Chapel Mill, Lenham, Kent

The OAU was commissioned by Union Railways Ltd to conduct a field evaluation of 4.3 ha of land north of the M20 and south of Lenham heath Road, Lenham, Kent (TQ 904 500). The evaluation formed part of a wider programme of archaeological investigations along the route of the Channel Tunnel Rail Link (CTRL). The site was c. 60 m wide and extended for 700m from Bowley Lane in the west to the field west of Water Street Cottage in the east. The site is presently grassland, grazed by cattle and sheep and the geology is sand and clay of the Folkstone Beds. Thirteen evaluation trenches were excavated and archaeological features were located in two of these trenches. A single Bronze Age pit contained a substantial amount of pottery from a simple tub-shaped vessel that has affinities with either the Deverel-Rimbury or post-Deverel-Rimbury (Plain Ware) pottery traditions of the late Bronze Age date (1750-900 BC). A ditch produced a small quantity of mid-late Iron Age pottery as well as residual Bronze Age pottery and a second smaller ditch was aligned adjacent to and parallel to the larger ditch. This ditch produced no finds but it is also likely to be mid-late Iron Age in date.