|
in the 2nd Iter of the Antonine Itinerary,
where it is stated to be nine Roman miles on the London side
of Rochester (Durobrivae). This works well for Springhead, but
the problem is complicated by the difficulty of interpreting
the route thence to London. Between the two places the
Itinerary inserts the unidentified ‘Noviomagus,’ which is
alleged to be 10 miles from London and 18 miles from
Springhead. The latter is, as it happens, the direct distance
of London itself from Springhead; and it is clear that, if the
text of the Itinerary is here free from corruption, the route
chosen is by no means a direct one. Under the circumstances
the identification of Springhead with ‘Vagniacae’ must
remain probable rather than certain.67
6. OSPRINGE AND FAVERSHAM
From Faversham Church
westwards to the foundations of the Saxon chapel of Stone, a
strip of country about a mile and three-quarters long and a
mile in width has proved rich in Roman remains. Diagonally
across this strip runs the Watling Street which, in
conjunction with the proximity of several minor tributaries of
the Swale, was doubtless their primary raison d’ętre. Beneath
the churchyard at Faversham itself foundations of Roman
buildings have been observed on the north side of the nave and
the south side of the chancel, whilst urns and coins were
brought to light in 1794,68 when the western
tower was taken down. Previously, in 1755, a Roman altar and
many Roman bricks had been discovered when the central tower
was demolished.69 Elsewhere in Faversham
indications of a Roman building—a chalk floor, flanged
tiles, potsherds, etc.—have been found in a field east of
Clap gate; whilst in Thorn Mead Field, near Faversham Abbey,
an urn containing burnt bones and covered by a tile on which
was an armlet was discovered in 1862.70 Again,
at Davington Hill at and near the Powder Mills, a Roman
cemetery containing upwards of twenty urns was observed in
1770 ; whilst other burials have been noted in gravel pits
between Davington Hill and Bysing Road.71 In
the adjoining parish of Oare, two sites have produced further
burials. In Church Field, about 20 yds. from and parallel with
the road leading to the Sheppey Ferry, near Pheasant Farm, a
number of groups of pottery associated with cremation-burials
was found in 1838; in connection with them are noted Samian
vessels bearing the stamps of the late 1st-century potters
Crucuro, Martialis, Secundus and Ruffus. Some of these burials
are now in the Canterbury Museum.72 The
second cemetery was found in 1844 in Moor Field or Broom
Field, a few hundred yards west of the first, and appears to
have been of similar date.73 A little further
north, at Uplees Farm, more cinerary urns were dug up in 187174
Further south, between Ospringe Parsonage and the Brook, more
burials are said to have been found long ago, and discoveries
in 1770 of other Roman urns and coins are recorded from the
vicinity of the 48th and 49th milestones on the Watling
Street.75
67 For the names
Vagniacae and Noviomagus, see F. Haverfield, V.C.H. Surrey.
iv, 347.
68 Gent. Mag. ii, 554.
(July, 1799). 69
Jacob, Hist. of Faversham (1774), P. 39
70 Reliquary xiii, 144;
for another cremation burial see Proc. Soc. Antiq. ser.
ii, vi, 380.
71 Jacob, op. cit. p. 3 : Hasted,
op. cii. ii, 728; Gough’s Camden (1806), i, 342; Reliq.
xiii, 142.
72 Arch xxix, 221.
73 Reliquary, xiii, 143.
74 Arch. Cant. ix, lxxii.
75 Gough in his ed. of Camden, Brit. (1806)
i, 359 hence Arch.
Cant. ix, lxxii; Reliq. xiii, 144, makes two finds
of one. |