Monument record BOY 023 - Possible Post Medieval or Modern oyster pits.

Possible oyster beds of Post-Medieval or modern date are visible as earthworks cut into the saltmarsh on the western bank of the Butley River, to the south of Boyton Docks, centred on circa TM39554719, Boyton parish. The features are visible as rectangular cuts into the saltmarsh, varying in size between about 4 to 24m long, and between about 4 and 10m wide. They are not marked on the first edition Ordnance Survey map of circa 1884, but do appear on the 1904 second edition. A number of these features were probably created by widening an existing channel that is marked on the first edition map, but a greater number appear to have been created after this map was published. The features were probably therefore cut either in the late Post-Medieval or in the early modern period. It is not possible to tell from the photographs alone whether the features were used as beds for the cultivation of shellfish or were simply features related to water management. However, the Ordnance Survey second edition map also marks an increase in the number of channels connecting these features to the river proper, and a concomitant increase in the number of footbridges across the saltmarsh in this area suggests an increased requirement for access to the features. (S1-4)