Archaeological Studies of Sandwich

Archaeological Excavations at Sandwich Castle: an introduction

The Historical Backgound

The earliest reference to a castle at Sandwich, the premier port of England at one time, was in the reign of Edward I (1272‚1307 ) when a bailiff or royal official was appointed by the King . The documentary sources say that the castle was ' newly erected' around AD1290. One intriguing possibility, not yet proved, that the 'newly erected' phase could mean that the stone castle was erected on the site of an earlier castle of timber construction, perhaps dating to the Norman conquest.

Documentary sources also indicate that the King himself stayed at the royal chamber at the castle. We know that the King and the court came to Sandwich to buy goods from the merchants and traders that came to the port to sell goods and to buy England's chief export wool.

The prime function of the castle was to defend the town which was vulnerable to attack, usually by the French. They raided in retaliation to attacks by the English on French ports.

The King's accounts usually refer to the refurbishment and the repair of the castle, whose decline mirrored the decline of the port. The importance of the trading centre diminished with the silting up of the port and the Wansume channel which led directly to the sea.

With the construction of the artillery forts of Sandown, Deal and Walmer in the reign of Henry VIII ( 1509-1547 ), the castle of Sandwich may have gone completely out of use. The castle was then demolished, the building stone, usually flint cobbles being used to build and/or refurbish the houses of Sandwich. From the archaeological evidence, or lack of it, the removal of the stone was very thorough.

After the removal of building stone, the castle ditches appear to have been used as the town rubbish dump, probably encouraged by the owners of the property. The ditches were at least 5m wide and 3m deep and once they were filled in the owners could then use the area for growing crops.

Recent Archaeological Excavations

The first attempts to trace something of the nature of the castle was a series of trial excavations in the late 1960's. A local amateur archaeologist Mr Alf Southam and colleagues carried a series of trial trenches in Castle Mead, a field immediately adjacent to the town wall and the Sandown road on the east side of town. Trial trenches proved the existence of the castle ditches and eye witnesses remembered seeing walls being hit when the field was ploughed.

In 1982, further trial trenching under the direction of Mr Paul Bennett of the Canterbury Archaeological Trust, provided more evidence of the castle ditch and a possible castle mound.

In 1981, observations by local archaeologist, Mr Keith Parfitt, were carried out in a service pipe trench, in Manwood Road immediately east of the Castle Mead. These observations revealed a flint cobble foundation, possibly from a building within the castle.

In 1995 and 1996, excavations carried out by the Canterbury Archaeological Trust in advance of and during the construction of a house at the north end of Manwood road have provided exciting new evidence on the size and the nature of the castle. Unfortunately, it has not been possible to show details at present as the site is still being surveyed. The indications are that we have evidence for a cobbled yard, a foundation for a major building, traces of a defensive rampart and the castle ditch. Some of the recent finds from this site and elsewhere in Sandwich are presented in the case below.

The future

Archaeological excavations are currently taking place during the construction of the new house at the north end of Manwood road. Please note that there is no access to this site for the general public. It is private property and the site is very dangerous owing to construction works. PLEASE DO NOT ENTER THE SITE.

It is intended that the site will be fully investigated archaeologically and written up for publication, together with the results of previous investigations. In addition to this, it is intended to carry out a non invasive survey of the Castle Mead field, using the latest geophysical techniques. This will provide us, we hope, with a ground plan of the defences and the interior of the castle. The results will eventually be published and will be on sale alongside a more permanent exhibition of the castle.

This is an exciting project and worthy of public support. For further information and for members of the public who would like to make a donation towards the cost of the project, please direct further enquiries to:

Forthcoming in this section on the archaeology of Sandwich will be extracts from the full report on Sandwich Castle and a more general introduction to archaeological studies of Sandwich.

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