Aspects of Kentish Local History

Home
News & Events
  Publications Archaeological
Fieldwork
Local & Family
History
Information
by Parish


Victoria County History of Kent Vol. 3  1932 - Romano-British Kent - Towns - Page 84

St. Clement’s, in Horsewash Lane, another fragment of the wall was found in I887,30 but it is not clear from the description whether this forms part of the north-eastern or of the north-western wall of the town—presumably, however, the former. Towards the north-eastern end of this lane, in Gill’s Shipping Yard, a part of the northern corner of the wall was found in 1889 at a distance of 100 ft. from the river bank. It was about ‘7 ft. thick, built of ragstone, with a double bonding-course of tiles,’ and in 1903 an external ‘buttress’ (possibly part of a former projecting tower), 4½ ft. wide and projecting 1 ft. 9 in., bonded into the wall, was discovered in the same yard.31  The corner is the only positive indication as to the position of the north-western or river wall. Stukeley states that he saw pieces of the wall ‘near the site of St. Clement’s church on the north of the bridge.’ These were probably destroyed when the present bridge was built between 1846 and 1856. The wall was not found during some excavations on the north side of the bridge in 1863. Phippen in 1861 saw a piece of the city wall in the yard of the Crown, and foundations with indications of a watergate, and Samian .potsherds were observed in building an inn near the Crown, apparently at the north corner of the Esplanade and High Street,32  perhaps the same as a ‘high wall’ and ‘portions of walls’ at right angles to the bridge and next to a public-house, but not traceable because there were houses in front of it.33  These observations are supported by a report furnished by Mr. G. E. Dibley of Rochester to the effect that workmen laying a cable close to the southern corner of the Esplanade and High Street in 1927 tunnelled beneath ‘a very wide and strong foundation.’ With these possible exceptions, the north-western wall has disappeared without record.
   While the line of the wall is thus comparatively certain, little is known of the gates, though the position of three of them is obvious. The line of the road running through the centre of the area, more or less beneath High Street and Eastgate,34   demands the existence of a Roman gateway at Eastgate and of another at some less certain point near the bridge, although, until the line of the western wall is better known, it is useless to guess at the exact position of the north-western gateway. At Eastgate, in rebuilding the Mathematical School in 1894, part of a semicircular tower was found beneath a medieval tower, and was supposed to be Roman. No adequate account of the masonry exists, and although a very small and obscure fragment of curved footing is visible in an open area .between the Mathematical School and the roadway it is impossible to state to what period it belongs.35  Phippen saw a piece of this wall before it was destroyed to make room for the Mathematical School, and suggested that it was not Roman, in spite of the hardness of the cement.36  More of the masonry of this gate was encountered in 1905.37  The Roman north gate is supposed to have stood on the site of the medieval north gate or ‘Cheldergate,’ but the actual gateway has not been found or, if found, recorded. The wall, which would adjoin it, was laid bare beneath the Quakers’ Meeting House in 1905; but the part beneath the road, where the gate should stand, had been destroyed by previous drainage works. The discovery of a Roman road, however, lying beneath the present one was justly
   30  Arch. Cant. xviii, 194.    31  Ibid. xxi, 8; xxvii, lxix.   32 Arch. Journ. xx, 390.    33  Phippen, 133.
   34  For a section through this road near the centre of the town, see Arch. Cant. xxviii, lxxxix.
   35  Arch. Cant. xxi, 52.        36  Descr. Sketches, 1862, p. 258.    37  Arch. Cant. xxviii, lxxxviii.

Previous Page       Page 84       Next Page       

Back to Towns page listings         Contents Page

This website is constructed by enthusiastic amateurs. Any errors noticed by other researchers will be gratefully received so 
that we can amend our pages to give as accurate a record as possible. Please send details to localhistory@tedconnell.org.uk