|
(4.) Sometime before
1844, ‘on lowering the point where Park Place now stands
about 7 ft. for building,’ stone foundations between 7 ft.
and 4 ft. thick and ‘various small diaper foundations as if
they had been cells’ were observed. ‘One floor of plaster
was firm as stone until exposed to the air, when it became
soft as ashes. On this lay a coin of Agrippa, about the size
of a pennypiece. In the above cells were many broken urns, of
very rude workmanship and various forms.’ Green-glazed
pottery was also found, and in the vicinity a silver crucifix.
From the evidence it is impossible to be certain that the
foundations were Roman.53
(5) Roman foundations have been observed on
either side of the public footpath—opposite the Powder
Mills, nearly ¾ mile south of Dartford, in the Darent valley.53a
Two Roman cemeteries have been found in the
vicinity of the town. Rather more than a mile to the
northward, at Joyce Green, gravel pits near the road from
Dartford to the Marshes have yielded Roman urn burials.54
On the eastern side of the town, opposite an old graveyard on
East Hill, a Roman inhumation cemetery has been brought to
light at various times since 1792. Apart from numerous
skeletons laid east to west, but not otherwise particularized,
several coffins of definitely Roman date are recorded from
here. One, found about 1797, had its lid fastened down with
iron cramps; and, in accordance with a common Roman custom, it
contained lime or plaster which had to some extent preserved
the contents. ‘When the coffin was first opened the face,
though of a dark mahogany colour, exhibited all the lineaments
of the deceased, but, upon the nose being touched by a person
named Watson, it trembled for an instant, then fell to
dust.’ Another stone coffin contained a well-preserved
female skeleton. ‘When the coffin was first opened the hair
appeared a light brown colour, apparently clubbed on the crown
of the head, and fastened with a brooch or bandeau of pearls;
but in a few moments the whole fell to dust. . . . The body
had been swathed in linen, some of which was visible and
covered with cement (i.e. lime). A coating of gum strongly
adhered to the larger bones, which retained an aromatic smell,
and in the coffin was found a copper coin of Constantinopolis
in good preservation.’ Other burials, orientated from north
to south, had originally been contained in wooden coffins, and
were in two cases associated with vessels of glass and
pottery.55
Lesser Roman finds from the Dartford area need
not here be specified. They add little to the picture, but
their wide distribution indicates that this typical Roman
site—the spot where a main road crossed a pleasant
river-valley—became, like Springhead, a local focus of
population. Again like Springhead, its occupation probably
synchronized with the greater part of the occupation of the
island. The few coins recorded from the district represent
Vespasian, Trajan, Faustina, Lucilla, Gordian, Postumus,
Diocletian, Maximian, and four or five of Constantine I.
53 J. Dunk in, Hut,
and Antiq, of Dartford, 1844.
53a Arch. Cant. xxii,
50; and O.S. map, 6 in., 9 n.w. For kiln at Swanscombe Hill,
see Industries,
P. 131; for a building there, see p. 125 ; for burials at
Stone, see Top. Index, p. 168.
54 Arch. Cant. xxii, lii.
55 Dunkin, op. cit. pp. 91 ff. |