Although archaeological
material has been found on this site in the form of Saxon and Roman
pottery and possibly a Saxon stone cresset lamp during the late 19th
century, it was not until 1913 that an archaeological excavation was
attempted. The work was carried out by A. W. Clapham. F.S.A. (l883-1950)
who then published his findings in the 'Archaeological Journal’.
According to Clapham his work had revealed foundations of what he
identified as the priory church. He had also uncovered various drains
and foundations relating to the later manor house of Henry VIII. In
1926, further excavations were carried out, this time by the then
Dartford District Antiquarian Society who concentrated their work on an
area north of the ‘Priory House’. Their excavations showed that
the ‘Priory House’ had originally extended much further forming one
corner of a quadrangle as Clapham had suggested earlier. Apart from
foundations, drains and a well were discovered by the Society during
their work. Since 1926, when alterations were carried out to the factory
buildings, various other discoveries have been made. It was fortunate
that several members of the Antiquarian Society were employed at J &
E Hall Ltd. (as it was then called) so that it was possible for them to
record these subsequent discoveries.
The Group has itself kept in close
touch with the owners of the site and when plans were finalised in 1976
for a further extension of the factory, the owners readily agreed that
we could carry out a limited excavation before construction work
started. The area made available to us was a plot of land adjacent to
the then pattern store and situated about 30m (100ft) to the north of
the surviving gatehouse. Our excavation started in October 1976 and was
completed in February 1977. Flanking our site on the north was a stone
wall over 2m (6ft 7ins) high and running east to west. Investigations
confirmed that this wall had at one time formed part of the priory
buildings but had subsequently been incorporated into the Tudor manor
house and had been partly faced in red brick. The Tudor builders had
extended the wall to the east and in Elizabethan or later times it had
also been extended to the west to meet the
|
|
boundary wall in
Priory Road. The wall showed evidence of where other walls had joined it
and our excavations soon revealed a complex of walls of Medieval and
Tudor periods running both parallel and at right angles to each other.
Two of the walls traced, lined up exactly with the surviving gatehouse
proving that the building formed the end of a complete wing, with a
courtyard at the rear. Furthermore, the foundations were of Medieval
date but the superstructure was Tudor. It is obvious that James Nedham,
the King’s Surveyor General, was shrewd enough to ensure that the new
manor house made use of the previous walls wherever possible and even
where a brick wall was necessary
the priory foundations were retained.
James Nedham also ensured that little
was wasted and he utilised heavily carved stones taken from this and
other religious sites, in new foundations and also to build underground
cisterns for garderobes (toilets). Two of these garderobes were
excavated adjacent to the east-west wall. They were not connected to
drains but relied on liquid seepage into the sub-soil, coupled with
periodic clearing out. An interesting find within the cistern of one of
them was a green glazed, double bowl condiment dish dating back to the
16th century.
The more important carved stones from
the garderobes and elsewhere on the site were carefully recovered by the
Group and are now safely
stored by the Dartford Borough Museum.
As work proceeded we were able to
relocate the well and also to trace the full course of a Tudor drain to
a ditch which ran along the side of Priory Road. The ditch had
subsequently been filled and a wall which still survives contains
quantities of 'Frobisher’s Stone’ mentioned earlier.
The main area of our excavations
revealed a large room containing an extensive hearth which was over 5m
(l6ft 5ins) long and about 1m (3ft 3ins) in depth. Nearby were the
foundations of three ovens and large scatters of wood ash. This was
undoubtedly the site of one of the main kitchens serving the manor
house. |