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Faversham Society Archaeological Research Group
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Understanding Ospringe
Report for Keyhole
45
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38
Ospringe St, Ospringe, Faversham, Kent
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Grid Reference: TR 00270 60940
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1.
Introduction |
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Number
38 Ospringe St is a two storey terraced house with a
dormer window, situated on the north side of the A2. It
was built of brick around 1840 and has a colour washed
imitation stone finish. The house has top vented
replacement windows and a concrete tiled roof.1
The house is divided into two flats. Nearby number 34
was a public house, the Lion, first recorded around 1800
when an infantry barracks was built on land behind the
pub which had previously been a bowling green.2
The gardens to the rear of the properties are accessed
by a right of way path from Lion Yard. To gain access to
the upper flat garden, passage through the garden of the
lower flat is necessary. |
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2. Location of keyhole pit |
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The
pit was located as close as possible to the rear garden
wall, the lower part of which may originally have been
part of the officer’s accommodation within the
Napoleonic barracks (see Fig 1a and b).
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3. The procedures |
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A one metre square was
pegged out using the planning square and the area
delineated marked with string. The position of the
square was recorded by measuring to mapped corners of
the house. Turf was removed carefully from the square,
rolled and set aside in plastic bags. The pit was then
hand excavated using single contexts, each of which was
fully recorded. The keyhole was excavated to the maximum
safety depth of 1.2 metres. All excavated soil was
sieved meticulously, and the spoil heap scanned using a
metal detector. Finds were set aside for each context
and special finds were given three dimensional
coordinates to pinpoint the exact find spot. Any
features revealed were carefully recorded. Finally, the
spoil was put back in, tamped down, watered and the turf
replaced. |
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4. The findings |
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Contexts [01] and [02] (later merged) were excavated to
a depth of twenty three centimetres. They consisted of
ashy soil with fragmentary inclusions of cinder,
building material and lime mortar. Small fragments of
pottery, glass, iron nails and shell were mixed in with
this. The pottery was mainly red wares and glazed china
of 19th-20th century date. A
double D shaped iron buckle minus its tines was
recovered – although medieval in style its good
preservation suggested a more recent date. A lump of
bright blue material, possibly compressed pigment, was
recovered: we have found this material in other gardens
and it is something of a mystery.
Context [03] was a mid-brown layer almost free of ash
and was excavated to a depth of 47cm. There were few
inclusions other than small pieces of brick, tile, chalk
and iron. Ceramic finds closely mirrored those from [01]
and [02].
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Fig 1: Four maps to
show the change over time of the location of K45 |
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a) The Napoleonic
barracks around 18033 |
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b) The tithe map of
18404
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c) OS map of 18655
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d) OS
map 19066
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Context [04] was a
yellowish brick earth surface at around 66cm. Dug into
it against the eastern baulk was an apparent cut with an
infill of red and yellow brick fragments [05]. The cut
had a sharply defined western edge. As the infill was
removed, a solid brick ‘foundation’ was revealed [06].
These bricks rested upon a mortar bed which itself was
laid directly on the brick earth [07]. Very small scale
investigation eastwards showed that the brick feature
stopped only three centimetres eastwards, suggesting a
thirty three centimetre wide wall foundation rather than
the edge of a brick floor.
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Fig 2: Brick foundation
and rectangular posthole
A rectangular posthole
22.5cm x 10 cm [08]/[09] was located adjacent to the brick
feature to the west and seems to be an associated
feature. [04] itself yielded five sherds of Roman
pottery and a small amount of abraded medieval.
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Fig 3: Bright yellow
base deposit with slot.
Finally, a slot sunk into
the bright yellow underlying deposit [07] which showed
no inclusions whatsoever. |
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5. Interpretation |
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Reference to the 1803 barracks map and the 1840 tithe
map suggest that the foundation feature is a remainder
of the Napoleonic barracks, probably a wall to the
storehouse or canteen. The barracks, which covered over
five acres had accommodation for 1120 men and their
officers. The lack of small finds and the relatively
small quantities of pottery, glass, bone, shell etc
reinforce the view that there was very little habitation
in this spot prior to the barracks from around 1790
onwards. The bright yellow brick earth into which the
wall foundation was set could be either the natural
deposit or an earlier artificial layer, perhaps the
floor of the parade ground. The depth of the natural at
around seventy centimetres is quite appropriate in this
less developed area. |
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6. Final comments
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This keyhole has given a
glimpse of a mostly forgotten ephemeral feature of the
landscape of early 19th century Ospringe. The
barracks lay on the main road between the naval dockyard
at Chatham to the east and Dover and hostile France to
the west. It was located close enough to the centre of
gunpowder manufacture at Faversham to provide protection
if required. |
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7. Acknowledgments |
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Great thanks to Marnie
Tennant who gave us permission to dig and showed so much
interest and encouragement and kept us refreshed.
Keith Robinson
December 2008
1
Swale Borough Council c1990 Townscape survey:
Ospringe Village
21803
Ospringe Barracks Kent County Records office
31803
Ospringe Barracks Kent County Records office
41840
Tithe Map for Faversham Kent County Records Office
5OS
1st edition 1865 Sheet XXXIV 1:2500
6OS
3rd edition 1906 Kent Sheet 34.09 1:2500
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