EXCAVATIONS AT ECCLES, 19721
ELEVENTH INTERIM REPORT
By A. P. DETSICAS, M.A., F.S.A.
INTRODUCTION
EXCAVATIONS were continued, for the eleventh successive season, under
my direction and on behalf of the Eccles Excavation Committee, at
the site of the large Romano-British viUa situated at Rowe Place Farm,
Eccles, in the parish of Aylesford (N.G.R. TQ 722605; O.S. 6-inch
Sheet TQ 76 SW), and at a nearby site (N.G.R. TQ 718605; O.S. 6-inch
Sheet TQ 76 SW); this work was undertaken at weekends, from the
beginning of April tUl the end of October, 1972, and during a fortnight
in August when a training course in Romano-British archeology,
jointly sponsored by the Kent Archseological Society and the Eccles
Excavation Committee, was based on the site.
Once again, I am greatly indebted to the landowners, Messrs.
Associated Portland Cement Manufacturers Limited and Messrs. Reed
Paper & Board (U.K.) Limited, for readily allowing this work to be
continued on their property; I am also very grateful to their tenant
farmers, Messrs. A. A. and A. C. Southwell, without whose wholehearted
support and many acts of kindness this excavation would have been
impossible.
Financial support for this excavation was again granted by the
Kent Archseological Society, the Carnegie United Kingdom Trust,
the British Academy, the Society of Antiquaries of London, the
Haverfield Bequest of the University of Oxford and private donors to
all of whom I am most grateful.
Many volunteers shared the burdens of this work throughout its
long campaign and space considerations alone preclude me from
mentioning each by name. However, I should be aUowed to make an
exception in the case of the following on the grounds of their sustained
support: first, Mr. A. C. Harrison, B.A., F.S.A., upon whom feU a
large share of the supervision ofthis work; Mesdames S. M. Frettingham,
B.A., and A. Thomson; Miss R. C. Symes; and Messrs. 0. K. Hales,
T. Hetherington, T. ItheU, B.Eng., W. A. Knowles, C. E. J. Martin,
1 Arch. Cant., Ixxviii (1963), 125-41; Ixxix (1964), 121-35; Ixxx (1965),
69-91; Ixxxi (1966), 44-52; Ixxxii (1967), 162-78; Ixxxiii (1968), 39-48; Ixxxiv
(1969), 93-106; Ixxxv (1970), 55-60; Ixxxvi (1971), 25-34, and lxxxvii (1972),
101-10. Professor S. S. Frere, M.A., F.B.A., F.S.A., has again been kind enough
to support this work and to read this report in draft to its great advantage;
I am very grateful indeed.
73
A. P. DETSICAS
L. Thomson and P. Thornhill, B.A. I am also grateful to Mr. I. J.
Bissett, for drawing the coarse pottery; Miss D. Charlesworth, M.A.,
F.S.A., for reporting on the glass; Mrs. K. F. Hartley, B.A., F.S.A., for
reporting on the mortaria; Mr. M. R. Hull, M.A., F.S.A., for reporting
on the brooches; Dr. J. P. C. Kent, B.A., Ph.D., F.S.A., for identifying
the coins; and Mr. R. P. Wright, M.A., F.S.A., for reading and reporting
on the graffiti. Lastly, I am also greatly indebted to Miss D. M. Rooke,
for taking charge of the recording of the finds and much personal
assistance, and Miss C. E. Cockram, for help with the preparation of
this report.
THE EXCAVATION
Work this year was concentrated in the courtyard area of the villa,
to east and south-east of the house, and at one other site; its aim was
the continued examination of features partly explored in 1971.
Periods I-IV, to c. A.D. 65: The Ditches
Further sections were cut across the Hnes of the three ditches
already reported on.2
Ditch IX was sectioned to the south of the building's south-east
wing and its known length increased to some 150 ft. (45 m.), its width
remaining constant at 7 ft. 6 in. (2 -25 m.) on average; this ditch
continued on a straight ahgnment and had been filled in with material
deriving from its cutting, probably not long afterwards as it contained
httle sUt at its bottom.
Ditch X was traced in several new trenches and its known length
increased to 181 ft. 6 in. (54-45 m.); its width remained o. 7 ft. (2 -10 m.).
In one or two trenches, the outline ofthis ditch was nearer to a V-shape
than elsewhere and showed a rather shaUow, rudimentary cleaning
channel which is reminiscent of military work. The amount of grey
silt, present at the lowest levels of this ditch below its back-filling of
Romano-British topsoil, and the pottery stratified in it demonstrate
that it remained open rather longer than Ditch IX, though it must have
been fiUed in by the time the first house was built in c. A.D. 65.
Two new trenches, cut across the line of Ditch XI (Plate IA)
which was first examined in 1971, in an area of great disturbance,3
aUowed its correct course and width to be estabhshed; its present length
and width arc 28 ft. 6 in. (8 -61 m.) and 4 ft. 9 in. (1 -74 m.), respectively,
and it was found to be U-shaped. Its back-filhng of yellow clay had
subsided towards the middle of the ditch; this subsidence has been made
good by a layer of d6bris consisting mainly of loose tesserae, mostly
white and grey in colour but also a few red ones cut from samian ware.
2 Arch. Cant., lxxxvii (1972), 102.
8 Ibid., and Fig. 1.
74
ECCLES 1971-72
Ditch XIV
iiokthoit , ._l
0/7cA W
Andlo-Saxori Ctmtttry
BurioP. v/,,.
•fflZ,;%*/
Ditch XII
JTGully
Drain
\
Htarth
Ditch XIII
Ptriod IV SSPtrlod IV. fiobbtd or Inftrrtd
Ptriod V-. Robbtd or inftrrtd E H Ptriod VI
Ptriod VI: Robbtd or inftrrtd ES Ptriod VII
ISSPtriod VII fiobbtd or inftrrtd &§&Ptrlods VI- VII ESS Ptriods VI- VII, Inftrrtd
urrnesfOBt
Fro. 1.
{face p. 74
rwssn
ECCLES 1972
I
j
South-HrtMt Wing
1
_l
Courtyard Area
KS/»*/votf V •riod V.-lnftrrtd WZ&Ptriod VI WZ&Ptriod Vklnttrrtd
L.-.J
[HflBflAa
South-tost W/ngi,
Ditch XIII
Baa in-*
r i "~l
j£_
FIG. 2.
[face p. 75
EXCAVATIONS AT ECCLES, 1972
This debris represents the remnants of the manufacture of tesserae
on the site, for, apart from many unfinished tesserae, the layer also
contained several large stones from which white and grey tesserae had
obviously been cut. A preliminary examination of the samian and
coarse wares in this debris suggests that the layer dates to the early
years of the second century and is contemporary with Period V
(c. A.D. 120-180) though, as the house was then turned round to face
south-west, Ditch XI may have been filled in earHer to allow for the
subsidence of its backfilling.
Most of the area to east and west of Ditch XI, i.e. to east of the
south-east wing, was later spread over with a large deposit of domestic
refuse dating at least to the middle of the third century A.D.
Ditch XIII (Fig. 2) was found running diagonally across the courtyard
and has been examined in the area occupied by the ornamental
basin (see below, pp. 76-7) which it clearly antedates; its known length
is 102 ft. (30 -60 m.) and its width 7 ft. (2 -25 m.). Traces of this ditch
could be seen obhquely in a buUdozer trench cut close to the west corner
of the south-east wing and, if the ditch continued on a straight line,
it would have passed below the north-west wall of this wing at a point
where no excavation was undertaken and reached the trench where
Ditches IX and X intersect; however, when trenched in 1971, this area
was found to be greatly disturbed, and it is not certain that Ditch XIII
ever reached this area.
To south ofthis ditch ran a shaUow and narrow ditch or gully which
seems to be associated with Ditch XIII as it is approximately paraUel
with it as was the case with Ditches IV and VI.4 However, if these
shallow gullies are associated with their nearby larger ditches, it is
difficult to see how Ditches VI and XIII relate to one another as
their respective gullies had not been cut on the same side as the ditches.
Period VI, c. A.D. 180-290: The South-east Wing
Three fresh trenches were cut across the Hne of the south-west wall
ofthis wing and confirmed its previously inferred ahgnment. ExternaUy,
the wall had been rendered with painted waU-plaster, 2 in. (0 -05 m.)
thick, mostly wine-red in colour with blue stripes outlining panels,
some of which survived in situ. The waU was of the standard construction,
of ragstone and yellow mortar, 2 ft. (0 -60 m.) wide, and its
foundations were bedded right into the bottom of Ditch IX where the
wall crossed it; this wall had survived in two of these trenches, but the
south corner of the wing had been completely robbed. Some evidence
was found for the flooring of Room 122; it consisted of a layer of
compacted yeUow mortar laid directly on the subsoil and present
immediately within the waU. However, it was not possible to estabHsh
* Ibid., Ixxxiv (1969), 94, Fig. 1; Ixxxv (1970), 56-7, Fig. I.
75
A. P. DETSICAS
whether this mortar represents the actual floor of the corridor rather
than a base for tiling.
Immediately outside the line ofthis waU were several much-repaired
floors of opus signinum; these floors were not present in the 1971
trench containing the west corner of the wing, nor did they continue
into the trench south-east of the wing's south corner. Furthermore, as
these floors barely reached into a trench south-west of the wall, it
seems likely that they were laid at a point outside the south-west
waU where a door into the wing may have been located; though this
would accord with the patching of these floors and their superimposition,
no direct evidence for such an entrance survived across the
waU.
Periods VI-VII, c. A.D. 180-400: (i) The Boundary Wall
This perimeter waU was found clearly abutted on to the south
corner of the south-east wing, but not at right angles to it; from this
junction, it continued south-east for some 15 ft. (4-5 m.) before
turning to south-west, again without forming a right angle, for at least
42 ft. (12-60 m.); the waU had been built of ragstone and yeUow
mortar to a 2 ft. (0 -60 m.) thickness, though it also contained some
flint and dressed tufa blocks which formed its east corner—its construction
trench had been fiUed with loose gravel rather than the
standard ragstone chippings, and its construction suggested that the
wall was not expected to carry a great load. Immediately outside the
east corner of this wall was an elongated, fairly deep pit; its darkgrey,
organic filling, which contained Httle debris, suggested its possible
use as a cess-pit; it contained late third-century coarse pottery in its
filling though this may have been a survival and need not indicate that
the pit and waU were in contemporary use.
South-west of this pit was a curious feature which was cut lUce a
shaUow gully running north-east to south-west for 14 ft. 6 in. (4 -35 m.);
it was 1 ft. (0 -30 m.) wide, and its north-eastern end was wider than
its opposite counterpart. Whatever its purpose, this feature clearly
antedates the boundary wall as, when the latter was built, great care
was taken to fill this guUy with a sohd layer of mortaresd roofing-tiles.
Further south-west, the perimeter wall crossed over an earlier,
narrow gully into which the wall's foundations were bedded. No
evidence for floors was found within the area enclosed by this boundary
wall.
(ii) The Courtyard
Three long trenches were mechanically out in the courtyard area
immediately south-west of the south-east wing where little work
had previously been undertaken. The most north-easterly of these
76
PLATE I
X.
Photo.: A. P. Detsicas
A. Section across Ditch XI.
Photo.: A. P. Detsicas
B. Courtyard Area: General View of the Basin.
11M
[ face p. 76
PLATE II
^ ^ s H i ^ a r «|*4fi^*
>m.
Photo.: A. P. Detsicas
A. Courtyard Area: The Basin, showing Foundation Raft.
•Isftk'
Photo.: A. P. Detaicua
B. Courtyard Area: Section across the Basin.
PLATE III
%.l*
Photo.: A. P. Detsicas
A. The Anglo-Saxon Cemetery: Burial 19.
Photo.: A. P. Detsicas
B. The Anglo-Saxon Cemetery: Burial l'.l, Close-up showing Buckle and Knife.
PLATE IV
Photo.: R. L. Wilkins, Oxford University Institute of Archivoloyy
A. The Anglo-Saxon Cemetery: Burial 19, Buckle,
Front View (Scale 1 : 1).
~,.
Photo.: R. L. Wilkins, Oxford University Institute of Archwoloou
B. The Anglo-Saxon Cemetery: Burial 19, Buckle,
Rear View (Scale 1:1).
EXCAVATIONS AT ECCLES, 1972
trenches provided some evidence for Ditch XIII (cf. above, p. 75)
at its extreme eastern end; the most south-westerly contained no
archseological evidence.
However, the middle one of these trenches coincided with the northeastern
face of a feature and, consequently, this trench was widened
to aUow for fuller examination which estabhshed the plan of an
ornamental basin situated in this area (Plate IB).
This basin had been constructed over the line of the filled-in Ditch
XIII and some subsidence had occurred at the basin's north corner.
The structure, measuring internaUy 11 ft. 6 in. by 5 ft. 6 in. (3 -45 by
1 -65 m.), consisted of a very sohd foundation of roofing-tiles laid
directly on the subsoil, with their flanges upside down and embedded
into a layer of yeUow mortar; the waU of the basin was next constructed
on top of this sohd raft (Plate IIA): it was 1 ft. (0 -30 m.) wide and
built mainly of dressed tufa blocks to an unknown height though
Httle of the basin's depth appears to have been lost. The waU was
rendered internaUy with opus signinum, 1 in. (2 -5 cm.) thick. Next
was laid the floor of the basin, consisting of opus signinum to an
average thickness of 3 in. (7 -5 cm.) and surviving intact apart from
some pitting by frost; the opus signinum had been shaped to a quarterround
moulding at the junction of waU and floor, and the whole structure
made quite watertight (Plate IIB).
No dating material was found stratified below this basin which must
clearly belong to the later structural periods of the viUa on the foUowing
grounds. Its function is evidently that of an ornamental garden-pond,
almost certainly containing aquatic plants and fish; its location exactly
at the centre of the courtyard between the viUa's two projecting wings
makes this conclusion inescapable and, moreover, shows that the basin
must have been built at the same time as or after the construction of
the south-east wing, certainly after the house was turned round to
face south-west.
Later Features
These later features consist of lengths of four ditches. Ditch XII
was first found in 19716 and this year was further cut in a new trench
at the eastern corner of the south-east wing extending its known length
to nearly 30 ft. (9 m.). Ditch XIV was 1 ft. 6 in. (0 -45 m.) wide and
traced for some 49 ft. 6 in. (14 -85 m.). Running into it is a short length
of Ditch XVI of about the same width. Ditch XV was 3 ft. (0 -90 m.)
wide and has been traced for some 52 ft. 6 in. (15 -75 m.). Ditches XIV
and XV obviously merge or interesect in an unexplored area beyond
the most easterly points yet traced.
6 Ibid., lxxxvii (1972), 106.
77
10b
A. P. DETSICAS
The purpose of these ditches is not clear, nor is their dating.
However, Ditch XV was cut into the backfilling of the early Ditch X,
which was fiUed in when the first house was built; it is clear, therefore,
that aU these ditches postdate the earhest buUding, though they
could have been cut, at the rear of the house, in much later times for
they certainly were open after the demohtion of the viUa in view of the
fact that some of the Anglo-Saxon burials had been inserted into these
ditches.
The Anglo-Saxon Cemetery
Evidence for scattered burials in the ruins of the vflla has been
accumulating from the very first season of excavation in 1962. Some of
these were found in the derehct hypocausts of the third bath buUding,6
others in the ruined servants' quarters of the house7 and elsewhere. It
is only since 1970, however, that conclusive evidence for a large
cemetery has been forthcoming and its position located mainly east
of the north-east wing;8 in 1972 many more burials were found in this
area.
The great majority of these inhumations had been laid, approximately
east-west, in a dark soU which made it impossible to distinguish
the outlines of individual graves, though these were clear wherever the
burial had been dug into the yellow clay subsoil. As in 1971,9 burials
were found superimposed, each subsequent inhumation usuaUy badly
disturbing the one below it.
Fortunately, however, some of the earhest burials had been provided
with grave goods (Plates ULA and B, IVA and B) and these
showed that inhumation had begun during the closing years of the
pagan Anglo-Saxon period and continued into Christian times.10
Site D (N.G.R. TQ 718605)
Trenching was carried out on two occasions, at the beginning and
end of the excavation season, at a site used for the disposal of wastepaper
where a dark layer, containing pottery, had been observed in
a mechanicafly-exposed section in 1971.n As a result, a large pit filled
with pottery wasters was found at the foot of the present slope and
• Ibid., Ixxviii (1963), 140 and Plate VIII.
7 Ibid., Ixxix (1964), 130.
8 I t is not unlikely that the few soattered inhumations found in 1970 to
north-west of this wing (Arch. Cant., Ixxxvi (1971), Fig. 1) also belong to this
cemetery.
9 Arch. Cant., Ixxxvi (1971), 31.
10 I am greatly indebted to Mrs. S. C. Hawkes, M.A., E.S.A., for arranging
for the conservation, drawing and photography of some of these objects at the
Institute of Archseology, University of Oxford, and for reporting on them (of.
Antiq. Journ., Iiii (1973), 281-6).
11 Arch. Cant., Ixxxvii (1972), 108.
78
EXCAVATIONS AT ECCLES, 1972
cutting into it. Mechanical stripping of the overburden on the fairly
level plateau above this waste pit brought to Hght the upper part of
a badly-worn kiln12 surrounded by enormous quantities of wasters;
these consisted mainly of Hofheim-type flagons but also included
early colour-coated wares, terra nigra platters and other forms imitating
GaUo-Belgic wares, mortaria, carinated bowls, butt beakers, etc.
Samian ware stratified with this material supports a closing date of
c. A.D. 70 for this activity, though it is not unlikely that pottery
continued to be made in that vicinity in later times.
In view of the lateness of the season, this site has been covered over
to await fuU examination in 1973.
DATING
No fresh evidence has been forthcoming during this year to cause
any reconsideration of the chronological sequence proposed in earHer
reports.
SUMMARY AND DISCUSSION
As a result of this year's work, some of the gaps in the history of
the occupation of this site are now beginning to be filled.
The discovery of incontrovertible evidence for pottery manufacture
in immediately post-conquest times now supphes the economic background
for the obvious wealth of the owner of the first house and
baths and supplements the previous suggestion of a local phUo-Roman
magnate13 who wiU have increased his wealth, if not made it, by engaging
in large-scale pottery manufacture and supplying the greatly expanding
markets foUowing the Roman invasion and conquest. The location of
Site D, overlooking and close to the Medway, indicates the probahflity
of industrial instaUations, such as workshops, stores and wharves,
just as the amount of wasters found in a comparatively very smaU area
points to several kilns operating nearby. Unfortunately, the area where
such evidence may have survived has been very badly disturbed
during the last century by the excavation of large pits for the disposal
of industrial waste-products, which could have destroyed aU remaining
traces of Romano-British industrial activity; furthermore, the Romano-
British ground level, where it survives, is so badly overgrown and laid
over by several feet of soU from the excavation of the modern industrial
pits that it would require considerable expenditure before archaeological
examination could be begun.
The discovery of the ornamental basin in the courtyard confirms
conclusively the earHer evidence that the original house had been
M Excavation in 1973 established that this kiln, was a medieval tilery built
into the d6bris of Bomano-British pottery manufacture.
13 Arch. Cant., Ixxix (1964), 135.
100
79
A. P. DETSICAS
turned round to face in the opposite direction as well as reconstructed
and expanded between the second and fourth centuries A.D. Some reexamination
of the open courtyard area needs to be carried out to
seek evidence for possible paths, perhaps even, for flower-beds and
hedges, though a large part of this area has been disturbed by a deep
medieval excavation.
The boundary waU found this year indicates the south-eastern hmits
of the enclosed area; however, other instaUations may stUl await
discovery farther away from the house. Likewise, evidence for a
service road linking the estate with the main Roman road from
Rochester to Hastings on Blue BeU HUl is stiU elusive. No evidence has
come to Hght so far to point to the location of the Romano-British
cemetery.
If the ditches (Ditches XD7-XVI) found below the Anglo-Saxon
cemetery can be conclusively shown to belong to the period after the end
of Roman Britain but opened some time before the earhest burials
another gap in the occupation of the site wiU have been closed.
The Anglo-Saxon cemetery extends the history of occupation,
though it is not yet known how far. Its complete Hmits have stUl to be
estabhshed, and work is also needed to explore the possibility of a
chapel in the vicinity of the cemetery and, stfll more important, the
likelihood of an Anglo-Saxon settlement not too far away.1*
14 Further evidence for later occupation was found in 1973 when part of a
site, dating from the thirteenth century, was examined south-east of and close to
the boundary wall.
80
