|
The method of excavation was to dig a long irregular
trench 5 to 7 feet wide through the centre of the
mound down to the natural chalk.
As the work went on, confesses Wright. " .......... we
contrived to pass our time, at intervals between digging and picnicing
in games of various descriptions—not
exactly such as those which the builders of the mound celebrated when
they laid the deceased on his funeral pile —and
other amusements." The care of the ladies was, of course, an
important duty in such an expedition. At much the same time during one
of Payne's mudlarks to secure Roman pots from Otterham Creek near
Sittingbourne, for instance, they were entertained during the business
with "anecdotes of past experiences" and "songs from one
of Planche's extravaganzas." Autre temps autres moeurs, but
we can at least be grateful for this vignette which includes not only
Wright himself, but also that gravely learned Clerk, Lambert Larking,
the first Secretary of our Society.
The results of the excavation may be quickly summarized.
There were two or three fragments of pottery, not described further, in
the body of the barrow. A platform had first been cut in the chalk and
covered with a smooth artificial floor of fine earth 4 inches in
thickness. Upon this was a deposit of ashes "not less than 20 feet
in diameter" which yielded a considerable number of very long
nails, a few pieces of Roman pottery "which had evidently
experienced action of fire," and part of what is described as a
Roman brooch. |
|
There is no mention of complete pots,
or of the funeral deposit which must have been by cremation, but as the
excavator regretfully notes, the examination was brought to a premature
end by the sudden collapse of the trench, wherefrom one of the workman
escaped narrowly with his life. The party were indeed fortunate that the
unsupported sides of the 20-foot deep trench had not caved in earlier
while they were all crouched in it, umbrellas up testudo-fashion,
sheltering from the rain.
The relics, which perhaps went into the noted cabinet of
Lord Londesborough, have long since disappeared. The long nails were
very probably from a wooden box in which the funeral deposit was placed:
such boxes or cists are commonly found in Roman barrows. Wright was
quite competent to identify Roman pottery and a Roman brooch, and we may
accept Lambarde's account of the cinerary urn which would also fit into
the picture. These items considered together with the topographical
evidence we have already noted can leave no reasonable doubt that the
barrow was of Roman date, though its precise chronology in that period
cannot now be determined. Other barrows of the same period may be seen
in Kent at Gorsley Wood, Bishopsbourne; Nash Court Park,
Boughton-under-Blean; Shepherdswell, and Stowting, and the sites of some
six others are also known. From a study of their contents and
geographical distribution in Britain and the Continent, these imposing
conical mounds are now |