Excavation of the Iron Age Camp at Squerryes, Westerham
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Election Issues and the Borough Electorates in Mid-Seventeenth-Century Kent
Rise and Decline: Dover and Deal in the Nineteenth Century - Part II
EXCAVATION OF THE IRON AGE CAMP
AT SQUERRYES, WESTERHAM
By the late NANCY PIERCY Fox, B.A., F.S.A.
INTRODUCTION
IT was learnt in 1960 that a big tree-felling programme was in progress
at Squerryes, Westerham; and it was decided to excavate the Iron Age
Camp, following a, visit by myself and Mr. R. F. Jessup, F.S.A., in the
late autumn. Excavation commenced on 29th March, 1961, under the
auspices of the Kent Archreological Society. Permission for the work
was given by the landowner, Major J. B. O'B. Ward; the Forestry
Commission, who had leased the land; and by the Ministry of Works,
who made a grant towards the cost. The Kent Arch::eological Society
also made a grant. I was assisted by Dr. M. W. Thompson of the
Inspectorate of Ancient Monuments; Mr. P. J. Tester, F.S.A.; Dr. D. L.
Clarke; and Mr. D. B. Kelly, B.A., A.M.A.
THE SITE
Before the excavation commenced, the interior of the Camp, which
has an area of about 18 acres1 and which is sited on the Hythe Beds of
the Lower Greensand, had been cleared of trees and dense undergrowth
as part of a tree-felling programme on the Squerryes Estate. This was
a tremendous help to the excavation, and visitors were fortunate in
being able to see the Camp as a whole for the first time in many
centuries.
Squerryes Camp is sited on a hump-backed headland joined to the
main escarpment of the Hythe Beds by an isthmus or neck of flat
ground. The defences were planned to suit the topography-those across
the flat neck or isthmus being different in character from the defences
around the headland, but both used the sandstone and chert of the
Hythe Beds for defensive cresting and revetting. Two banks and one
ditch cross the flat isthmus to form a strategic defence of military value.
Around the headland a. steep scarped slope was cut and revetted. This
slope continued without intelTuption into a steep ditch with an outer
bank. The outer ba.nk. comma.nds the lower slopes of the headland.
Sections were out through both types of defence-the isthmus
section being supervised by Dr. D. L. Clarke, a.nd the headland section
by Mr. P. J. Tester and Mr. D. B. Kelly.
1 N. Piercy Fox, Arch. Oant., bod (1957), 243-5.
29
THE IRON AGE CAMP AT SQUERRYES, WESTERHAM
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