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.
|
|