Earthwork in Milbay's Wood

Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places

Overview

Heritage Category:: Scheduled Monument
List Entry Number:: 1005168
Date first listed:: 07-Jan-1952

The Missing Pieces Project

Share your view of unique places.

Add your contribution

Location

Location of this list entry and nearby places that are also listed. Use our map search to find more listed places.

There is a problem

Use of this mapping is subject to terms and conditions.

This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale.

What is the National Heritage List for England?

The National Heritage List for England is a unique register of our country's most significant historic buildings and sites. The places on the list are protected by law and most are not open to the public.

The list includes:

🏠 Buildings
🏰 Scheduled monuments
🌳 Parks and gardens
⚔️ Battlefields
⚓ Shipwrecks

Find out more about listing

Historic England Archive

Search over 1 million photographs and drawings from the 1850s to the present day using our images archive.

Find Photos

Official list entry

Heritage Category:: Scheduled Monument
List Entry Number:: 1005168
Date first listed:: 07-Jan-1952

Location

The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.

County:: Kent
District:: Maidstone (District Authority)
Parish:: Nettlestead
National Grid Reference:: TQ 67222 50719

Summary

Curvilinear earthworks in Milbay’s Wood, 590m ESE of Woodgate Cottages

Reasons for Designation

The curvilinear earthworks in Milbay’s Wood, 590m ESE of Woodgate Cottages survive well. They have been relatively undisturbed and are located in an area with little modern development. As such they hold potential for further archaeological investigation. They will contain archaeological and environmental information relating to their construction and function, as well as to the landscape in which they were constructed. Despite the uncertainty concerning their identification it is clear that the earthworks are unusual in form and must be considered of archaeological interest in a national context

History

See Details

Details

This record was the subject of a minor enhancement on 19 June 2014. The record has been generated from an "old county number" (OCN) scheduling record. These are monuments that were not reviewed under the Monuments Protection Programme and are some of our oldest designation records.

The monument includes curvilinear earthworks situated on low-lying, gently sloping ground west of Nettlestead Green. To the south is a substantial bank, up to 6m high and about 20m wide, with flanking ditches about 12m wide and between 1m to 2m deep. It is over 200m long. From its eastern end it runs north-east to south-west before curving in a westerly direction for some 100m then turns north-west for the remainder of its course. The flanking ditches may be quarry ditches associated with the construction of the bank. At the north-west end is another, slighter, bank marking a continuation of the earthwork towards the north-west for some 230m before curving to the north for at least a further 100m. It too is flanked by ditches. Another bank runs near parallel with it immediately to the west.

The original function of the earthworks in Milbay’s Wood is uncertain. In the early 20th century it was suggested to be part of an Iron Age hillfort or promontory camp. The bank and ditches to the south are more likely to be remains of a medieval or post-medieval pond bay associated with a mill. They run a course from high ground to high ground cutting off an area of land to the north and would adequately fulfil such a purpose. A short distance to the north in Moat Wood there is the recorded site of a moated manor, apparently belonging to Tonbridge Priory prior to the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the 16th century. A mill and pond may have been associated with the manor and utilised as part of this estate. The earthworks to the north-west are not necessarily associated with that to the south. The banking has the appearance of a ha-ha perhaps associated with past management of this area of the landscape. The earthworks are recorded on Ordnance Survey maps (1:2500) of 1885, 1897 and 1908.

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:: KE 114
Legacy System:: RSM - OCN

Sources

Other
Kent HER TQ 65 SE 14. NMR TQ 65 SE 14, TQ 65 SE 13. PastScape 412882, 412879.,
Kent OS Maps (1:2500): 1885, 1897, 1908 and 1938,

Legal

This monument is scheduled under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979 as amended as it appears to the Secretary of State to be of national importance. This entry is a copy, the original is held by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.