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This area of occupation or,
perhaps, rather some restricted part of it seems to have been
known in Roman times as ‘Durolevum.’ But the
identification falls short of precision. Our authorities
differ amongst themselves; the second Iter of the Antonine
Itinerary places Durolevum at a distance of 16 miles from
Rochester (Durobrivae) and 12 from Canterbury (Durovernum),
whilst the Peutinger Table gives the distance from Canterbury
to Durolevum as 7 miles. In point of fact, Ospringe is about 9
English miles from Canterbury and 16½ from Rochester. The
figures vaguely point to the Faversham.. Ospringe district,
and in that general sense alone may the name ‘Durolevum’
be applied to the area of Roman occupation hereabouts.
7. SITTINGBOURNE
At Sittingbourne, the Watling
Street crosses the head of the Milton Creek which joins the
Swale, at the back of the Isle of Sheppey, some two miles to
the north—east. As at other similar points where the road
traverses a watered valley—at Ospringe, Springhead and
Dartford, for example—a considerable, if scattered,
Romano-British population has left its traces in the vicinity.
Again as at these similar points, the vestiges assume the form
of burials and scattered relics rather than of extensive
structural remains. Indeed, at Sittingbourne itself there
appear to be no evidences of Roman masonry, the only
structural relic being a part of the Watling Street itself,
observed during drainage operations in 1902. The observer
noted that ‘in forming the road, the Romans removed the
whole of the loam, placing as many flat stones as they could
obtain in this district on the clean brick-earth. These large
stones nearly all show signs of wear on one surface. Above
this is, on the average, a depth of 4 ft. of metal. What was
evidently the surface in the Middle Ages is peculiarly sandy,
about half-way up.’ 86
The nearest Roman masonry appears to occur on the
northern outskirts of Sittingbourne, at Milton, where
substantial Roman foundations were unearthed in 1872 after the
enlargement of the churchyard on its northern side. Similar
discoveries were made here during subsequent years; for
example, in 1881 a piece of wall built of flint-rubble with a
bonding-course of tiles and brick-dust mortar was seen and
recorded. The Roman pottery included a Samian dish, bearing
the stamp of the Flavian potter Primanus and ‘a large
brass’ of Antoninus Pius. It was noted also that the masonry
extended into the old churchyard.87
It is probable that, as on so many Kentish sites,
a great part of the local population lived in timber houses
and hutments of which, in the absence of scientific
excavation, no traces have been observed. Grave-goods, on the
other hand, obtain an easy notoriety and have frequently been
recorded in the district.
(1) To the east of Milton, and on the north
side of the creek in a field known as Bexhill, have been found
at various times since 1868 several elaborate inhumation
burials. A leaden coffin, found in that year, contained a
bearded male skeleton, with a phial of blue glass on the left
shoulder and with a blue glass jug outside the coffin. Another
leaden coffin found at the same time contained a female
skeleton, and outside it were two earthen vessels. In 1869 was
found a third leaden coffin ornamented with bead-and-ring
moulding and medallions of ‘Medusa heads.’ It also
contained
86 Chatham
News, newspaper, 27 Sept. 1902.
87 G. Payne, Co//ectanea
Cantiana, pp. 30 ff. |