Excavations at the Millworks, Brasted

ARCHAEOLOGICAL NOTES AND SUMMARIES 308 e xca MILLwORKS, Archaeology South-East conducted archaeological work at The Mill-works, Brasted (NGR 47052 55185) in 2007-2008 (Fig. 1). Targeted excavation in the southern part of the site during January 2008 followed on from geoarchaeological and archaeological evaluation across the whole site. The fieldwork was commissioned by CgMS Consulting and was supervised by Tom Collie and Dave Fallon of Archaeology South-East. The work was conducted in order to fulfil a planning condition prior to the proposed redevelopment of the site from a builder’s yard to residential properties. B rasted is an historic village of probable Saxon origins mentioned in Domesday as ‘a church and fifteen servants, and two mills’ owned by the bishopric of Canterbury. Numerous later medieval buildings survive in Brasted which is located just under a kilometre south of the M25, on the A25, which is called Brasted High Street as it passes through the village. The site is generally level at c.90m aod, but slopes very gently down to the River Darent which forms its northern boundary. The geology of Brasted is of river terrace gravels overlain by alluvium and it was anticipated that the gravel had the potential to contain lithic artefacts. Purposive geoarchaeological test-pitting was undertaken as a result and this revealed that extensive modern levelling had occurred in the northern and southern parts of the site. As a result of this very low potential for palaeoenvironmental remains was recorded in those parts of the site. However, in the east-central part of the site an in situ peat/organic horizon at c.1m below ground level, characteristic of a palaeo-landsurface was recorded in geoarchaeological test pit 5. Although preservation of this horizon over much of the site had been proven to be low, it was noted that the peat may survive intact to the east and west. W ithin samples taken from this peat and assessed for archaeobotanical remains, a large amount of floral remains were present and two larger fragments of wood (Salicaeae [willow/poplar] Alnus glutinosa [Alnus]) were sent for radiocarbon dating (Beta-241081, 1270±40 bp; Beta-241082, 1340±40 bp). Both suggested a 7th/8th-century ad deposition date for the peat. However, because no charcoal was recorded in any of the samples, it has been inferred that the site stood at some distance from any potential contemporary settlement when the peat was accumulating and as a result no further geoarchaeological work was undertaken. Indeed, it may be that the peat horizon formed before there was any settlement at Brasted. Archaeological excavation was undertaken in the southern part of the site centred around archaeological evaluation trenches 1 and 8 in which medieval features had been identified. An area of c.225m² was investigated and revealed further evidence of medieval date. A series of 13th/14th-century ditches were recorded. Parallel to Brasted 309 KentCanterburyFolkstoneDoverMargateSevenoaksChathamGravesendAshfordEast SussexMaidstoneFavershamLondonTunbridgeWellsNFig. 1: Site locationTrench 1547060547070155150155160155170155180BrastedDitch 1Ditch 4Ditch 2Ditch 3Ditch 513th-14th century14th-15th centuryTrench 805m Fig. 1 Site location and excavated features. ARCHAEOLOGICAL NOTES AND SUMMARIES 310 High Street, a ditch (Ditch 1) was set c.70m back from the High Street. A second boundary and/or drainage ditch was recorded to the north (Ditch 2). This is virtually perpendicular to the High Street and to the first ditch with which it presumably converges immediately to the south and east of the excavated area. A third ditch (Ditch 3) to the east of this was recorded at an acute angle to the first ditch with which it presumably joined to the south of the excavated area. A fourth ditch (Ditch 4) is loosely perpendicular to the first, but is to the south of it. These ditches, situated some distance to the rear of any presumed contemporary medieval ribbon development along the High Street, most probably demarcate field boundaries and drainage conduits. Given the topography and proximity of the river to the village, and according to fluctuating seasonal precipitation levels, it is likely that frequent upkeep of any such drainage system would have been necessary. This would have amounted to the digging of new channels, the re-digging of existing ones as they became silted-up and the flooding of water meadows between the village and the river. Inundation would doubtless have been controlled in tandem with a system of banks and sluices. By the 14th-15th century a fifth L-shaped ditch (Ditch 5) was apparently added in the southern part of the site and reflects such a hypothesis. Ditch 5 shares a very similar axis to the earlier ones which, if not still in operation, would almost certainly have still been visible at this time. Closer to the High Street, although still some distance from it, at the very southern end of the site, several discrete features of 13th/14th and 14th/15th-century date were recorded. These are interpreted as domestic refuse pits, though they may originally have been dug as small clay quarries. They appear to be enclosed within an area demarcated by the ditching and probably derive from activity originating from one property. The evidence suggests that the origins of medieval activity in this area of Brasted commenced during the 13th century and would be consistent with any model of settlement expansion at this time. However, this was apparently short-lived as no further dateable evidence beyond the mid-15th century was retrieved in the excavations until the 19th/20th centuries. The mill may have existed from at least the 12th century, and the millrace, the stream of water that drives the millwheel, is known to have passed through the site from the north-west to the south-east from at least 1845 and was at least partly culverted by 1979. This was not detected at the southern end of evaluation trench 4 which should have just clipped the channel and no other remains pertaining to milling activity were recorded in the excavations. It is probable that the extensive levelling and importation of modern made-ground across the northern part of the site has removed any trace of the culvert and its antecedent. The only feature of 19th-century date of any note was a brick-lined well recorded in evaluation trench 2. This probably relates to the properties ARCHAEOLOGICAL NOTES AND SUMMARIES 311 first shown in this area on the 1st edition Ordnance Survey map of 1868. We know from later Ordnance Survey maps that these buildings were cleared sometime between 1961 and 1970 as they appear on the 1936 and 1961 maps, but are not shown on the 1970 map. Finds from the excavations include fifteen sherds of sand-tempered 13th/14th-century cooking vessels and one slightly later sherd from a cooking pot with patches of interior glaze and fifteen fragments of peg tile dating to the 14th/15th century. The pottery and tile assemblages are generic. Suitable features were sampled for environmental remains and these included a small assemblage of charred crop (Triticum sp. wheat, Avena/Bromus sp. oat/brome) and (weed seeds Poaceae grasses, Brassica sp. cabbages and Polygonum/Rumex knotgrass/dock), wood charcoals and included fragments of burnt clay, and further CBM debris. The plant remains are all common components of archaeological deposits and cannot be directly related to specific activities associated with milling or farming practices. Forty-nine fragments of animal bone were recovered during on-site hand-collection and from the samples; all were indistinguishable except for one cattle sized long bone. david fallon and dan swift