Highland Court Farm Coldharbour Lane Bekesbourne, Kent Archaeological Evaluation

for The Co-Operative Group

CA Project: 660124 CA Report: 13351

May 2013 © Cotswold Archaeology Highland Court Farm, Coldharbour Lane, Bekesbourne, Kent: Archaeological Evaluation

Highland Court Farm Coldharbour Lane Bekesbourne, Kent

Archaeological Evaluation

CA Project: 660124 CA Report: 13351

prepared by Derek Evans, Senior Project Officer

date 16 May 2013

checked by Simon Carlyle, Project Manager

date 17 May 2013

approved by Roland Smith, Regional Manager

signed

date 21 May 2013

issue 01

This report is confidential to the client. Cotswold Archaeology accepts no responsibility or liability to any third party to whom this report, or any part of it, is made known. Any such party relies upon this report entirely at their own risk. No part of this report may be reproduced by any means without permission. © Cotswold Archaeology

Cirencester Milton Keynes Andover Building 11 Unit 4 Office 49 Kemble Enterprise Park Cromwell Business Centre Basepoint Business Centre Kemble, Cirencester Howard Way, Newport Pagnell Caxton Close, Andover Gloucestershire, GL7 6BQ MK16 9QS Hampshire, SP10 3FG t. 01285 771022 t. 01908 218320 t. 01264 326549 e. [email protected]

1 © Cotswold Archaeology Highland Court Farm, Coldharbour Lane, Bekesbourne, Kent: Archaeological Evaluation

CONTENTS

SUMMARY ...... 3

1. INTRODUCTION ...... 4

2. RESULTS ...... 6

3. DISCUSSION ...... 7

4. CA PROJECT TEAM ...... 7

5. REFERENCES ...... 7

APPENDIX A: CONTEXT DESCRIPTIONS ...... 9 APPENDIX B: OASIS REPORT FORM ...... 10

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Fig. 1 Site location plan (1:25,000) Fig. 2 Trench location plan showing archaeological features (1:500) Fig. 3 Trench 8, facing south-east Fig. 4 Trench 3: section and photograph (1:20)

2 © Cotswold Archaeology Highland Court Farm, Coldharbour Lane, Bekesbourne, Kent: Archaeological Evaluation

SUMMARY

Project Name: Highland Court Farm, Coldharbour Lane Location: Bekesbourne, Kent NGR: TR 1975 5366 Type: Evaluation Date: 7–9 May 2013 Planning Reference: CA/12/01789FUL Location of Archive: Canterbury Museums and Galleries Site Code: HGL 13

In May 2013, an archaeological evaluation, comprising the excavation of nine trenches, was undertaken by Cotswold Archaeology at Highland Court Farm, Coldharbour Lane, Bekesbourne, Kent. The work, which was commissioned by The Co-Operative Group, was carried out to fulfil a condition attached to planning consent for the erection of an agricultural building and the permanent stationing of workers’ caravans, along with the establishment of associated access, amenities and landscaping.

The evaluation identified one potential gully, although this feature was very ephemeral and may have been a variation in the geological substrate. No other archaeological features were encountered and no pre-modern artefacts were recovered.

3 © Cotswold Archaeology Highland Court Farm, Coldharbour Lane, Bekesbourne, Kent: Archaeological Evaluation

1. INTRODUCTION

1.1 In May 2013, Cotswold Archaeology (CA) carried out an archaeological evaluation, on behalf of The Co-Operative Group, at Highland Court Farm, Coldharbour Lane, Bekesbourne, Kent (centred on NGR: TR 1975 5366; Fig. 1). The evaluation was undertaken to fulfil a condition attached to planning consent for the erection of an agricultural building and the permanent stationing of workers’ caravans, along with the establishment of associated access, amenities and landscaping (Planning ref: CA/12/01789/FUL; Condition 9). The evaluation follows a heritage desk-based assessment of the site that was prepared by CA (2012) and submitted in support of the planning application.

1.2 The evaluation was carried out in accordance with a detailed written scheme of investigation (WSI) prepared by CA (2013) and approved by Richard Cross, Archaeological Officer for Canterbury City Council (the Local Planning Authority). The fieldwork also followed the Institute for Archaeologist’s (IfA) Standard and Guidance for Archaeological Field Evaluation (IfA 2008) and the English Heritage procedural documents Management of Archaeological Projects 2 (EH 1991) and Management of Research Projects in the Historic Environment (MoRPHE): Project Manager’s Guide (EH 2006). The fieldwork was monitored by Richard Cross, with a site visit being made on 8 May 2013.

The site 1.3 The proposed development site is located in the parish of Bekesbourne-with- Patrixbourne, near the village of Bridge, approximately 5km to the south-east of Canterbury city centre (Fig. 1). It lies immediately to the north-west of Highland Court Farm, an early 20th-century Model Farm, and 325m to the east of the Grade II* listed residence of Higham Court.

1.4 The site, which covers c. 0.9ha, is located within the south-eastern part of a field which was formerly in use as an orchard (Fig. 2). At the time of the evaluation, the orchard had been grubbed up and the field had been seeded for grass. The south- eastern, south-western, and north-eastern field boundaries are formed by tall bushes and trees; the north-western boundary is unenclosed.

4 © Cotswold Archaeology Highland Court Farm, Coldharbour Lane, Bekesbourne, Kent: Archaeological Evaluation

1.5 The site lies on a gentle south-east facing slope at approximately 60m above Ordnance Datum (aOD). The site’s geology comprises Upper Cretaceous rocks of the Margate Chalk Member and the Seaford Formation, overlain by superficial Quaternary Head deposits (gravels, sands, clays and silts) (BGS Geology of Britain Viewer website).

Archaeological background 1.6 The following section is summarised from the heritage desk-based assessment of the site prepared by CA (2012).

1.7 There are no known archaeological remains within the proposed development site. However, cropmarks suggestive of prehistoric or Roman activity have been recorded in the vicinity of the site.

1.8 In the medieval period the site was probably agricultural land attached to the manor at Higham. By the late 17th or 18th century the site was parkland associated with Higham Park House, reverting to agricultural use in the 19th century.

Archaeological objectives 1.9 As detailed in the WSI (CA 2013), the objectives of the evaluation were to:

• establish the presence, location, extent, nature, character, state of preservation and date of any buried archaeological features or deposits that may be present; • determine the palaeoenvironmental potential of the site through the assessment of bulk soil samples taken from archaeological deposits.

1.10 The results of the evaluation will assist Canterbury City Council’s Archaeological Officer in making an informed judgement on the significance of the archaeological resource at the site, and the likely impact of the proposed development upon that resource. This will in turn inform the decision on whether any further archaeological work is required in order to fulfil the relevant planning condition.

Methodology 1.11 The fieldwork comprised the excavation of nine trenches: 6 x 20m length, 2 x 30m length, 1 x 10m length (Fig. 2). These trenches were positioned to sample the footprints of the proposed new buildings and to provide a sample of the remainder of the site. Trenches were set out on OS National Grid (NGR) co-ordinates using Leica

5 © Cotswold Archaeology Highland Court Farm, Coldharbour Lane, Bekesbourne, Kent: Archaeological Evaluation

GPS and surveyed in accordance with CA Technical Manual 4 Survey Manual (2012).

1.12 All trenches were excavated by mechanical excavator equipped with a toothless grading bucket. All machine excavation was undertaken under constant archaeological supervision to the top of the first significant archaeological horizon or the geological substrate, whichever was encountered first. Where archaeological deposits were encountered they were excavated by hand in accordance with CA Technical Manual 1: Fieldwork Recording Manual (2007). Areas of deeper excavation (up to 1.1m below the present ground level) were also machine- excavated within the ends of Trenches 3, 5, 6 and 9, in order to observe the site’s geology.

1.13 Deposits were assessed for their palaeoenvironmental potential in accordance with CA Technical Manual 2: The Taking and Processing of Environmental and Other Samples from Archaeological Sites (2003). No deposits were identified that where suitable for sampling and there were no pre-modern artefacts in the deposits encountered.

1.14 The archive and artefacts from the evaluation are currently held by CA at their offices in Milton Keynes. Subject to the agreement of the legal landowner, the site archive will be deposited with Canterbury Museums and Galleries. A summary of information from this project (as set out within Appendix B) will be entered onto the OASIS online database of archaeological projects in Britain.

2. RESULTS

2.1 This section provides an overview of the evaluation results; detailed summaries of the recorded contexts can be found in Appendix A.

2.2 The geological substrate comprised reddish-brown sandy clay with gravel, flint and chalk inclusions (Head deposits). More substantial outcrops of chalk were observed in Trenches 3 and 6.

2.3 The geological substrate was exposed at an average depth of 0.26m below the current ground (bcgl) and was generally sealed directly by the modern topsoil (Fig.

6 © Cotswold Archaeology Highland Court Farm, Coldharbour Lane, Bekesbourne, Kent: Archaeological Evaluation

3). However, in Trench 9 it lay 0.37m bcgl and was sealed by 0.23m of clayey subsoil, which was overlain in turn by the topsoil.

2.4 A possible gully, 302, was recoded in trench 3 (Fig. 4). This feature was cut into the geological substrate and sealed by the topsoil. It was aligned north-west to south- east and measured 0.72m in width by 0.13m in depth. It contained a brownish-grey silty clay fill, 303. This feature was very ephemeral and had a sterile fill, suggesting that it was probably of geological origin rather than a feature formed through human activity.

3. DISCUSSION

3.1 The archaeological evaluation identified one potential gully, although this feature was very ephemeral and may have been a natural variation within the geological substrate.

3.2 It is likely, given the results of the evaluation, that the possible prehistoric and Roman features identified from cropmarks in the vicinity of Highland Court Farm do not extend as far as the proposed development site.

4. CA PROJECT TEAM

4.1 The fieldwork was carried out by Derek Evans, assisted by Rob Scott. The report was written by Derek Evans. The illustrations were prepared by Daniel Bashford. The archive has been compiled and prepared for deposition by Derek Evans. The project was managed for CA by Simon Carlyle.

5. REFERENCES

BGS (British Geological Survey) 2011 Geology of Britain Viewer http://maps.bgs.ac.uk/geology viewer_google/googleviewer.html Accessed 10 May 2013

CA (Cotswold Archaeology) 2012 Highland Court Farm, Kent: Heritage Desk-Based Assessment CA Report 12180

7 © Cotswold Archaeology Highland Court Farm, Coldharbour Lane, Bekesbourne, Kent: Archaeological Evaluation

CA (Cotswold Archaeology) 2013 Highland Court Farm, Coldharbour Lane, Bekesbourne, Kent: Written Scheme of Investigation for an Archaeological Evaluation (v2)

APPENDIX A: CONTEXT DESCRIPTIONS

Trench Context Type Context Description L W Depth No. No. interpretation (m) (m) (m) 1 100 Layer Topsoil Greyish-brown sandy silty clay – – 0.24 101 Geology Geology Reddish-brown sandy clay – – – 2 200 Layer Topsoil Greyish-brown sandy silty clay – – 0.25 201 Geology Geology Reddish-brown sandy clay – – – 3 300 Layer Topsoil Greyish-brown sandy silty clay – – 0.25 301 Geology Geology Reddish-brown sandy clay – – – 302 Cut Possible gully Linear feature >1.8 0.72 0.13 303 Fill Fill of 302 Brownish-grey silty clay >1.8 0.72 0.13 4 400 Layer Topsoil Greyish-brown sandy silty clay – – 0.26 401 Geology Geology Reddish-brown sandy clay – – – 5 500 Layer Topsoil Greyish-brown sandy silty clay – – 0.28 501 Geology Geology Reddish-brown sandy clay – – – 6 600 Layer Topsoil Greyish-brown sandy silty clay – – 0.24 601 Geology Geology Reddish-brown sandy clay – – – 7 700 Layer Topsoil Greyish-brown sandy silty clay – – 0.31 701 Geology Geology Reddish-brown sandy clay – – – 8 800 Layer Topsoil Greyish-brown sandy silty clay – – 0.28 801 Geology Geology Reddish-brown sandy clay – – – 9 900 Layer Topsoil Greyish-brown sandy silty clay – – 0.14 901 Layer Subsoil Brownish-grey sandy clay – – 0.23 902 Geology Geology Reddish-brown sandy clay – – –

APPENDIX B: OASIS REPORT FORM

PROJECT DETAILS

Project name Highland Court Farm, Coldharbour Lane, Bekesbourne, Kent Short description (250 words maximum) Nine evaluation trenches were excavated within the site. The evaluation identified one potential gully, although this feature was very ephemeral and may have been a variation in the geological substrate. No other archaeological features were encountered and no pre-modern artefacts were recovered. Project dates 7–9 May 2013 Project type Field evaluation (e.g. desk-based, field evaluation etc.)

Previous work CA (Cotswold Archaeology) 2012 Highland Court Farm, Kent: (reference to organisation or SMR Heritage Desk-Based Assessment CA Report 12180 numbers etc)

Future work Unknown PROJECT LOCATION

Site location Highland Court Farm, Coldharbour Lane, Bekesbourne, Kent Study area (M 2/ha) 0.9 ha Site co-ordinates 61975 15366

PROJECT CREATORS

Name of organisation Cotswold Archaeology Project Brief originator - Project Design (WSI) originator Cotswold Archaeology

Project Manager Simon Carlyle Project Supervisor Derek Evans MONUMENT TYPE None SIGNIFICANT FINDS None PROJECT ARCHIVES Intended final location of archive Content (e.g. pottery, (museum/Accession no.) animal bone etc.) Physical Canterbury Museums and Galleries None Paper Site records Digital Database, digital photos, GPS data, etc. BIBLIOGRAPHY

CA (Cotswold Archaeology) 2013 Highland Court Farm, Coldharbour Lane, Bekesbourne, Kent: Archaeological Evaluation CA typescript report 13351

10 N Cirencester 01285 771022 Milton Keynes 01908 218320 Cotswold Andover 01264 326549 Archaeology w www.cotswoldarchaeology.co.uk e [email protected]

PROJECT TITLE Highland Court Farm, Coldharbour Lane Bekesbourne, Kent Kent FIGURE TITLE Site location plan

0 1km

FIGURE NO. Reproduced from the 2010 Ordnance Survey Explorer map with PROJECT NO. 660124 DATE 23-05-2013 the permission of Ordnance Survey on behalf of The Controller DRAWN BY DJB REVISION 00 of Her Majesty's Stationery Office c Crown copyright Cotswold Archaeology Ltd 100002109 APPROVED BY PJM SCALE@A4 1:25,000 1

Cirencester 01285 771022 Milton Keynes 01908 218320 Cotswold Andover 01264 326549 3 Trench 8, facing south-east (scale 1m) Archaeology w www.cotswoldarchaeology.co.uk e [email protected]

PROJECT TITLE Highland Court Farm, Coldharbour Lane Bekesbourne, Kent

FIGURE TITLE Photograph

PROJECT NO. 660124 DATE 23-05-2013 FIGURE NO. DRAWN BY DJB REVISION 00 APPROVED BY PJM SCALE@A4 N/A 3 Section AA

NE SW 62.2m AOD

303

302

Possible gully 302, facing north-west (scale 1m)

Cirencester 01285 771022 Milton Keynes 01908 218320 Cotswold Andover 01264 326549 Archaeology w www.cotswoldarchaeology.co.uk e [email protected]

PROJECT TITLE Highland Court Farm, Coldharbour Lane Bekesbourne, Kent

FIGURE TITLE Section and photograph

PROJECT NO. 660124 DATE 23-05-2013 FIGURE NO. DRAWN BY DJB REVISION 00 APPROVED BY PJM SCALE@A4 N/A 4