TAP ResearchPaper276-BUNKLE Medieval Settlement (original) (raw)
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Excavation of a multi-period site at Foster Road, Ashford, Kent
2010
Excavation at Foster Road, Ashford, revealed features of late prehistoric to medieval date, many comprising field, droveway or drainage ditches running downslope to the south-west towards the East Stour River. Following the silting up of a Middle Bronze Age pond used by livestock grazing on the edge of the floodplain, a Middle-Late Bronze Age settlement, including at least one roundhouse and with evidence of possible metalworking, was established within an arrangement of field or enclosure ditches. This pattern of ditch construction and nearby settlement continued through the Late Bronze Age and, following a possible break in the Early and Middle Iron Age, into the Late Iron Age and Romano-British period, perhaps reflecting the largely unchanging landscape of open damp grassland, woodland edge and scrub, which supported mixed agriculture regimes during these periods. In the Early Saxon period, two waterholes with timber structures at their bases, radiocarbon dated to cal AD 570-660,...
Archaeological Fieldwork at Norham and Ladykirk, 2012 - 2015.pdf
Flodden Legends and Legacy: The Findings of the Flodden 500 Projec, 2016
Fieldwork carried out at Ladykirk with the aim of deducing whether the Scottish army of James IV besieged Norham castle from the north side of the Tweed, or crossed the river to besiege it from the English side, has proved inconclusive. Although fieldwalking recovered good quantities of medieval pottery from a field south-east of Ladykirk church - itself reputedly built as a defensible structure by James IV at the turn of the 16th century – no indication of 16th century military activity was found during fieldwork, which included excavations, within and close to Ladykirk village itself. And while some ordnance of the late medieval period was found by metal detecting in fields almost opposite the castle on New Ladykirk grounds, geophysical anomalies explored by excavation there in September 2015 proved to be natural in origin. While inconclusive, the process of carrying out fieldwork at Ladykirk has helped to narrow down options for further enquiry and prompted discussion about the sort of (probably quite ephemeral) remains that would be expected to survive following use of 16th century artillery in the field. In particular, the site of an earthwork of presumed medieval date, overlooking the Tweed just over a kilometre from Norham Castle, is now thought a likely point from which the siege of the castle may have begun, while fording points for the army have been identified at the present bridge and close to the castle itself. Excavations carried out following geophysical survey on the south side of Norham Castle uncovered signs of later medieval and post-medieval activity there, suggesting that all or most of the current large pasture field there functioned, from as early as the 12th or 13th century, as a kind of outer ward of the castle, perhaps brought into use during periods of intense military activity or preparation. Areas of metal-working and, potentially, temporary settlement were identified in the central part of this site while in the west, where a complex of earthworks is visible, a number of military and domestic structures were dated to the 16th century and later, suggesting that the earliest remains were contemporary with the post-Flodden remodelling of the castle as an artillery fortress. The results of excavation at Norham suggest that the reordering of the castle in the wake of Flodden anticipated attack from the west (village) side and support the idea that the large area between the south side of the castle and the Mill burn was used, at various times, as an area for temporary billeting of troops and associated small-scale domestic and industrial activities. Its putative earlier origins as an iron age promontory fort remain unproven.
2010
During this monitoring exercise features and deposits of archaeological significance were identified prompting an intensive phase of excavation and recording over an area of c. 160m2. A stone-lined rectangular pit, possibly a former ice-house, measuring 2.8m long, by 2.27m wide and over 1.6m deep, was exposed in plan. The fills of the pit yielded an important assemblage of pottery and clay tobacco pipe, dated to the early 18th century. Associated with this structure was a smaller rectangular structure c. 1.4m square by 1.4m deep formed of dry-stone masonry that exhibited the remains of what appeared to be a corbelled roof of pennant sandstone slabs. In the floor of this structure a circular pit was revealed, interpreted as a well shaft, the upper fill of which yielded a complete glass onion bottle, made no later than AD 1710, together with a complete slipware chamber pot, also dated to the 18th century. These two masonry features have been backfilled and will now be preserved in-situ. To the north of these features an area of medieval activity was defined by a series of intercutting and re-cut boundary ditches aligned both north-south and east-west. Within this area the surviving medieval soil cut features, though heavily truncated, appeared to represent the remains of two or more timber structures. This activity appears to have been domestic in nature, though no hearths were identified. At least one of the structures had several parallel east-west aligned bays, possibly indicating stalls for animals. Medieval pottery from the excavation indicated there had been activity on or near the site since the mid 12th century AD, though the structural remains are more likely to date from the late 15th or early 16th centuries.