Anglo-Saxon causeway located during the laying of a new water main at the Strood. <1><2>

Although the pipeline crossed the entire length of the Strood, piles were only discovered near the south end over a distance of about 60m where the trench for the pipeline was at its deepest. The report suggests it is possible that there are 15 to 20 rows of piles, each of which is 400 to 500m long. This would imply between three and five thousand piles.

The piles discovered had been placed at irregular intervals in two rows which lay at an angle of about 1° to the line of the modern road. Although difficult to judge, the two rows of piles seemed to be about 0.7m apart. In each row, the distances between adjacent piles varied between 0.4m and 2.8m. The tops of the piles were about 1.6m below the present ground level and were sealed by a series of road surfaces.

Of the piles excavated during the contractor's works, seven were removed from the site and drawn. These consisted of squared oak timbers about 0.21m across with tapering ends. They ranged from 2.0m to 2.6m in length. The wood was well preserved and still retained a tough fibrous quality which was most noticeable at the tips (nos. 1, 2 and 4).

Absolute dating methods (dendro and radiocarbon) applied to four oak piles (5 samples) indicate that the structure was probably built between AD 684 and 702.

No piles were encountered during work carried out in 2007 probably due to the shallow depth of the trenches (ECC2711). <3>