. The site was located on the layers of alluvium which overlay the Hythe Beds, Atherfield and Weald clays. There had been no geotechnical survey on the property, but 19th century maps showed the land to have been used for plantations, presumably in connection with the paper production at Springfield Mill. The River Medway had the greatest potential for the discovery of prehistoric finds, with the known association of prehistoric man to water resources. However, only a few stray finds had been discovered near to the development site. The distribution of Roman activity throughout the local area was significantly greater than the prehistoric and even the early medieval periods, however, there was no known Roman settlement in the local area. A Roman road was said to have run 200m east of the development site, a few villas, and other Roman sites/stray finds had been discovered within the area. There was no evidence for Saxon activity in the area though it may have preceded the medieval town of Maidstone. Trade along the River Medway accentuated the growth of medieval Maidstone, and by the 16th century the landscape around Maidstone consisted of churches and important buildings such as 'The Mote' and 'Vintners', demonstrating the division of land into Parishes. This suggested that any medieval features found on the site were most likely to consist of drainage ditches and field boundaries. There was a remote chance that isolated buildings associated to this period may have existed near the site, but the chances of finding one on the site were low. Symonson's 'Map of Kent' showed there to be no medieval establishments at Springfield, the nearest being at Allington, which contained a moated house and church with tower and spire. Springfield did not see much development until the post-medieval period, with Springfield Paper mill and Springfield House being building in the 19th century. Then in 1891 a new mansion house was built by architect Alfred Waterhouse, which was grade II Listed and stood amongst the present day buildings on site. The rest of the buildings on site were part of the 1960s office complex, built for Kent County Council, including the civil defence bunker. Four basements existed under the present buildings; the central block, the mansion block, Sandling North, and the canteen. Thus archaeology (if any existed) may have already been disturbed by these basements. [Au(abr)] |
| Author: |
R Foster
|
| Publisher: |
AOC Archaeology Ltd
|
| Year of Publication: |
2001
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| Locations: |
| Location - Auto Detected: |
Springfield Maidstone Kent |
| Location - Auto Detected: |
Springfield Complex Sandling Road |
| Location - Auto Detected: |
Maidstone |
| Location - Auto Detected: |
Springfield Mill The River Medway |
| Location - Auto Detected: |
River Medway |
| Location - Auto Detected: |
Kent |
| Location - Auto Detected: |
Springfield |
| Location - Auto Detected: |
Allington |
| Location - Auto Detected: |
Springfield House |
| Location - Auto Detected: |
Sandling North |
|
| Subjects / Periods: |
| 1891 (Auto Detected Temporal) |
|
MEDIEVAL
(Historic England Periods)
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| Saxon (Auto Detected Temporal) |
| 16th Century (Auto Detected Temporal) |
| 1964 (Auto Detected Temporal) |
|
PREHISTORIC
(Historic England Periods)
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|
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ROMAN
(Historic England Periods)
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|
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MEDIEVAL
(Historic England Periods)
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|
| 19th Century (Auto Detected Temporal) |
|
| Note: |
Date Of Issue From:
2001
Date Of Coverage From:
01
Date Of Coverage To:
01
Editorial Expansion:
Site name: LAND AT FORMER KENT COUNTY COUNCIL PREMISES, SPRINGFIELD, MAIDSTONE
Study area: 9.67ha
Investigation type: Desk-based
District: Maidstone
Monument:
Ngr: TQ75505680
Parish:
Postcode: ME142LP
|
| Source: |
BIAB
(Archaeological Investigations Project (AIP))
|
| Created Date: |
19 Jan 2009 |
