Excavations at Oaklands, Lower Road, East Farleigh, Maidstone, 2014
During 2014 fieldwork by the Maidstone Area Archaeological Group concentrated on excavating sections of the Iron Age and Roman ditches which underlay the Roman buildings on the site. The ditches were dug parallel to each other and 6 meters apart.
The Iron Age ditch had been shown to exist in trial pits further east, dug in previous years. The 2014 section showed that the bottom 1.2 meters of the ditch had been dug into solid ragstone. The ditch had silted up and had been covered by the 3rd century Roman land surface, which in turn had been covered by 800mm of hill wash. The dismembered rear end of a cow was wedged in the lower half of the ditch.
The Roman ditch was 2.4 meters deep at this section, deepening to 3 meters at a second section which was dug 20 meters to the east (not illustrated). The primary fill of the ditch in the east trial pit contained a small Patch Grove pot 85mm high. This ditch appears to have been dug in the 1st century and backfilled in the late 2nd century (pot and coin evidence). The ditch showed signs of having been recut at least once.
The early 3rd century buildings were built over, and into, the filled-in ditches. At a depth of 3 meters the Roman ditch may seem a little deep for a drainage or boundary ditch, leaving the possibility that it was defending a settlement predating the 3rd century buildings.