Sittingbourne Road (West Of), ARC WEA 99

The Oxford Archaeological Unit was commissioned by Union Railways Ltd to conduct a field evaluation of land situated to the west of the Sittingbourne Road, in the parish of Detling near Maidstone, Kent (NGR TQ 7840 5780). The work was conducted between 5th - 19th March 1999. A total of nineteen evaluation trenches were excavated in an area of 9.25 hectares. The evaluation located a sub-circular medieval ditched enclosure situated on a north-west facing slope. The enclosure had an internal diameter of 3m and the ditch was c. 3 m wide and up to 1.4 m deep. A small pottery assemblage indicates an early medieval date very probably in the 11th to early 12th century. A sequence of medieval features were recorded which included ditches, recuts and pits. The majority of the pottery (80% by weight) was recovered from two later features cut into the top of the enclosure ditch.