Monument record TR 26 NE 1406 - Small ring ditch, Monkton - Ring Ditch 5

Cropmark of small ring ditch 14.5m x 15.5m near Monkton, one of a lose group of five or six possible Bronze Age or early medieval round barrows mapped from aerial photographs: NMR 1671/36 06-AUG-1979 as part of the Historic England Thanet Landscape Mapping Project 2024. (1)

This single phase monument was located 45m to the east of the centre of Ring-ditch III. Just under half of its ring-ditch was exposed and fully excavated; the remainder lay beyond the site in the field to the north (Fig 1/18). The ring-ditch had an estimated outer diameter of c 18.5m and an almost u-shaped profile with a flattened base, relatively shallow, only 0.4–0.5m in depth. The width at the surface was around 1.8m and at the base of 0.8m. The lowest ditch fill consisted of silt with chalk fragments, probably comprised of material eroded from the sides. This was overlain by a deposit of chalk rubble and silt which may have derived from the slumping of a central mound into the ditch. The final deposit was a compact light brown clay with occasional flint pebble and chalk fragments. All these fills were sterile apart from the upper deposit, which yielded animal bone, seventeen flint flakes and two sherds of pottery, probably of mid Bronze Age Collared Urn. Again this late fill was similar to other final infill deposits that have been interpreted as hillwash or colluvium. Several interior features had survived, although all were badly truncated. They consisted of three shallow cuts of uncertain date or function, though all may have been the basal remnants of heavily truncated graves. An irregular oval cut aligned east–west, measured 0.62 by 0.8m and survived to a depth of 0.12m with an irregular profile. The fill consisted of a dark brown loamy clay with flecks of chalk, which yielded three animal bone fragments. Two other features to the north were exposed during the topsoil stripping associated with pipelaying operations. Near the centre of the ring-ditch was a potential grave, of which only a slight hollow survived. This hollow was subrectangular in plan and measured 0.77 by 1.12m. The irregular profile survived to a depth of only 0.08m. The fill consisted of a loose brown silt with pea grit at the base. Two small fragments of bone, possibly human, were found within this deposit. The final interior feature, which was only partially exposed, was another pit at least 0.7m across. The pit, 0.14m deep contained a sterile fill of a compact brown loam with occasional flint and chalk fragments. No other features were associated with the ring-ditch. (2)

<1> Historic England Archive, 1920-2024, Historic England Archive Specialist oblique aerial photographs, NMR 1671/36 06-AUG-1979 (Archive). SKE57106.

<2> CAT, 2008, At the Great Crossroads: Prehistoric, Roman and Medieval Discoveries on the Isle of Thanet 1994-1995 (Monograph). SKE59036.