5. Human Remains from Temple Hill
In March 1980, Mr. John Williams of 17 Trevithick Drive, decided to deepen a paddling pool in his back garden. In doing so he found more than he expected, for just below the bottom of the pool he discovered human remains. He promptly contacted the police and Dartford Borough Museum to report his discovery.
The bones were inspected by the police who declared them to be well over a hundred years old and consequently not requiring further investigation. Mr. Peter Boreham, M.A., the Museum’s Curator, passed the report on to the Group, who proceeded to research further. By the end of investigations we had found the remains of three adult burials. Unfortunately, no objects were found with these burials to assist us in dating them to any particular period. Previous discoveries of interments found in this area have also proved difficult to date due to the lack of associated finds. The dating of these burials, based on guesswork, has ranged from Roman to the 17th century.
   In April 1983, Mr. Williams unearthed two more graves in his garden. Unlike his previous discovery, the skeletons were found with grave goods. These comprised two pottery vessels which have been dated to the last quarter of the 1st century A.D. This fortunate discovery, has now proved the existence of a Romano-British cemetery on Temple Hill and has gone a long way to solve the mystery of the inhumations often found in that area.