Archaeological evaluations at Ebbsfleet in the Isle of Thanet

ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVALUATIONS AT EBBSFLEET IN THE ISLE OF THANET D.R.J. PERKINS With appendices by A. Gibson, N. Macpherson-Grant and C. Wren. SUMMARY During the spring of 1990 the Trust for Thanet Archaeology carried out separate but adjoining evaluation surveys on farmland at Ebbsfleet in the Isle of Thanet. There was thus an opportunity to examine a spot of special importance in our history, that 'Ypwinesfleot' where according to tradition both the Saxons and St. Augustine first trod British soil. Both field-walking and limited excavation provided evidence in keeping with the site's antecedents, suggesting perhaps continuous occupation over 2400 years. A beaker burial formed the earliest material discovered, followed by a Late Bronze Age hoard, and both Iron Age and Belgic settlement remains. The sequence continued with a Roman presence peaking in the fourth century. A role for Ebbsfleet as major entrepot to Thanet seems indicated. Since the important horizons sampled were demonstrably vulnerable to the plough, measures for their preservation would seem imperative. INTRODUCTION Archaeological evaluations at Ebbsfleet Farm were commissioned by the MI Group who intend to construct a sewage works and tannery, and on adjoining land by a company planning a golf course. Thanks are due to the MI Group for funding the evaluation, and for negotiating a 'window of access' with the leasing farmer. The evaluations were carried out as consecutive but individual projects. The first dealing with Cottington Hill, and the second with Ebbsfleet 269 D.R.J. PERKINS Farm, but excluding Weatherlees Hill which is now, we believe, preserved from development. For the purposes of this report data from both projects have been combined. The geography and geology of Ebbsfieet Ebbsfleet is bounded to the south and west by the River Stour and the Minster Marshes (drained), to the east by the A256 which follows a medieval shore-line, and to the north by the rise of chalk downland at Cliffsend, Thorne, and Sevenscore. It consists of three low hills, Weatherlees, Ebbsfleet, and Cottington, the first two rising from an alluvial plain (Fig. 1). While previously a subject of debate,1 geological survey supports a picture of Ebbsfleet in Roman days as a sea-girt peninsula in the eastern mouth of the Wantsum, with Weatherlees an island.2 The hills are upfolds of the chalk covered by the Thanet Beds, a yellow-brown sand containing large sandstone boulders known as '