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Moderated by : Andy B , TimPrevett , coldrum , Klingon , MickM , TheCaptain , bat400 , davidmorgan , Runemage , SolarMegalith , sem
The Megalithic Portal and Megalith Map : Index >>
Stones Forum >> Lost Neolithic Monument at Dungeness Kent
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Lost Neolithic Monument at Dungeness Kent |
Niko
Joined:
07-05-2006
Messages: 1
from Dungeness, Kent
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|  Posted 07-05-2006 at 12:10
Hi to all
I am posting this in the hope that I can arouse some interest and get some experienced advice, to what I and a few other friends have found an evocative and fascinating mystery.
Dungeness lies at the extreme South east corner of the British Isles; it has always been a place of mystery and intrigue. Geographers and geologists say that until recently (600 years or so) Dungeness was an island or a narrow spit of shingle over 4 miles long jutting out into the English channel, drainage or "inning" joined it to the mainland proper in the last 500 years or so. Yet records going back over a thousand years place some kind of stone monument on the end of this shingle spit.
There are many old records which state that St Crispin and his brother St Crispinian were martyred sometime in the 3rd cent AD and their bodies cast into the sea. Their bodies were reputedly washed up on the shore at Dungeness, where a stone monument was built to inter their remains and the church at nearby Lydd dedicated to them. This 19th cent article gives some detail.
http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/descriptions/entry_page.jsp?text_id=726970&word=NULL
The stone monument or heap of stones no longer exist and we have found it difficult to place the exact location using any old maps which we have consulted.
This bit is somewhat presumptuous, so advanced apology!
Presumably the heap of stones was not a Christian construction but an earlier Megalithic one?
Why was it built in such an inaccessible and remote location? (One of our theories is that on the midsummer solstice the extreme northerly travel of the sun just touches the point of Dover when viewed from this location, it then travels back south across the sea from this location for the rest of the year).
What happened to the stones, were they robbed out to build the nearby Napoleonic fortifications?
If this construction is proven as megalithic, would it be the most easterly in Britain?
Sorry for the length of this, any help or pointers would be greatly appreciated.
Regards
Niko
[ This message was edited by: Niko on 2006-05-07 12:11 ]
[ This message was edited by: Niko on 2006-05-07 12:13 ]
[ This message was edited by: Niko on 2006-05-09 15:37 ]
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MickM
Joined:
02-01-2005
Messages: 192
from London
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| Posted 07-05-2006 at 12:55
Before you can place a prehistoric monument in this place, you would first need to prove that the shingle spit/island existed in those days. Given the many rises (& falls) in sea level since the ice retreated & the likely tidal races that would occur in a headland environment, it is highly unlikely that the spit of shingle itself can be proven to have existed for any length of time before the first historic records that say it was there.
Although it may be that there is hard geology underneath the shingle that could be proven to be above the then sea level, but then the monument would not be built on or of the shingle. It therefore follows that any thoughts of prehistoric structures, let alone a 'megalith' can only be pure speculation, unless empirical evidence for such a structure can be gleaned from on the ground fieldwork.
[ This message was edited by: MickM on 2006-05-07 13:44 ]
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coldrum
Joined:
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Messages: 780
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| Posted 07-05-2006 at 14:16
Try these:
http://www.kentarchaeology.org.uk/
http://www.sedwards.demon.co.uk/kafs/
http://www.the-cka.fsnet.co.uk/page16.html
http://www.romneymarsh.org/
http://www.rmrt.org.uk/
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Andy B
Joined:
13-02-2001
Messages: 7050
from Surrey, UK
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| Posted 07-05-2006 at 23:25
Coldrum - put a space before your links - then they will magically work...
Cheers
http://www.kentarchaeology.org.uk/
http://www.sedwards.demon.co.uk/kafs/
http://www.the-cka.fsnet.co.uk/page16.html
http://www.romneymarsh.org/
http://www.rmrt.org.uk/
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coldrum
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Messages: 780
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| Posted 12-05-2006 at 12:39
oops sorry 
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Andy B
Joined:
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Messages: 7050
from Surrey, UK
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| Posted 12-05-2006 at 13:20
Not your fault, it's just a good way around an annoying quibble I haven't fixed
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