Court Wood, Southfleet

RESEARCHES .AND DISCOVERIES COURT Wooo, SouTRFLEET Court Wood is situated at the south-east side of the parish of Southfleet and covers an area of approximately 28 acres. The N.G.R. is TQ 619697. The wood contains a complex of earthworks which do not appear to have been recorded by the Ordnance Survey, neither are they shown on the Tithe Award plans. An inspection of the latter map shows that there has been no significant change in the shape of the wood since 1841. The woodland is on stiff clay with chalk lying only a few feet below the surface. In order that all the earthworks should be accurately located, an instrumental survey was made of the entire wood in the winter of 1970 and the accompanying plan shows the earthworks in detail. The principal feature is a large 3 ft. high bank with a ditch on the outside which encloses a major part of the wood. As will be seen from the plan, the western side of the earthwork has been partly destroyed by constant ploughing in the adjoining field but in all the other quarters it is still in good condition. At the extreme south end of the wood, the bank and ditch make an unaccountable turn north for some 120 ft. This part of the earthwork was carefully examined for signs of a possible entry into the enclosure but none was found. There is a single trackway in the wood which runs from north to south; it breaches the northern bank of the earthwork but fades out before it reaches the southern bank. At the north-east side of the wood and lying immediately outside the large earthwork is a group of small enclosed areas, mostly rectangular in shape. Each enclosure is separated from the adjacent one by a low bank and sometimes by a bank and ditch. Their form has become obliterated by garden cultivation in the building development on the eastern side of the wood. Similar forms of enclosures are to be noted at the north end of the wood, and the continual ploughing of the fields on the north-west side has destroyed some of their banks. At the extreme north, a small piece of woodland, which even in 1841, was isolated from Court Wood by the intrusion of a ploughed field, contains a small rectangular earthwork. Within this enclosing rectangle there is a deep circular depression. This area was carefully searched for any signs of occupation of an earlier period but no surface finds of tiles, masonry or pottery were evident. These groups of small earthworks outside the major one appear to represent the remains of some form of cultivation; this opinion is 205 RESEARCHES AND DISCOVERIES EARTHWORKS IN COURT SOUTH FLEET. FIELD. FIELD. LEGEND. BANKs. 􀀆mH!:t::;􀀇1􀀙;. DITCHES. ammtt\iU 􀀄"\􀀅J CHALKWELLS & PITS. 􀀓:􀀔 !},iJ􀀕 £OGE OF WOOD. ---- mr.1.0 cl f J,11 Iii Sun'eyed & Orawn:- J.E.l,Caigor, 1971. 1° f 3ro t I sb FIG. 1. 206 WOOD, 􀀆?o 􀀂o 600 700 I I 1to Jo METRES, 􀀇 RESEARCHES AND DISCOVERIES considerably strengthened by the proximity of several collapsed chalkwells sited just outside the ditches and also only a short distance away from the enclosed areas. The whole pattern bears some resemblance to the earthworks in Darenth Wood, Arch. Oant., lxxix (1964), 77. Dr. A. Baker, whose opinion was sought in connection with these earthworks and their origin, tentatively suggested that the features described might have some parallels with certain field patterns identified in Brittany by Andre Meynier of the University of Rennes. Several large enclosures, with adjacent small enclosures, have been discovered and surveyed in this part of Kent in the last few years; they appear to be of medieval date, but the reason for their construction remains somewhat obscure. It is tempting to suggest that the large enclosed areas were for the exclusive use of the Manor and were probably made as a compound for livestock, possibly hogs, whilst the small rectangular enclosures outside this barrier represent all that remains of the small fields cultivated by the peasants. J. E. L. CAIGER 207