Addington Long Barrow
The Medway megaliths, which occur in two groups some 9km apart on each side of the river Medway, are the only megalithic long barrows in England east of the Berkshire Downs. Despite being the most oft-cited examples of classic Early Neolithic monuments in Kent, very little is known about them, and they have been the focus of very little recent archaeological work. In this wider context an exceptional opportunity to investigate one of the monuments arose in May this year, in response to serious subsidence in the road that crosses Addington long barrow.
The Medway megalithic monuments consist of earthen long mounds of various shapes and sizes, incorporating chambers and sometimes revetments or peristaliths built of local sarsen stone. In some cases these comprise relatively well-preserved architectural structures, other monuments are more damaged and less visible, and there are a number of possible but unproven examples. Little is known about the precise dating or use of most of these structures. The most recent assessments of the Medway megaliths, by Paul Ashbee, were published in Archaeologia Cantiana in 1993 and 2000.
The western monument group includes Coldrum chambered tomb, and The Chestnuts and Addington sites c.2km to the south. Until the most recent work was carried out, Coldrum and The Chestnuts were the only megalithic monuments in the Medway valley excavated using recognisable archaeological methods (Coldrum in 1910, 1922-23 and 1926; The Chestnuts in 1959). Our understanding of the cultural landscape context of the Medway megaliths has, however, changed radically in the last 10 years with the discovery of the White Horse Stone timber long hall dated to the early 4th millennium BC, the identification of a probable causewayed enclosure at Burham, and the radiocarbon dating of the Coldrum human remains (Bayliss, A et al forthcoming).
The investigation at Addington in May was prompted by the appearance of a pothole and subsequent excavation of the area by Kent Highways Service workmen. After discussions with English Heritage and Kent Highways Service it was agreed that the approximately 2m by 1m by 0.8m deep hole should be archaeologically recorded and sampled prior to backfilling. It was decided to organise this work as an early component of the Valley of Visions HLF project (see next newsletter), under the direction of Paul Garwood, Lecturer in Prehistory at the Institute of Archaeology and Antiquity (IAA), University of Birmingham. A team of volunteers was then very quickly put together by Kent County Council Heritage Conservation.
The sections of the hole were carefully cleaned and recorded, the entire spoil heap from the Highways excavation was sieved, and the trench was inspected by Matt Canti (soil specialist, English Heritage), Peter Allen (sedimentologist) and Andrew Haggart (pollen specialist, University of Greenwich). Samples were taken for geochemical analysis. The trench location was tied in to the rest of the monument and the OS grid by a survey team from the Trust for Thanet Archaeology.
The position of the trench in relation to the rest of the mound and the sediments recorded in its sections suggest that the sarsen stone revealed in the excavation is in situ, and that the trench cut through deposits resulting from the erosion of the mound. Over 100 pieces of worked flint were recovered, mainly from the spoil heap but several were also found in situ during section cleaning.
Over the next few months the finds and samples will be analysed and reported.
and the work will be reported in full, hopefully in Archaeologia Cantiana, as soon as possible. Particular thanks are due to Mrs Bygraves for reporting the initial attempts to repair the pothole, to Gerald Cramp (Fawkham and Ash group), James Elford, Trevor Bent and Peter Spink who helped on site over long hours on a wet bank holiday weekend, to Lyn Palmer for helping to contact volunteers, to Kent Highways Service for keeping the road closed to allow the recording to take place, and to Judith Roebuck of English Heritage for expediting scheduled monument consent.
LEFT: Newly discovered sarsen stone in western section of trench.
BELOW: View to the south west showing stones from the peristalith on the north western side of the long barrow
Lis Dyson, KCC Heritage Conservation and Paul Garwood, IAA, University of Birmingham