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The site of this burial ground is about 50 yards on the north
side of the Watling Street at Ospringe, near Faversham, and about 80 yards
in the direction E.N.E. from the 46th milestone from London and 9th from
Canterbury.
It is interesting to note that the six Roman graves found in
Newnham Valley in 1913 were the same distance from the road ;* and,
measuring as the crow flies, both these sites are found to be between 750
and 800 yards from the oppidum in Syndale Park, which is marked on
the 6 in. ordnance map as "Roman Camp, supposed to be Durolevum."
†
In view of the proximity to the 46th milestone, another
point of interest is Mr. G. Bedo’s statement that near the 48th and 49th
milestones cinerary urns and coins have been discovered. ‡
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No coins have been found during this work, and no signs of
the spot where the bodies were cremated was seen; but pieces of calcined
flint were numerous all over the site.
The soil in the excavation is a good stiff brick-earth. It
was observed that where the urns contained only a few bones they were
generally more badly broken than in those cases where they were filled
with them. Old fractures were apparent in most of the pottery, and
naturally more cracks
* Arch. Cant., XXXI.,
284.
† See also article by
Roach Smith in Archaeologia, XXIX., and
Geo. Bedo in Arch. Cant., IX.
‡ Arch. Cant., IX.,
lxxii. |