Monument record TQ 86 SE 344 - Prehistoric and Roman features including a field system and trackways, Southwest Sittingbourne

Undated and Roman features including ditches, pits and a post-hole were identified to the east and south-east of the site, during an evaluation carried out in 2018. The evaluation followed a geophysical survey of the site carried out in 2018 which identified anomalies to the south east. Pottery dating to the prehistoric and Roman periods, alongside flint and animal bone were recovered during the evaluation.
Some of the ditches and three rubbish pits appear to align along some of the former field boundaries. Only two of the ditches could be dated (one Roman, one medieval (TQ 86 SE 351), therefore some of the ditches could be prehistoric or post-Roman in date. Environmental samplying of some features indicated that crop processing took place at the site during the Roman period.
Furthermore, the discovery of a possible chalk foundation, ceramic building material (including tegulae, imbrices and box-flue tiles), and part of a hypocaust system may be indicative of a Roman building having existed to the south east of the site. (1, 2)

A late Iron Age/Roman field system represented by agricultural soils and linear featureswas identified during an evaluation carried out to the west of the site in 2023. Three trackways along different alignments were also located during the excavation; one trackway was aligned NW-SE, one N-S, and one NE-SW. Several of the trackways are suggested (1, 2) to link potential areas of settlement beyond the northern and southern limits of the site. Linear features to the north and south of the NW-SE aligned trackway represent field ditches forming part of a wider agricultural landscape.

A large pit containing slag and waste derived from metal working and baked soil was another feature identified during the evaluation, although the report does not provide a date for this feature. The pit contained furnace walls, suggesting that it functioned as a metal-working furnace and that an associated smithy could have existed at the site. Furthermore, metallurgical waste was recovered from the surface of one of the trackways at the site, reinforcing this interpretation.
An oval enclosure of unknown function was located to the south of the site. The enclosure contained lumps of baked soil which may have originated from corn driers or kilns contained within the enclosure.

Excavations in the vicinity of the site have also revealed evidence for later prehistoric and Roman features and artefacts. This site is likely to have formed part of a wider landscape of agriculture established during the later prehistoric period which remain in use into the Roman period.

The projected alignments of several of the trackways and the oval enclosure are recorded on the GIS. (1-5)

<1> Wessex Archaeology, 2024, AN ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVALUATION Land at Wises Lane, Sittingbourne, Kent (School Area) (Unpublished document). SKE58597.

<2> Wessex Archaeology, 2018, Land southwest, Sittingbourne, Kent, Phase 1A, Archaeological evaluation (Unpublished document). SKE53193.

<3> Wessex Archaeology, 2018, Land southwest, Sittingbourne, Kent, Phase 1A, Archaeological evaluation (Unpublished document). SKE53193.

<4> Swale and Thames Archaeological Survey Company, 2023, Archaeological Evaluation Of Land To The West Of Wises Lane, South-west Sittingbourne, Kent Phases 2a And 2c (Unpublished document). SKE56687.

<5> Swale and Thames Archaeological Survey Company, 2023, Archaeological Evaluation Of Land To The West Of Wises Lane, South-west Sittingbourne, Kent Phases 2a And 2c (Unpublished document). SKE56687.