Category Archives: Broadstairs

VM_365 Day 290 Burial at centre of small round barrow at North Foreland

Archaeology, Broadstairs, Bronze Age, North Foreland, Uncategorised, VM_365 Project

VM_290

The image for Day 290 is of a burial that was located at the centre of the  platform within the ring ditch of a Bronze Age round barrow which featured in the post for Day 289.

The main grave cut containing the burial was rectangular in plan, measuring approximately 1.75 metres long and 1.05 metres wide. The corners were rounded and the sides were vertical on the northern and southern edges. The eastern and western edges had steep slightly curved sides and the whole feature only measured 0.3 metres deep. The base of the cut was rough and uneven and the burial itself was contained in a slight rounded hollow, aligned approximately north east south west, which lay at the base of the rectangular cut. A chalk deposit with an inner edge that corresponded with the edges of the hollow in the base of the grave cut suggests that like other graves on this site it was retained by a coffin structure which did not survive.

The skeleton had eroded considerably, with only solid long bones left to indicate the original layout of the burial; their position within the grave suggests that the body had been placed in a crouched position with the head to the south, facing west.  Although the remains were poorly preserved and fragmentary, enough remained to be able to determine that they were the bones of an adult, aged approximately 25 -35 years old.

The deposit immediately above the skeleton, within or above the coffin, incorporated fragments of charred wood along with charred wheat and barley grains. Two small sherds of early Iron Age flint tempered pottery found in this deposit seem to be intrusions from the heavy truncation from the later Iron Age settlement on the site.

Despite the poor level of survival of this grave, much information remained to be discovered through the excavation and analysis of the grave and the burial.

VM_365 Day 289 A small Bronze Age barrow with big stories to tell

Archaeology, Broadstairs, Bronze Age, From the Archives, North Foreland, Uncategorised, VM_365 Project

VM 289For the image on Day 289 we have a picture of the ring ditch of a small round barrow,  located at the western edge of the St. Stephens College excavation site at North Foreland, Broadstairs. The barrow stands on the crest of the chalk ridge with the land falling away to the north and north west.

The ditch was formed of two fairly regular arcs, joined by a short straight ditch at the southern end which created an almost complete circuit with a diameter of 9.6m. On the northern side of the ring ditch a 0.4m gap between two square ended terminals formed a narrow causeway from the outside to the inside of the circuit. The small dimensions and irregular shape have been compared with a barrow of similar dimensions that was found at South Dumpton Down, Broadstairs. The primary burial at Dumpton Down dated to the Beaker period, in the Early Bronze Age, suggesting the barrow at North Foreland dates to the same period.

The ring ditch at North Foreland was excavated by digging fourteen segments at regular interval through the dark loam deposits with irregularly distributed chalk and flint inclusions that filled the ditch. A flat based profile with very steeply sloping or near vertical sides was exposed along the whole length of the ditch, which only survived to a depth between 0.42 and 0.57m;  the width varied from 0.75 and 0.9m.

Like many of Bronze Age barrows featured in the VM_365 posts, on Day 271 and Day 286,  several of the upper fills of a ditch originally cut in the Early Bronze Age contained pottery dating to the Iron Age. Like the other barrows, this small example must have remained as an earthwork in the landscape, only to be completely filled in the later Iron Age period.

Two grave cuts were identified within the circuit of the barrow ditch; one positioned centrally and the other on the southern edge. Another more unusual grave cut was  found cut into the base of the north western arm of the ring ditch, these will be explored in more detail in later VM_365 posts.

VM_365 Day 287 Central burial, Bronze Age Barrow, North Foreland

Archaeology, Broadstairs, Bronze Age, From the Archives, North Foreland, Uncategorised, VM_365 Project

VM 287

The image for Day 287 of the VM_365 project shows the burial that was located at the  centre of the ring ditch of the Bronze Age barrow that featured on Day 286 of the VM_365 project. A second burial, probably inserted at a later date and associated with the refurbishment of the ditch circuit, was located on the northern edge of the Barrow platform

The large rectangular grave cut measured approximately 2.6 metres long by 1.6 metres wide and  was 0.76 metres deep, with a north east  to south west orientation. The skeletal remains of a mature adult male, aged approximately 30-40 years old were found at the base of the cut. The body been placed on its left side in a crouched position with arms and legs flexed, facing east. The head lay at the northern end.

In the image a chalky fill remains in the grave after a softer inner deposit had been removed to expose the skeleton. The soft deposits surrounding the body suggest that it may originally have been placed within a coffin, or similar structure such as a wicker basket which retained the chalky fill against a vertical edge. The inner area retained by the structure measured approximately  1.05 metres wide by 2.08 metres long. This was placed in the northern half of the grave cut and the space left at the foot of the grave may have contained food or other offerings which have not survived to be recovered in the excavation. The grave seems to have been backfilled around the inner chamber soon after the coffin was deposited in the grave.

In the upper fill of the grave there were 44 sherds of Early Iron Age flint tempered pottery and fragments of charred wood, which may be associated with disturbance from the Iron Age settlement that was established around the barrow.

 

 

VM_365 Day 286 Bronze Age Barrow, refurbished in the Late Bronze Age

Archaeology, Broadstairs, Bronze Age, From the Archives, Iron Age, North Foreland, Uncategorised, VM_365 Project

VM 286For Day 286 of the VM_365 project we have an image that shows another of the ring ditches of a Bronze Age barrow, excavated at St Stephen’s college, North Foreland in 1999.  The ring ditch was shown in an  overview of the site which was the image featured on Day 284 of the VM_365 project.

The picture on the left shows the barrow ditch under excavation, with a series of segments being excavated from the fill to show the layers of deposits in profile. The picture on the right shows the profile of one of the excavated segments  showing the sequence of multiple fills and interfaces in section, revealing that the circuit that was seen in the ground was in fact formed of two superimposed ditches cut at different times. The earlier ditch circuit had been at least partly filled in and had been refurbished by digging a new circuit around the same footprint.

The original ring ditch, measuring 18m in diameter, was probably cut in the late Neolithic/Early Bronze period, contemporary with a burial that was located at the centre.  The earlier ditch cut was slightly irregular, having been formed of a series of  straight segments in a similar manner to the ring ditch shown on Day 285. The profile measured approximately 1.5m wide and varied between 0.6 and 0.7m deep. The earlier ditch had been cut with a flat base, with steeply sloping sides angled at approximately 60°, part of this flat based profile can be seen in the right hand side of the picture of the section on the right.

The surviving fills of the primary cut which had not been removed by later activity  consisting of thin laminated bands of loam and chalk fragments, often with a fine graded appearance suggesting the erosion of the chalk barrow mound and edges of the ditch. It is likely that the earlier ditch had filled entirely before it was recut along the same circuit, probably in the late Bronze Age. This time the ditch cut had a steep V shaped profile, which cut away one side of the old circuit and penetrated the chalk below the flat floor as well.

The intersection of the two different cuttings can be seen most easily in the right hand image, by following the chalk in the cut from left to right. The steep side of the original ditch breaks to the platform of the original base, which then breaks sharply at a steep angle to the V shaped notch cut by the new circuit. The right hand side of the notch rises at the same angle along the inner edge of the new ditch cutting.

The later refurbishment of the barrow by cutting a broader ring ditch with a V shaped profile through the filled earlier ditch suggests the original barrow may only have existed as a raised earthwork rather than a ditch, although it may have been an impressive feature even after years of weathering.

Why was the ditch circuit recut on the same plan?

Two grave cuts were identified within the Barrow platform. Because of its regular placement in relation to the circumference of the ditch,  the central burial is likely to be associated with the original construction of the Barrow. It is possible that the other burial, which lay in a smaller oval cut,  may be associated with the refurbishment.

The newly cut ditch probably also remained a prominent landscape feature for centuries, its ditches still visible as deep hollows around the circuit. The  post for VM_365 Day 271 featured a bronze age barrow ditch that must have still been a substantial earthwork in the Roman period when large amounts of pottery were tipped in to its upper fills.

In the upper fills of the recut ring ditch at North Foreland pottery in transitional Late Bronze Age/Early Iron Age fabrics was found in relatively large quantities, along with small amounts of 6th century BC pottery contemporary with the earliest occupation features of the  Iron Age, suggesting that the final filling of the re cut barrow occurred early in the Iron Age when the hill top was being turned into a nucleated settlement, with enclosures and clusters of post built structures, served by a major trackway leading from the sea.

 

 

VM_365 Day 285 Bronze Age Roundbarrow?

Archaeology, Broadstairs, Bronze Age, From the Archives, North Foreland, Uncategorised, VM_365 Project

VM 285

The image for Day 285 of the VM_365 project shows one of the three ring ditches that were excavated in 1999 at the St Stephens College site, at North Foreland, Broadstairs. The cropmarks extending along the valley side (to the right of this image) were shown on Day 283 and an overview of another of the barrows, an Iron Age enclosure and storage pits (located in the area at the top of this picture) were shown on Day 284 of the VM_365 project.

Two sections of this ring ditch, which are assumed to be a continuous circuit, were exposed on either side of a standing flint wall, which is part of an early 19th century Grade II listed structure and was left in place. No internal graves were found which could confirm that the ring ditch was a round barrow, but as the central part of the feature was obscured by the wall and an unexcavated area either side of it, a central grave could perhaps exist there.

The ring ditch measured 21m in diameter was formed of a series of  fairly straight cuts, each roughly 2.5m in length, which intersected at acute angles to form a ring. The profile of the ditch was fairly consistent measuring 0.74 metres deep with steep, approximately 60° edges and a flat base. The fills of the ditch did not indicate any bias in the direction of filling  to suggest the presence or composition of a central mound enclosed by the ditch.

Pottery of Early Iron Age date was found in the uppermost fills of the ditch, which were presumably incorporated when the ring ditch was almost entirely filled and the major Iron Age settlement was established to the south in the early 6th century BC, replacing the Bronze Age pattern of landscape use for funerary monuments with a  hill top village.

 

VM_365 Day 284 Excavation of a Prehistoric site at North Foreland, Broadstairs

Archaeology, Broadstairs, Bronze Age, From the Archives, Iron Age, North Foreland, Places, Uncategorised, VM_365 Project

VM 284

The image for Day 284 of the VM_365 project shows archaeological excavations in progress in 1999, at the site of St Stephen’s College, at North Foreland, Broadstairs. The view in this picture faces north west toward the mouth of the Thames Estuary, although the sea is hidden behind the range of trees at the top of the picture.

The  St Stephen’s College dig site is located just to the east of the cropmark group at North Foreland that was shown in yesterday’s image for VM_365 Day 283. One of the ditches that shows in the cropmark extended into the site.

The wide range of features found on the site are all represented in the picture. On the top, right hand side is the ring ditch of one of three Bronze Age round barrows excavated on the site. This barrow contained three burials, a large rectangular central grave cut and a second, smaller, oval grave cut on the northern side of the Barrow. A second burial had been inserted in the upper fill of that grave. The circuit of the barrow ditch had been recut in the Iron Age, possibly to form a hut platform.

On the left side of the picture you can see the ditches of an enclosure, dating to the Middle Iron Age. An  entrance causeway formed by a break in the ditch circuit can be seen at the front. Some of the ditches that branch to the top of the hill from the trackway that can be seen in the cropmarks on the hillside lead directly to the rectangular encloure.  At least six structures built with four timber posts were enclosed within the rounded rectangular ditch, although these could be from a different phase of the settlement when the ditch was no longer visible.

The group of storage pits visible in the foreground, close to the entrance of the enclosure, were dug over a period of time spanning the Middle to Late Iron Age.  One of the storage pits located in another part of the site, not shown in the image,  was reused for a burial which featured in a sequence of VM_365 posts on Day 123, Day 43 and Day 113. Iron Age objects found in some of the pits excavated on the St. Stephen’s site including Bridle bits, a bone handle, loom weights and evidence for chalk plastered structures have also been posted as part of the VM_365 project.

The tiny figure present in the middle of the enclosure is the Trust’s first Director Dr Dave Perkins who led the excavations in 1999.

 

VM_365 Day 274 Iron Age coin Links North Foreland with continental intrigue

Archaeology, Broadstairs, Iron Age, Landscape, Thanet, Uncategorised, VM_365 Project

VM 274

The image today for Day 274 of the VM_365 project is of an Iron Age coin (a Van Arsdell Type 194), issued by Amminus, who was possibly also known as Adminius. Becoming King of the Kent’s Cantiaci tribe in the early to middle of the 1st century A.D., Amminus was thought to have had strong pro-Roman sympathies. Amminus was a son of Cunobeline, a King of the Catuvellauni in the early part of the 1st century. A gold stater minted by Cunobeline and found at St Nicholas at Wade featured in the VM_365 post for Day 272.

The coin in today’s image was found at North Foreland, on the eastern tip of the Isle of Thanet, where a large Iron Age settlement dating from the mid to Late Pre-Roman Iron Age occupied the crest of a chalk ridge overlooking the sea and an important shipping route to the mouth of the Thames estuary.

The coin links the location and its contemporary archaeology to the murky intrigue that eventually culminated in the full scale invasion of Britain by the Roman Empire. The limited contemporary evidence that is available from the distribution of coins of Amminus/Adminus is supplemented by a text reference in the biography of the Emperor Caligula produced by Roman historian Suetonius.

Seutonius claimed that Caligula had exaggerated the banishment of Amminus/Adminius and a group of followers for unknown reasons, into a grand announcement in the Senate  that the Emperor had secured victory over the whole Island of Britain.  Amminus may have also played a part in Caligula’s military posturing, which culminated in an abortive invasion of Britain. It has also been suggested that Amminus returned to Britain with the Emperor Claudius as an advisor and possible later as a Governor.

The coin issued by Amminus links the archaeology of the North Foreland, one of the major coastal Iron Age settlements in Kent, to the power struggles between the British tribal leaders and the growing Roman Empire which must have played a part in the defence of the Island against the Roman invasion fleet.

 

VM_365 Day 263 Crampton’s Water Reservoir for Broadstairs

Archaeology, Broadstairs, Industrial Archaeology, Post Medieval, Uncategorised, VM_365 Project

VM 263

Today’s post for  VM_365  Day 263 shows the disused reservoir located next to Crampton Tower, Broadstairs which was featured in yesterday’s VM_365 post.

The reservoir formed part of the Broadstairs waterworks built by Thomas Crampton in 1859.  Water was drawn from a deep well sunk into the chalk and was stored in the large reservoir covered by this impressive flint and mortar dome. The reservoir had a capacity of 380000 litres and water was pumped by a gas operated engine to a storage tank at the top of Crampton Tower, where gravity created enough water pressure to supply houses nearby.

The dome of the reservoir measures 8.8 metres (29 ft) in diameter and 5.4 metres (18 ft) high. It is constructed of brick inside and flint and daub on the outside of the dome although the upper part is constructed of brick with a chimney. On top of the chimney is a square ventilation box. Like Crampton’s Tower, the reservoir is Grade II listed and together they form a landmark in Thanet’s urban engineering heritage.

For more information about Thomas Crampton and Crampton Tower, visit Crampton Tower Museum in Broadstairs.

VM_365 Day 262 Broadstairs industrial archaeology landmark

Archaeology, Broadstairs, Industrial Archaeology, Post Medieval, Uncategorised, VM_365 Project

VM 262The image for Day 262 of the VM_365 project is of one of the landmarks of Thanet’s industrial archaeological heritage, Crampton Tower at Broadstairs. The tower stands three stories high (24.38m) and is faced with flint, the ubiquitous building material of the small towns and villages close to the sea in Thanet. The divisions between the stories and the windows and doors are picked out with rough flint dressings and string courses. The tower and reservoir are Grade II listed.

The tower was built  to improve the supply of fresh drinking water to Broadstairs and was designed and largely funded by the English civil engineer Thomas Crampton (1816 – 1888),  a railway engineer of great ability, who among many achievements was responsible for a locomotive design, which enjoyed particular success on the continent.

Crampton was born in Broadstairs, the son of a plumber and architect. His parents managed or owned therapeutic baths at Eldon Place, Broadstairs whose warm showers were notably enjoyed by Charles Dickens. Thomas Crampton had been involved in the construction of the Berlin Water works in 1855 and formed the Broadstairs Water Company in 1859.

In the Broadstairs Water Works designed by Thomas Crampton, water drawn from a deep well sunk into the chalk was stored in a large reservoir holding 380000 litres, which was covered by an impressive flint and mortar dome. A gas operated engine, which possibly survives in the tower floor, pumped the water from the reservoir to a tank at the top of the tower, where gravity created sufficient water pressure to supply houses in the nearby area.

Crampton’s water tower is one of the significant steps in the development of Broadstairs  from a cluster of fishermen’s cottages and boat building yards into a small town with the modern conveniences that were expected by visitors to the area and its growing population in the 19th century.

For more information about Thomas Crampton and Crampton Tower, visit Crampton Tower Museum in Broadstairs.

VM_365 Day 234 Bronze Age Collared Urn, the final reconstruction

Archaeology, Broadstairs, Bronze Age, From the Archives, Prehistoric pottery, Uncategorised, VM_365 Project

VM 234

Today’s image for Day 234 of the VM_365 project shows the final publication illustration of the Bronze Age Collared urn, which was placed as an accessory vessel in the burial next to the Barrow at Bradstow School Broadstairs which was featured on VM_365 Day 231 and VM_365 Day 232.

Although the vessel was complete when it was placed beside the head of the body at time of burial , by the time it was excavated it had been flattened and broken into many sherds, which were in poor condition. The image for VM_365 Day 233 showed the vessel fragments as they were laid out prior to their reconstruction. Once the pieces were assembled as far as possible, they were analysed by our Prehistoric  Ceramic specialist who was able to make the following analysis:

The pot was made from a fairly fine sandy clay paste, moderate quantities of clear and cloudy quartz grains visible under a magnifying lens. The sherd breaks show no obvious junction lines to indicate whether the coil or slab method was used. The clay paste was ‘leavened’ by the addition of fairly profuse fragments of crushed  burnt clay (grog ) made by crushing broken fragments of daub or pottery. The grog grains are generally fairly small but occasionally up to 5mms in size;  pale buff and  occasionally red-brown or grey in colour and mostly rounded, although some angular pieces are present.

The small pot has a basically biconica forml, with an angular shoulder set  from the rim down at approximately one-third its full depth. The lower body profile would have tapered down to a base with a smaller diameter than the rim. The rim is uneven, fairly narrow and may be slightly bevelled internally. The process of smoothing to level it has given the inner lip with a rather irregular bead.

The vessel is undecorated but does have a fairly small roundish lump of clay attached to the exterior, just below the rim on one side. The surface of this lump is irregular and scarred from either losing just the skin of its original finished surface, or of a larger element. The lump could be no more than an applied knob or lug, under which an encircling string could be tied just below the rim to hold down a thin skin or cloth cover to the pot.  It could be the stump where a broken handle was fitted, although it looks too small and lightweight to have served as the root of a handle.

After shaping the pot was minimally finished. The interior was roughly smoothed and the exterior rather superficially smoothed, with the more visually prominent  upper rim and shoulder portion lightly but more noticeably smoothed than the lower body. The fairly hard fabric with predominantly dirty dark grey colours  and patchy,  partially-oxidised drab pale buff-brown all indicate the pot was fired in a fairly low-temperature pit or bonfire.

The lack of any diagnostic forms and styles of decoration means that any dating applied has to be based on only burial type, the pot’s fabric and form and also the applied knob or lug. Although crouched inhumation burials can occur during the Neolithic period, single burials accompanied by grave goods are more of a feature of the Early Bronze Age.

The use of purely, or predominantly, grog-tempered clays was first employed for the production of Grooved Ware pottery during the Late Neolithic, from about 2800 BC. The form and small diameter of this vessel is quite unlike the highly decorated Grooved Ware, so a date for this vessel before c.2000 BC, when the currency of Grooved Ware ceased is most unlikely.

The use of grog to temper potting clays was separately introduced into Britain with the arrival of Beaker-style pottery from the continent, initially around c.2400 BC, at the beginning of the Early Bronze Age/ Beakers, lasting well into the second millennium BC until they disappeared around c.1700. The Beaker tradition is also characterised by highly and skilfully decorated pottery. Toward the end of the currency of the Beaker tradition quality tended to decline markedly and it is just possible that the pot could be an undecorated late-phase Beaker, dated around c.1900-1700 BC. It is worth noting that handled and decorated Beakers were also produced during this late phase, although they are mostly larger and sturdier than the slim handle that might have been attached to the present vessel.

Grog-tempered clay was also the principal fabric type in the south-east of England for three other ceramic traditions; Food Vessels; Collared Urns and to a lesser degree Biconical Urns. Biconical Urns appeared at the end of the Beakers currency, around c.1700 BC, outliving Food Vessels and Collared Urns and merging and overlapping with the flint-tempered Middle Bronze Age Deverel-Rimbury tradition by c.1500 BC.

Assuming that the lump of clay beneath the lip of the Bradstow jar is a handle stump, then handles have occasionally also been recorded on Food Vessels and Biconical Urns, but as mid-body suspension or lid attachment loops not as mug or cup handles set high on body as it may have been here here. Food Vessels are characterised by exuberant impressed decoration, but do not occur in the south-east as frequently as elsewhere so this category is  unlikely to apply here. Collared Urns are typified by the presence of deep, markedly undercut and frequently highly decorated collars, possibly a development from the need to tie down leather or cloth pot-covers firmly with a securing string passed under the collar overhang. In some examples the collar undercut is much slighter, little more than an exaggerated protruding lip which ultimately devolved into the angular shoulder seen on Biconical Urns, at much the same height position as on the present vessel.

If the lug is purely functional, the closest parallels are pierced or plain knob-type lugs on the fine and coarseware jars of Middle Bronze Age Deverel-Rimbury type. Most examples have two to four lugs spaced around the body, attached at shoulder height; a later variant of the function of the overhanging and undercut collars on Collared Urns. Pierced or plain lugs applied just below the rim are rarer so it is quite possible that this single knob had the same function as the more obvious examples on Middle Bronze Age jars.

The rim appears to have been given a slight internal bevel, but its irregularity makes this uncertain. Bevelled rims are a distinctive aspect of Collared and Biconical Urns but not a regular feature of Middle Bronze Age vessel types. The apparent bevelling of the narrow rim, and its irregular inner-lip beading seem to be simply the bi-products of smoothing down and finishing the rim. As a finished product the simple rim type is much closer to the appearance of some examples of globular urns. The shoulder is a simple type that could almost occur at any time,  but it is exaggerated enough to suggest an influence from Collared Urns or the slightly off-set (on the upper side) shoulders of some Middle Bronze Age globular urns.

Despite the relative lack of obviously diagnostic aspects and its plainness and simplicity,  this pot can be variably linked to a number of Early-Mid Bronze Age pottery traditions: Early Bronze Age Beaker; Collared and Biconical Urns and Middle Bronze Age Globular Urns. This means that at the widest range, based purely on the ceramic analysis, this pot could have been made between c.1700-1500 BC since its various formal aspects appear to reflect traits of Collared, Biconical, and perhaps emerging Globular Urns, although a narrower dating to between c.1600-1500 BC  could be appropriate.