Evaluation trial trenching comprising 2 no. 10m by 1.8m trenches machine excavated and recorded in accordance with an approved Written Scheme of Investigation Superficial geology comprising Alluvium - Clay, Silt, Sand and Peat, was recorded in Trench 1 at a depth of 1.38m BGL (2.85m OD) and in Trench 2 at a depth of 1.57m BGL (between 2.69m OD in the north and 2.85m OD in the south). The earliest recorded activity was of probable Medieval date and comprised a buried soil, which contained two sherds of twelfth to fourteenth century pottery, encountered at a depth of between 0.88m BGL (3.33m OD) and 1.19m BGL (3.28m OD) overlying the superficial geology identified in Trench 1. A linear feature identified in Trench 2, cut into the surface of the superficial geology at a depth of 1.57m BGL (2.85m OD), was of potential Late Medieval to Early Post-Medieval date. Both were overlain by a sequence of levelling layers of Post-Medieval date. The Post-Medieval levelling layers were cut by a robber trench in Trench 1, at a depth of 0.20m BGL (4.01m OD) for what appeared to be a former brick-built, north to south aligned boundary wall, and a pit and mortar deposit in Trench 2, at a depth of 0.26m BGL (3.88m OD). These were sealed by a modern demolition horizon associated with the present development works. The archaeological features and deposits recorded in the evaluation trenches are considered to be of low archaeological significance, but their survival, with evidence for medieval and post-medieval activity, contributes to our understanding of the archaeological potential of this part of Dartford.
Purnell et al. (Wed,) studied this question.