HeritageGateway - Home
Site Map
Text size: A A A
You are here: Home > > > > Historic England research records Result
Historic England research recordsPrintable version | About Historic England research records

Historic England Research Records

Dane John Mound

Hob Uid: 464929
Location :
Kent
Canterbury
Non Civil Parish
Grid Ref : TR1477057360
Summary : Roman barrow cemetery with possible Bronze Age origins. Only one survives as an earthwork. This was enlarged for use as a medieval motte and bailey and a windmill mound. It was also used as a Civil War gun emplacement and incorporated into a public garden after 1790.
More information : A - TR 1477 5736: Danejohn Mound [NR]. (1)

B - TR 1469 5726 :
C - TR 1486 5732 :
D - TR 1504 5753
Sited from map (4) full description and history. (2)

Four Roman barrows (3), called Dungil Hills, or Dane John of which only one, the Danejohn (A) remains in a mutilated state (known 17th -18th century as Donjon: Dungeon: Dungil). In 1790, when the area was turned into a public park, this was smoothed and rounded and raised 18 feet in height. A ditch, which was filled in, encircled two-thirds of the base and suggests a possible adaption as a Norman motte. During the Civil War the mound was a gun platform and at one time a windmill stood on it .(4)

A late Bronze Age socketed axe was found in barrow 'B'. Apart from this all the finds from these barrows appear to be Roman or later. Scheduled.(5)

The Danejohn Mound (A) is as described; published 1:1250 Survey correct. A broad unsurveyable platform surmounted by a building at 'C' is the only other surviving remains of the group. (6)

TR 1473 5745: sited from CAT plan. Excavations took place in 1981 prior to redevelopment on the site of the old City Council offices at 15A Dane John. The site was situated immediately adjacent to the west side of Dane Gardens, about 100 metres north of the Dane John mound. Extensive later disturbance had removed all but a few Roman deposits.

The next major archaeological phase consisted of part of a large ditch, 17 metres wide, 3 metres deep and was probably part of the outer bailey ditch for the early Norman motte and bailey castle - the present Dane John mound probably being the site of the motte.

In the late 12th or 13th century, the bailey defences were probably razed and the ditch partially backfilled. A number of features, including pits, wells and small ditches, were then dug in the area. The features were later truncated and disturbed. The partly backfilled bailey ditch was re-cut at this time with a channel at the sump. This new ditch, which may have been an open running sewer, might be the predecessor of the 'Black Ditch' or 'Black Dyke' which documentary sources describe as being an open sewer extant in this vicinity until the eighteenth century.

The re-cut bailey ditch was progressively backfilled and virtually levelled by the sixteenth century. The area then became a garden throughout the 17th century and towards the end of this period part of the slope of the area was terraced and a trackway constructed.

In the 18th century levelling up and terracing occurred. In 1790 the 'Dane John land' of which the area covered by the site was part, was leased by the City Alderman, James Simmons, who undertook to level the site and landscape the entire gardens. This landscaping was still in progress in the early 19th century. From around this time a large amount of dumping occurred on site, raising the level by about one metre. These deposits were cut by the foundations of Shakespeare's Terrace (Nos 12-15 Dane John) constructed at some time in the 1840's and by a boundary wall and brick-lined well. Sealing all of these features was a thick layer of 20th century dump deposits, over which lay the shallow foundations of the recent City Council offices. (7)

Additional bibliography. (8-9)

Sources :
Source Number : 1
Source :
Source details : OS 1:2500 11/5
Page(s) :
Figs. :
Plates :
Vol(s) :
Source Number : 2
Source :
Source details :
Page(s) : 75-6
Figs. :
Plates :
Vol(s) : 3
Source Number : 3
Source :
Source details : Dunning G C, Jessup R F
Page(s) : 50-51
Figs. :
Plates :
Vol(s) : 10, 1936
Source Number : 4
Source :
Source details : Home G
Page(s) : 272-75
Figs. :
Plates :
Vol(s) : 86, 1930
Source Number : 5
Source :
Source details : 1961 (MOW)
Page(s) : 59
Figs. :
Plates :
Vol(s) :
Source Number : 6
Source :
Source details : F1 CFW 05-FEB-1965
Page(s) :
Figs. :
Plates :
Vol(s) :
Source Number : 7
Source :
Source details : S Frere S S, Bennett P, Rady J, Stow S. 1987.
Page(s) : 160-80
Figs. :
Plates :
Vol(s) : 8
Source Number : 8
Source :
Source details : Andrews G. 1985.
Page(s) : 124, 137, 184-5
Figs. :
Plates :
Vol(s) :
Source Number : 9
Source :
Source details : Cathcart King D. 1983.
Page(s) : 228
Figs. :
Plates :
Vol(s) : 1

Monument Types:
Monument Period Name : Bronze Age
Display Date : Bronze Age
Monument End Date : -700
Monument Start Date : -2600
Monument Type : Findspot, Round Barrow
Evidence : Find, Conjectural Evidence
Monument Period Name : Roman
Display Date : Roman
Monument End Date : 410
Monument Start Date : 43
Monument Type : Barrow, Barrow Cemetery
Evidence : Earthwork, Documentary Evidence
Monument Period Name : Medieval
Display Date :
Monument End Date : 1540
Monument Start Date : 1066
Monument Type : Motte And Bailey, Windmill Mound
Evidence : Earthwork
Monument Period Name : Post Medieval
Display Date :
Monument End Date : 1901
Monument Start Date : 1540
Monument Type : Windmill Mound
Evidence : Earthwork
Monument Period Name : Post Medieval
Display Date : Civil War
Monument End Date : 1649
Monument Start Date : 1642
Monument Type : Gun Emplacement
Evidence : Earthwork
Monument Period Name : Post Medieval
Display Date : After 1790
Monument End Date : 1790
Monument Start Date : 1790
Monument Type : Garden Feature
Evidence : Earthwork

Components and Objects:
Period : Bronze Age
Component Monument Type : Findspot, Round Barrow
Object Type : AXE
Object Material : Bronze

Related Records from other datasets:
External Cross Reference Source : Scheduled Monument Legacy (County No.)
External Cross Reference Number : KE 44
External Cross Reference Notes :
External Cross Reference Source : National Monuments Record Number
External Cross Reference Number : TR 15 NW 264
External Cross Reference Notes :

Related Warden Records :
Related Activities :
Associated Activities :
Activity type : EXCAVATION
Start Date : 1961-01-01
End Date : 1961-12-31