Tollgate Cropmark Complex, ARC TLG 95

As part of a larger programme of archaeological investigation along the route of the Channel Tunnel Rail Link, the Oxford Archaeological Unit undertook a field evaluation of 4.6ha of land to the south of the A2 Watling Street near the Tollgate Motel, Gravesham, Kent, in July 1995. This confirmed that a sub-rectangular ditched enclosure, visible as a cropmark on aerial photographs, is almost certainly of Neolithic date. It has been substantially plough damaged and it was impossible to determine whether it was originally a mortuary enclosure or a long barrow. Only one possible internal feature was noted although the ditch contained an interesting sequence of mollusca, reflecting the changing local environmental conditions from the time the ditch was first dug until it was finally silted up. A small dry valley, forming a sediment trap, was examined for evidence of prehistoric activity. Some signs of late Bronze Age and middle Iron Age activity were noted but no unequivocal features of prehistoric date were found. A ditched trackway to the north of the dry valley, also partially visible as a cropmark, was uncovered. Although presumed to be of later prehistoric/Roman date no dating evidence was found in the ditch fill to corroborate this supposition, and no trace of any surface had survived between the ditches. No sign of the trackway was found to the south of the dry valley. A large chalk quarry of post-medieval date was found at the east end of the site. While several trenches exposed large geological anomalies, few other significant archaeological features were noted. Only the Neolithic enclosure is considered of sufficient significance to warrant further mitigation measures, although further examination of the sediments in the dry valley, adjacent to the Neolithic ditch, would be helpful in providing a better understanding of the development of the landscape in which the monument was set.