Excavations at Eastry Court Farm, Eastry

EXCAVATIONS AT EASTRY COURT FARM, EASTRY C.J. ARNOLD INTRODUCTION Excavations, of an exploratory nature, were undertaken at Eastry Court Farm, Eastry (N.G.R. TR 31155484) during August 1980 under the supervision of the author. The aim was to examine the potential of the site for further research in the light of the hypothesis that the area encompassed by Eastry Court Farm and Eastry Court is the location of an Anglo-Saxon palace or villa regalis. The evidence correlated to support this hypothesis' is a concentration of pagan Anglo-Saxon cemeteries in the region, late-Saxon documentary evidence and of the placename, Eastry, itself. The last two are probably the most contentious aspects of the argument: the documentary evidence is a late account of events that are purported to have occurred at 'Eastry'. in the seventh century A. D.; the plaeename, Eastry, is interpreted as designating a particular administrative region, yet there is no certainty that the region's centre was originally at the place now called Eastry. The concentration of cemeteries of the pagan Anglo-Saxon period around and within modern Eastry is the most powerful evidence for there being a centre there, although other explanations for this distribution, landuse for instance, might be admissible. The lack of Anglo-Saxon rural settlements in Kent and the national rarity of 'administrative centres' for the period were considered to be sufficient justification for an exploratory excavation on part of the site. Areas where later medieval activity could be expected were deliberately avoided. A 1 S.C. Hawkes 'Eastry in Anglo-Saxon Kent: its Importance, and a newly-found Grave' in "Anglo-Saxon Studies in Archaeology and History", (eds.) S.C. Hawkes, D. Brown and J. Campbell, BAR 72 (1979), 81-113. 121 t-< 0 ::i c,q Cl ..... < Cl C.J. ARNOLD a I I I I \ \ I I \ \ I \ \ \ \ \ \ '\ \ ' ' 0 m 2 Fig. 1. Eastry: Location Plan of Excavation 122 C ' ' ' ' ' ' ' -... - EXCAVATIONS AT EASTRY EASTRY A .__ ______----1... _ __..J.... _ __. _ j b 0 rn Fig. 2. Plan and Section of Features in Area A. 123 CA C.J. ARNOLD site within Eastry Court Farm was available for excavation, lying at the centre of the area proposed as containing the royal palace, and this was selected for investigation. The area was not threatened, although Victorian farm buildings have recently been demolished in the farmyard and replaced by agricultural and residential building development. No archaeological evidence was reported as a result of these developments, which necessitated the removal of all deposits above the chalk bedrock. Two areas were excavated, 'A' and 'B' (Fig. 1). THE EXCAVATIONS Area A (Fig. 2) The earliest feature within the area was an U-section ditch (6) cut 80 cm. into the chalk bedrock, and aligned north-west-south-east, turning at right angles to the south-west. The lip of the ditch was weathered, but the sloping sides had suffered little frost-shattering or erosion. The fill of the silted ditch consisted of a clean yellowbrown clay with increasing quantities of chalk rubble with depth (4 and 5). Above this in-filling was a deposit of mixed brown earth with quantities of brick, roof-tile, nails and window glass. This building debris was sealed by a mixed deposit of topsoil. The surviving area of chalk surface (Fig. 2, shaded) was scarred as the result of ploughing. There were no other identifiable features. The filling of the ditch contained varying quantities of animal bone, brick and tile at all levels except in the primary silt, which contained a clay tobacco-pipe bowl, bearing the initials IC, which is dateable on typological grounds to the period 1720-50. There was no evidence of re-cutting of the ditch, which appears to have begun to silt-up sometime after 1720. The only residual artefacts were a single body-sherd of 'Gallo-Belgic' pottery, decorated with closely spaced, fine, parallel lines, and a sherd of hand-made, grasstempered ware. Area B (Figs. 3-5) The intensity of activity in this area had been such that little of the original chalk surface remained (Fig. 3, shaded), and what little remained had been scarred by ploughing or had suffered a variety of post-medieval intrusions. Phase l: The earliest activity in the area consisted of a short discontinuous trench, 7 cm. deep (30) and filled with a dark brown clay and two blocks of rammed chalk, possibly to support timbers, which 124 EXCAVATIONS AT £ASTRY PLATE f Area B. Detail of Features, Phase I. would have measured a maximum of 17 x 10 cm. This was cut into a shallow terrace cut into the chalk bedrock (Plate I). No dating evidence was directly associated with this feature, but it must predate the thirteenth century. Phase 2: Structures on the chalk platform of Phase 1 were replaced with another of which one corner was excavated. The structure was represented by a 20-cm. wide band of orange clay (26) containing large quantities of clay daub. Within this was a 15-cm. wide band of rammed chalk rubble (25), whose combined L-shaped plan is interpreted as representing footings of the corner of a building, whose interior consisted of a grey clay containing charcoal flecks (Plate II). The consistently compact nature of the chalk 125 C.J. ARNOLD EASTRY B 0 m I /4 --------a X y Fig. 3. Plan of Features in Area B. 126 CA EXCAVATIONS AT EASTRY PLATE II Area B. Dernil of Building, Phase 2. rubble suggests it was not packing for, nor secondary filling of a void caused by the removal of, timber. It is more probable that it formed a footing. This structure, and its predecessors of Phase I, are on the same alignment. A terminus ante quern for the termination of use of this structure is provided by the thirteenth-century pottery which sealed it. Phase 1/2: A flat-bottomed ditch, aligned north-south, was cut into the chalk bedrock on the north-west side of the structures belonging to Phases J and 2. Its infill (28) consisted of material, including daub, from the collapsed or demolished building of Phase 2, which it also sealed. The precise phase at which this ditch was cut 127 EASTRY 0 Ill B - - - Fig. 4. Section - Area B. CA EXCAVATIONS AT EASTRY PLATE lll Area B. General View. showing Phase 3 Ditch. 129 C.J. ARNOLD could not be determined, except that it was prior to the termination of use of the building belonging to Phase 2. It may antedate Phase 1. The infilling of this ditch contained pottery of the period 1250- 1300. Phase 3: A V-sectioned ditch (31) was cut after the collapse and infilling of all previous features, aligned north-west-south-east and turning at right angles at the south-eastern extent of the excavation (Plate III). The north-western extent of this ditch was truncated by later features. The infilling of this ditch (18) consisted of a compact deposit of dark brown clay and chalk rubble, evenly mixed. It seems probable that the infilling of the ditch also took place at a similar time to the demolition of a nearby structure as large quantities of daub, burnt black on one face and with a white limewash on the other, were contained within it. The latest pottery within the ditch is also dated to the thirteenth century. Phase 4: This phase was represented by the comer of a Vsectioned ditch (35) at the north-western extent of the excavation, which had been formed by re-cutting the ditch of Phase 3 (31), before turning to the north-east (Plate IV). The ditch was filled with a red-brown clay with large quantities of chalk and rubble and flint distributed evenly through it. The infill (33) contained thirteenthcentury, and earlier, pottery. Phase 5: The remaining structures on the site consisted of nineteenth-century brick farm buildings and a cellar (34), with a wide variety of dumped post-medieval debris, including chalk, slag, slate and building ru􀁷ble. THE POTTERY The pottery from site 'B' spans the eleventh to thirteenth centuries and falls into two principal fabric types identified on the basis of macroscopic examination only: a heavily shell-tempered ware; and a harder sandy ware with occasional, very sparse, shell temper on the surface only. The shell tempered wares (Fig. 6, 1-5) are the earlier, but in the absence of comparable published groups, it would be unwise to be precise about the date. At present such shell-tempered wares are considered to date to the eleventh and twelfth centuries. The sandy wares are probably from the Tyler Hill area, Canterbury ,2 especially those with flattened rims (10-14), often internally 2 P. Bennett and N.C. MacPherson-Grant 'Tyler Hill 1979', Arch. Cant., xcvi (1980), 293-7. 130 EXCAVATIONS AT EASTRY PLATE I\' Ar.:a B. S.:.:1io11 aero" Pha,c -I Dirch. !edged and with vertical applied strips on the hody. Such forms arc dakd m id-late thirteenth century. Those with simpler. rolled. rims (o-9) m:.iy be slightly later. but it is difficult to be certain. and the nature of the stratitication in the excavated areas docs not help us. All of the earliest pottery is residual. and the proportion nf sherd􀁽 of shell-tempered wares decreases in successive ditch fills in proport ion to the sandy wares: Context Shell-tempered Sandy 28 19<',. 8l <'i- 18 lo<',· R•t<'r 3J IWi- 9Wr 131 C.J. ARNOLD EASTRY B / 0 m 2 Phases 2 , 3 ... 4 - ... - - ,.. - .. -- - - - ,.. - - - - - - - - - -- /J - - 1111 l --- - ---- --- - -- -..... - ' <'- <' - 􀀈 􀀉 .... 􀀊 -..." " ', " "' "' ' ..... '􀀇􀀈 .::;- 􀀁 -.,."' ',,',, y' ..... - ) .- - --- .... - ...- -- ------ t'.:: Fig. 5. Phase Diagram of principal Features in Area B. 132 EXCAVATIONS AT EASTRY Context 28 also produced a single sherd of a fine pink ware with splashes of a green-yellow glaze. Catalogue of illustrated pottery (Fig. 6) 1. (28) Cooking-pot in grey ware with red-brown surface, and with shell-tempering throughout. Exterior sooted. 2. (33) Cooking-pot in grey ware, with red surfaces and shell3. (33) 4. (33) 5. (33) 6. (33) 7. (18) 8. (18) 9. (18) 10. (18) 11. (18) 12. (18) 13. (28) 14. (28) tempering throughout. Rim sooted. Cooking-pot in grey ware, with red surfaces and shelltempering throughout. Cooking-pot in grey ware with red surfaces and shelltempering throughout. Exterior sooted. Cooking-pot in dark grey ware with red surfaces. Flint and shell-tempering throughout. Cooking-pot in grey sandy ware with red-brown s1:1rfaces. Exterior sooted. Cooking-pot in grey sandy ware with red surfaces. Cooking-pot in grey sandy ware with red surfaces. Externally sooted. Cooking-pot in light grey sandy ware with sparse shelltempering on surface. Surface red-brown. Exterior sooted. Cooking-pot in dark grey sandy ware with red margins and dark red surface. Shell-tempering on surface of shoulders. Vertical applied strips on body. Cooking-pot in grey sandy ware with red-brown surface. Sparse shell-tempering on rim surface. Cooking-pot in buff sandy ware with red-brown surface. Exterior sooted. Cooking-pot in buff sandy ware with orange surface. Sparse shell-temper on rim surface. Internally ledged. Cooking-pot in hard grey sandy ware with orange-brown surfaces. Sparse shell-temper on surface of shoulder. Internally ledged. DISCUSSION The sequence of development of the structures and ditches in area B can be reliably established (Fig. 5): a succession of two structures and a ditch whose infilling is contemporary with the demolition of the later structure; a sequence of two ditches followed. Dateable artefacts of medieval date were only found in the ditch fills, and while the proportions of types of fabric vary, the most relevant 133 , , , ..... , • . ,;\%;',􀀉􀀊i;•:·' . ---:􀀊:;,􀀋·- ., , 7 Fig. 6. Eastry: Pottery from Area B. (¼ ). ,. > 􀀂 z 0 EXCAVATIONS AT EASTRY factor is that the latest material in all of them is of similar date. The pottery ranges from the eleventh to the thirteenth century, of which the earliest is certainy residual and the latest types only provide termini post quos; it may also be residual. The ditch examined in area A is at right angles to the ditch of phase 1/2 in area B, and while this is certainly not evidence of contemporaneity, the fonner contained eighteenth-century material. The absence of significant quantities of material earlier than the eleventh century may be significant as an indication of periods of occupation on the site; there is certainly nothing to support the view that the site was the location of an Anglo-Saxon royal palace. The ditches may best be interpreted as property boundaries, although their date of excavation could not be established. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am very grateful to Mr. and Mrs. R.J. Laslett for allowing the excavation to be carried out so close to their doorstep and for all their tolerance and assistance. Mr. P. Reilley supervised the work with the support of Miss L. Blomer, Mr. R.C. Janaway backfilled. 135