Excavations at Bradstow School, Broadstairs

Babies in a 'Baby Barrow'

During May and June of 2006 Archaeology South-East excavated a large Bronze Age round barrow at Bradstow School in Broadstairs, following evaluation of the site by the Trust for Thanet Archaeology the preceding January.

Bradstow School has before produced significant archaeological remains. Hurd's excavations of 1910-11 found one round barrow containing nine crouched Bronze Age inhumations as well as 30 Anglo-Saxon graves. Further work was carried out between 1970 and 1974 by the British Museum, finding a further 60 Anglo-Saxon burials, as well as the ring ditches of additional round barrows. Two further Saxon graves were also uncovered at the school by Canterbury Archaeological Trust in 2003 during evaluation work.

The 2006 barrow is therefore part of a monumental prehistoric cemetery situated on the east face of a promontory commanding the Thanet coast, later re-used by the Saxons. The barrow's massive chalk-cut ditch measured some 4.5m in width, up to 1.8m deep and with an internal diameter of around 23m. The ditch was penannular, with a narrow causeway on its western side. The dimensions of the ditch place the barrow amongst the largest found in Kent. Indeed, the monumentality of the barrow was brought home to the archaeologists with the backbreaking task of digging the ring ditch. With modern equipment, excavating the relatively soft fill of this ditch was difficult enough, but even the most seasoned diggers would think twice before trying to dig out bedrock chalk armed only with antler picks and ox-scapula shovels!

Twelve pits and postholes were clustered in the south-eastern quadrant of the barrow. None produced any finds and their function remains unknown, although analysis of environmental samples may help to explain them. A rectangular pit had also been dug by the builders in the exact centre of the barrow. The feature was empty, although the mixed nature of its fill suggests that it may have been a grave robbed out in antiquity.

The absence of any direct evidence for burial within this impressive barrow came as a slight disappointment to those archaeologists who toiled over its excavation. The discovery, however, of a much smaller companion barrow only a few metres north produced much, much more, for at least five Bronze Age interments were found within it. The ring ditch of this humble little barrow measured only 1m in width, with an internal diameter of just 4m. Yet almost every square inch of space within the ring ditch was used for burial. Three adult inhumations had been placed crouched on their right-hand sides, along with two juvenile or neonatal skeletons. No grave goods were found but it is hoped that analysis of environmental samples from these graves may determine whether any organic items were placed with the bodies.

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Aside from the barrow, at least three four-post structures could be discerned during the excavation. Dating for these structures is uncertain; preliminary estimates put an Iron Age date to their construction but full analysis of the pottery is still awaited and a Saxon date cannot yet be ruled out.

An east-west oriented grave at the edge of the site contained little other than a few disarticulated fragments of human bone and it is probable that this feature was robbed out in antiquity. Its clearly Christian character, however, (i.e. its orientation) suggests that it formed part of the Anglo-Saxon cemetery described above. Dating of an interrupted boundary ditch that was found just to the south of this grave is also fraught with difficulty, but it is tempting to view the ditch as delineating and affording access to the wider Saxon cemetery to the north and east.

At this early stage in post-excavation analysis, the excavation results raise more questions than they answer; hopefully many of the uncertainties surrounding this fascinating site can be reconciled as detailed analysis continues.

Diccon Hart
Senior Archaeologist
Archaeology South-East

Bibliography
The Trust for Thanet Archaeology. 2006. Proposed Development of Residential Accommodation at Bradstow School, Dumpton Park, Broadstairs. Kent. Archaeological Evaluation Report.

Broadstairs and St. Peter’s Archaeological Society. 1973. Archaeological Discoveries in Broadstairs and St. Peter’s up to 1972.