The Trust for Thanet Archaeology: Evaluation Work carried out in 1995, Hartsdown Community Woodland Scheme, Margate

THE TRUST FOR THANET ARCHAEOLOGY; EVALUATION WORK CARRIED OUT IN 1995, HARTSDOWN COMMUNITY WOODLAND SCHEME, MARGATE D. R. J. PERKINS INTRODUCTION This archaeological evaluation survey on farmland at Hartsdown/Shottendane, Margate, was made necessary by plans to develop the land as a Community Woodland. Extensive tree-planting is intended, and since a number of crop-marks representing ancient activity and settlement appear on the fields, their evaluation was essential. The evaluation survey demonstrated that a number of archaeological sites visible as crop-marks in aerial photographs taken some thirty years ago were present in a good state of preservation, and were of such interest as to form an important factor in planning a community woodland project for the Hartsdown site. The concept of a project to establish a Community Woodland on Thanet Council owned land at Hartsdown/Shottendane, Margate, was first mooted in 1991. The Planning Department of Thanet District Council then asked the Thanet Archaeological Trust for advice as a matter of routine, and the Trust was able to state that there were important archaeological implications attendant on the proposed development. Aerial photographs taken in the 1960s demonstrated the presence of a number of enclosures that could be interpreted as the ring ditches of prehistoric round bru.Tows, and prehistoric and/or Romano-British settlements. The Trust began a study of the crop-marks using the 1960s photos with some more recent colour slides in conjunction with a computer-aided photogrammetry programme to plot the crop-marks on Ordnance Survey maps. An evaluation strategy consisting of a pattern of random and 'educated' trenches was designed, and this was submitted for approval to the County Archaeologist, Dr John Williams. The evaluation was carried out in August 1995, and record, photographic, and material archives of the work have been created. 265 D. R. J. PERKINS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The Trust for Thanet Archaeology wish to thank Thanet District Council for funding this important evaluation, and Mr Jonathan Tapp who farms the land, both for his kind co-operation, and careful attitude to cultivating the land so that the ancient sites have been largely preserved from plough damage. THE SITE TOPOGRAPHY AND KNOWN ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL BACKGROUND Site Topography and Geology The site is situated at Hartsdown/Shottendane, Margate, on farmland part of Twenties Farm at an O.S. ref. centred at TR 345 695. It is 20.62 ha. (50.9 acres) in area. The fields constituting the site form the northern rise and escarpment ridge of the Shottendane Valley, and vary in elevation between 10.50 and 25.00 m. O.D. There can be little doubt that the valley held a stream until modern times, its last remnant being the 'Tivoli Dike' which last century drained into the marsh where Margate's 'Dreamland' Amusement Park is now situated, and from which Margate (Marshgate) is said to have been named. In 1808, during a storm and on-shore gale, the valley for a few hours became a tidal creek as far up as Shottendane Farm. The geology of the site is that of the Head and Drift Brickearth over the Upper Chalk. Since this stratum drains well the Shottendane stream may only have run in winter, reverting to a series of ponds and marshy spots in high summer. In this it would have been similar to a number of Kent's 'woe waters' as for example the upper reaches of the Nailbourne. Three of the evaluation trenches, Trenches 37, 38, and 47, were cut near the valley bottom where they encountered colluvium so deep that they could not safely be excavated down to chalk. Elsewhere on the site trenching revealed the chalk to be capped by an overburden of loam varying between 0.30 and 0.60 m. in depth, of which the upper 0.25 m. is modem plough soil with that beneath it constituting an ancient horizon often exhibiting cultural material. The level of the Roman metalled trackway surface (Site 1) and ditch section evidence from Site 7 seem to indicate that ground level today is little different from what it was in the Iron Age and Roman periods. Over much of the site the surface of the Upper Chalk was hard and even. In the northern angle near Hartsdown Road it was, however, much affected by periglacial activity, the brickearth filled ice-wedge pits being easily confused with man-made features. That ancient horizons survive at Hartsdown when they have been 266 HARTSDOWN COMMUNITY WOODLAND SCHEME, MARGATE denuded elsewhere in Thanet is due to the care of the farmer, Mr Jonathan Tapp, who after attending an N.F.U. branch meeting some years ago at which the writer demonstrated the consequences of deep ploughing over archaeological sites, has eschewed the use of the 'sub-soiler'. Known Archaeology No archaeological investigations even at the level of field-walking have previously taken place at Hartsdown. There has been a certain amount of metal detector prospecting around the margins of the field, albeit with little of interest found (pers. comm. Thanet and Wantsum Association). The nearest excavations were Dr Rowe's work in the Half Mile Ride Anglo-Saxon cemetery (1923) which is 700 m. south of the site, the Thanet Trust's evaluations at Westfield Road about 300 m. to the west, and Dr Rowe's 'Tivoli Villa' about 300 m. north-east. A crop-mark soilmark that may well be significant has been recorded from the southwestern rise of the Shottendane valley as it ascends towards St. John's cemetery. It seems to indicate the presence of double parallel ditches passing along the face of the hill and turning east towards the Lydden valley. They may constitute the defences of a prehistoric hill-fort similar to the great enclosure recently discovered at North Foreland Hill, Kings gate. Historical Background The origin of the name Hartsdown is as a hill frequented by harts or stags (OE herotes dun) and the hill was known as 'Hertesdowne' in 1451. This apart, the tract of land is seldom mentioned during the medieval period, when it would have formed part of the Manor of Dent-de-Lion. From the 1750s the land was in use as arable and pasture, and was the site of the 'Margate Races' from 1765 to 1838. METHODS Trenching Evaluation was by machine-cut trench. In all, 59 trenches were cut under archaeological supervision, in total 2450 m. of trenching with an area of 3675 square metres, this representing a 2 per cent sampling of the site. As originally planned, twenty-three of the trenches were so positioned as to coincide with crop-marks, whose location had been established by photogrammetry during preliminary work by the Thanet Trust in 1991. The rest of the trenches was positioned so as to sample 'bare' areas where no crop-marks had been observed so as to act as a control. For 267 D. R. J. PERKINS safety reasons, trenches were backfilled at the end of each working session. Important features which could not be excavated or recorded in a day were left covered and taped off. All trenches were cut under archaeological supervision, and were taken down either to an ancient horizon or the natural chalk. Any isolated features were excavated, and where the trenches ran through settlement enclosures about 25 per cent of the features observed were, according to size, either sampled or fully excavated. It had been intended that rather more than double the amount of trenching would be carried out so as to sample at about the 4 per cent level. In the event, although an additional 650 square metres of unscheduled trenches were cut so as to exactly locate sites and define the boundaries of the settlement enclosures, the final total (about 2.4 per cent) is thought adequate, see below. Confidence Rating This can be considered high. In the case of those trenches whose location coincided with the crop-mark evidence, the features were found. In all others, the 'random trenches' where no crop-marks were visible in the air photos, nothing was observed. Additionally, the shallow overburden covering most of the site promotes the formation of crop-marks, even over small and shallow features such as post-holes. The assembled cropmark picture can therefore be considered explicit. RESULTS: SITE DESCRIPTIONS The following is a list of 'Sites' where a group of features is either confined within a boundary ditch, or are in such close association as to be considered a single archaeological entity. Fig. 1 shows the location of all trenches and sites. Ceramic spot dates are as given by Nigel Macpherson-Grant, who has examined the Hartsdown pottery and will be commenting on it in due course as part of a synthesis of Late Bronze Age-Early Iron Age ceramics in east Kent. Site 1 This is clearly identifiable as a length of Roman metalled trackway. It consists of a layer of metalling composed of small water-worn flint cobbles about 4 m. wide and 0.20 m. deep where best preserved, this laid in a shallow chalk-cut slot. This is flanked on both sides by parallel chalk-cut ditches about 4 m. wide and 1 m. deep. In the only complete section cut (Trench 21) these have been re-cut at some stage so as to create double ditches on either side (see Fig. 2, plan and section). The 268 􀀉'° Site 13 Site 12 4 Site 7 Site 5 􀀉·. '✓. " 􀀎ite 3 v􀀂 \ L(' -., \'' % ------􀀖--=- -----:---- --- 1-- -( ' --- :--- I --.\ - --- I {I-}-, --- I I • 8 -T:. ' 1 I - 􀀈- --- *: Site -1 , __ _ I ' -- - --- _ _ ---􀀓---- Site 6 -􀀉"'-1/. \ 1'o. 1 - , Site J 'i>'c,, ___ ; -- {),. \ \ -·􀀗􀀘-\- \ . I S\\.e, \ ,)- μ 1/ Site2 .- -:- --· i ' --- , Site I • -- _ S,te 9 •:----+-. - ------------ l l --- i j ___ C-- ' • • I -- --t=il- Site IO r- ! ' ta ww■■ 200m. ' ' R Idge.r doWnl. l!Je or aJldeS carp l!Jem Fig. 1. Hartsdown Evaluation 1995, Plan of Trenches and Sites. Trenches are marked in broken line, and crop marks are shown in heavy line for the Roman trackway and sites not illustrated in Figs. 2-5. ::r: 􀀊 t:I 􀀋 (j 0 I 􀀌 0 0 ; V, (j j 􀀍 􀀎 a) b) \ \ \ / / ' \ / / / / / \ ' ' ✓ / ✓ / / ' 􀀌􀀍-􀀎---􀀏-􀀐,-􀀑.=􀀒R=•- Preserved ancient horizon :2 N Trench 21a) 􀀆􀀇􀀈 r---c.-=􀀉 l 􀀈<-:=􀀉-.: I; I ( ', I, ,', , , , , , , ✓ , / , I ' I Trench 21d) !Orn. -----

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