LECTURE
REPORT
The
archaeology of the Channel Tunnel
JANE
ROBERTS
The March COLAS lecture by Mark Turner,
was about the Channel Tunnel Rail Link (CTRL) which is being built
in two sections, the first from the Channel Tunnel to Fawkham junction,
the second underneath the Thames to St Pancras. The route for the
link was planned to take into account areas of environmental interest
and conservation areas. Those that could not be avoided were subjected
to a systematic programme of survey and excavation resulting in
the biggest archaeological programme to date in this country. Areas
were identified by initially assessing existing information, digging
trial trenches and then formal excavation where appropriate.
Stratford,
East London
The large pit dug at Stratford was 1.1 km
long, 80 metres wide and 25 metres deep and will be the site of the
International Station. It was initially investigated via a set of
trial trenches which established that the majority of the site had
been disturbed by Victorian railway workings.
This industrial archaeology was recorded
but it was at the mainly undisturbed western end of the site that
there was more formal excavation. However, identifying any form
of sequence within the trench was difficult because of the effect
of scouring and filling with silt. Roman pottery sherds, Samian
ware, were found but the fragment of coconut shell near the Roman
fill was dated as 1650 AD! There were preserved timbers which had
been worked by humans identified by Carbon 14 dating to be Bronze
Age and Middle Iron Age (for the points of the stakes). Also revetments
and jetties that indicate the presence of a bridge on the east
side of the Lee. Wattle panels were found high in the sequence,
dated from mid-9th to mid-10th century, probably washed in from
elsewhere. Footprints were found across one of the panels.
Northfleet Roman
Villa
The Northfleet Roman Villa which is adjacent
to Ebbsfleet was re-excavated, the foundations exposed and re-recorded
to try to identify the function of the building. A Saxon water mill
was discovered with a large millpond and chutes for a Saxon millrace,
7th/8th century AD. There was a horizontal wheel watermill, very
well preserved at the structural timber level. However, there was
no sign of the wheel mechanism itself.
Springhead
Roman. Cemetery
This
site, located north of Wattling Street (A2), was excavated as
part of the Section 1 works and shows signs of continuous occupation
and use from Late Iron Age into the Roman period with a bath
house near to the Roman town of Vagniacis. Evidence for
the spring itself was found nearby, the base of the well being
cobbled and nearby terracing for views suggesting a ritual use.
Remains of colonnades leading up to the spring from the bathhouse
were found as well as a temple with an upper storey and some
wall piaster. The site produced 100,000 finds with more than
300 coins. Further up the hill, a small Anglo-Saxon cemetery,
7th/8th century, was also discovered.
Northumberland
Bottom
This 1 kilometre
dig, was the longest undertaken on the CTRL to identify what
a typical stretch of countryside looked like. The earliest finds
were a double inhumation Beaker burial with one burial superimposed
on the other and an associated ring ditch. The land was first
occupied in the Middle to Late Iron Age when a number of interconnecting
ditches 1.5 metres by 2 metres across suggests the use of field
systems. Late 1st AD and Roman period settlement is indicated
via several kilns implying pottery manufacture and domestic use.
The site was also occupied in medieval times showing a long period
of continual use.
White
Horse Stone
This Neolithic
long house is of a type well known on the Continent but is a
very rare find in Southern England. The building was 18 metres
long and 8 metres wide and three of its post holes produced sherds
of Plain ware. However, Peterborough ware was also found in
the vicinity suggesting occupation over a long period of time.
This remarkable find has been the subject of total excavation
and may be preserved in situ but it is not possible to
change the route of the railway to avoid it.
Thurnham Roman
Villa
The villa had
been excavated several times in the past, first being noted in
1833 and is situated close to the foot of the North Downs. The
excavation work carried out by the CTRL team covered a large
area around the villa to enable them to investigate the context
in which it sits. A complex of buildings was revealed which reflected
the change in occupation over the period from late Iron Age to
4th century AD.
The site was first developed, after clearing
the woodland, as a modest farmstead with the first villa being
constructed shortly after the Roman conquest However, this proto-villa
was replaced by a much larger two- storey structure made of stone,
further enhanced over time. Painted wall plaster was also found
which suggests that this was once a high quality residence. There
is evidence of a building, assumed to be a Romano-Celtic temple
added shortly after the proto-villa and at a distance from the
villa a fourteen-post barn, demolished in the 3rd century and replaced
by a stone corn dryer.
The villa was in decline by the end of the
3rd century and the rooms within it put to more general use. Evidence
of a furnace in one of the central rooms suggests the existence
of an iron smithy. There was no evidence found to suggest the existence
of a nearby Roman Road.
Sandway Road
At Sandway
Road the earliest activity recorded along the route was found, from
the later Mesolithic period and with 7,500 pieces of worked flint
it is one of the largest collections of flint knapping debris in Kent.
Flakes, waste and tools were found, mainly microliths.
Saltwood
Near the entrance
to the tunnel is the site of these Anglo-Saxon cemeteries cutting
into three Bronze Age barrows with ring ditches. The western-most
barrow attracted nearly 100 burials, several of which were particularly
rich. Roughly in the centre of a Bronze Age barrow was a grave
containing a Coptic bowl lying on its edge, found just under the
topsoil. It seemed to have contained some gaming pieces slightly
spilled out. The grave also contained a sword, two 6th- 8th AD
century shield bosses, some arrow-heads and 3rd-4th AD century
coins.
Another interesting grave was in a new Anglo-Saxon
barrow to
the south, surrounded by a ring ditch with a 2 metre by 4 metre
chamber at the centre containing the coffin. Inside, the bones
themselves were in a poor condition with only a few teeth remaining,
a sword and shield boss were also in the coffin. Further weapons
and a second Coptic bowl lay just outside it. Some lovely jewellery
was discovered on the site included a Kentish bird brooch with
silver and garnets from the 7th century, 2cm across, a coin pendant
from the 6th AD century from Marseille which contained
a coin dated 495 AD and a Saltern brooch, 5-6 cm across made of
gold and garnet with semi-precious stones, filigree and twisted
wire.
