Monument record TR 26 NE 1346 - Late Iron Age/Roman pits (group 2) along the forershore at Minnis Bay in Birchington.

A series of late Iron Age and Roman shafts or possible wells have been identified during various phases of investigation along the foreshore and on the clifftop along Minnis Bay in Birchington in Thanet. These form three distinct groups, The second area of pits at seabed level were identified and excavated between 1954 and 1967. Of these ‘Wells 20’ and ‘Wells 25-30’ are shaft bases. ‘Wells 19’ and 21-24’ were modern animal burial pits. ‘Well 29’ is at some distance to the north of the group and appeared to have been excavated by others (unknown). ‘Well 20’ which was close in to the cliff face, was 2.45m deep with a roughly circular base 86.5cm by 76cm. This was the deepest surviving section of the wells to be found and had an unusual channel running into the pit. Severe storm damage along the east coast in the winter of 1953-54 eroded the cliff face even further destroying this shaft. The presence of the unusual channel running into ‘Well 20’ could be explained by the breaking through from one shaft into an adjacent shaft by the Borough engineers during the excavation of the cliff face shaft in 1947. Several oyster shells were found in the pit which had been a feature of the 1947 excavation. Due to the further erosion of the cliff face it was impossible to definitely confirm that ‘Well 20’ was the base of the 1947 shaft, but agreed that it was in the same locality. Amongst the grog-tempered ‘Belgic’ pottery and pieces of quernstone in Well 25, was an interesting small piece of worked wood. Another large plank of timber was found in Well 27. It was thought that this could be part of the wellhead worn by ‘rope’ action. ‘Well 27’ confirmed Roman grain processing in the Minnis Bay settlements. At the base was a large Sussex Lodsholm stone quern, only the fourth example so far to be found in Kent and is the largest. The last of the foreshore pits was Well 30 excavated in 1966. The shaft base was topped with a 10cm crust of very dry and compacted material, which required careful action with a pick to break open the shaft. The shaft base was ‘D’ shaped, cut alongside a natural crack in the chalk seabed giving a straight side to the well running from the land out to sea. This fissure may have facilitated the original construction of the shaft, although presumably incidental, and aided the ingress of water into the well. The shaft base was (in 1966) 1.1m deep and approximately 1m in diameter. The flat side of the shaft base had a marked yellow-coloured rust stain just below the 1966 surface which corresponded with a mostly predominately rusty layer in the top filling. Below the hard crust was a 25.5cm layer of mainly dark, moist, smelly mud with rusty chalk and sandy patches. There was little or no primary silting to the base but there was a silt lining adhering to the walls and the surfaces of larger objects. The silt was grey, pale to black and varied in consistency from tenacious to sticky to watery. It appeared that the water flowing down the side of the natural crack in the chalk caused a thicker deposit of silt especially in the corners. From 36cm down from the top of the compacted crust of the well large pottery sherds were found. Eight pots were partially reconstructed, six of which had a complete profile making this the most productive shaft of grog-tempered ‘Belgic’ pottery. Amongst the last to be excavated were the three pots. At a depth of 70cm a gilded bronze brooch was found. The 4.2cm long brooch is of Langton Down form and is complete apart from a broken tip to the pin The bar is rectangular with a straight wedge section tapering to the foot with two longitudinal bands of zigzag and dotted lines decoration bounded on either side by a ridge. This is attached to a cylinder, which wraps the spring with a centre cut to allow for the movement of the pin. The brooch is believed to date from the late first century bc to the first century ad. (1)

<1> Trevor and Vera Gibbons, 2018, The Archaeological Pits of Minnis Bay, Birchington, Kent 400 BC - 400 AD Middle to Late Iron Age to Roman (Unpublished document). SKE58997.

<2> Vera and Trevor Gibbons, 2021, The Middle/Late Iron Age and Roman finds made by Antoinette Powell-Cotton on the Foreshore and Clifftop at Minnis Bay in Birchington (Article in serial). SKE58998.