White Horse Stone, ARC WHS 98

The Oxford Archaeological Unit (OAU) was commissioned by Union Railways (South) Limited (URS) to undertake archaeological investigations on the adjacent sites of White Horse Stone, Pilgrim's Way and West of Boarley Farm, north of Maidstone, Kent. These excavations, with a combined area of c. 6.8 ha, formed part of an extensive programme of archaeological investigation carried out in advance of the construction of the CTRL. The unexcavated areas between the sites will eventually be stripped and subject to an archaeological watching brief. The sites, which are located on the chalk at the foot of the North Downs escarpment in a dry valley setting, uncovered evidence for settlement occupation in the Neolithic period (c.3750 BC - 2000 BC), possibly the middle Bronze Age (c.1750 BC - 1150 BC), and the transitional period between the late Bronze Age and early Iron Age (c. 900 BC - 600 BC). There is evidence for peripheral settlement activity and ritual use of the landscape in the late Iron Age, including a possible post-hole structure, cremation deposits and animal burials. Agricultural features including field boundaries of various periods, indistinct post-hole enclosures of the late Iron Age and early Romano-British periods (c.100 BC - 200 AD), and an early medieval corn-drier (c.1100 AD - 1300 AD), were also found.