PREHISTORIC AND ROMANO-BRITISH SETTLEMENT AT QUEEN ELIZABETH SQUARE, MAIDSTONE Oxford Archaeology Occasional Paper Number 11

In 1999 Oxford Archaeology examined part of an Iron Age and Roman settlement in advance of housing development at Queen Elizabeth Square, in the south-east part of Maidstone.
Activity appears to have been long-lived, but concentrated during the late Iron Age (from c.100 BC), continuing into the early Roman period. The settlement was rural in character, with evidence for ditches and pits, and two small probable granary structures.There was evidence for the processing of crops and for other activities such as small-scale blacksmithing consistent with a farming community.There was no indication of settlement after the mid 2nd century AD.This decline was possibly due to changes in land tenure linked to the development of a nearby villa estate, evidence of which was recorded during the 19th century.