Recent Investigations at the Anglo-Saxon Cemetery, Darenth Park Hospital, Dartford

RECENT INVESTIGATIONS AT THE ANGLO-SAXON CEMETERY, DARENTH PARK HOSPITAL, DARTFORD R. M. WALSH Planning application by Messrs. Associated Portland Cement Manufacturers Limited and subsequent appeal in 1977 caused the Dartford District Archaeological Group to carry out urgent archaeological investigations, which resulted in the discovery of two further graves of the Anglo-Saxon cemetery, one of which contained the unique Darenth Glass Bowl. BACKGROUND Investigations into several areas within the hospital grounds were commenced on hearing in January 1976 that a planning application submitted by Messrs. A.P.C.M. Ltd. was under consideration. The previous archaeological discoveries on and near the site (see Appendix 3) indicated that urgent attention should be given to this area and the Dartford District Archaeological Group immediately invited the Kent Archaeological Society, the Council for British Archaeology, the British Museum and the Dartford Borough Council to hold a special meeting. This was eventually held under the aegis of the Kent County Council at Maidstone. An approach was made in March 1976 to the District Administrator of the Dartford and Gravesham Health District and he readily gave permission for investigations to be carried out on the site with any finds being donated to the Dartford Borough Museum. The two immediate tasks the Group decided to undertake were: (i) To endeavour to trace evidence of the line of the original Roman road and ditches, which appear in an aerial photograph taken in 1946. (ii) To try to find the limits of the Anglo-Saxon cemetery. 305 R. M. WALSH During 1976, trial trenches were dug across the possible line of the Roman road, but in the area chosen there was no evidence and the features appea ·ed to have been completely ploughed out. This was confirmed by further aerial photographs taken by the Group later that year, which indicated an area where ditches might still be traced. In December 1977, the Group learned that there was a distinct possibility tl1at Messrs. A.P.C.M. Ltd. 's appeal might be upheld and that a public inquiry would be held in April 1978. It was therefore considered essential that the Group should be in a position to offer reliable evidence to the inquiry by trying to establish the extent of the Anglo-Saxon cemetery. Our proposals for further investigations were readily approved by the hospital administrators and work commenced in March 1978. THE SITE The site of the Anglo-Saxon cemetery is located at N.G.R. TQ 565721 and 59 m. A.O.D. on a south-west facing slope, just below the crest of the hill on which Darenth Park Hospital was built in the 1890s. The average thickness of topsoil is about 20 cm. and the subsoil depth varies and consists mainly of a clayey brown loam and patches of hill wash (mixture of clay and granular chalk). The bedrock is natural chalk with flint nodules. The bank forming the boundary between the garden area to the south of the entrance drive and the adjacent ploughed field is mainly topsoil, tipped to form the garden terrace when the hospital was built. A negative plough bank (lynchette) has been formed at the base of this as a result of ploughing since the nineteenth century. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The Group is indebted to Mr. J .H. Evans, the District Administrator of the Dartford and Gravesham Health District, Mr. J. Gillot, Sector Administrator, and their staff for their enlightened approach and ready co-operation in connection with this project. The Group is also most appreciative of the wholehearted support of the Dartford Borough Council and their appointed chief officers. Their generous support of the Dartford District Archaeological Group has made possible a very close rapport and has made practical the collection of much more archaeological evidence than would otherwise have been possible. I am most grateful to members of the Group for extremely hard work, sometimes under most diffi- 306 ; • i I . G G ave 5 PLAN OF EXCAVATION Drain b LJ LJ Ll metres I II I Plan 􀀂􀀃􀀄􀀅- Section Trench C Key 􀀨 Topsoil fZ£:J Brown Loam - Sandy Silt Im:! Natural Chalk Fig. l. Location Plan. Fig. 2. Plan of Excavation. : \\ Oa,enth Pa,k Hosp;tal }􀀂 if F·􀀒.􀀓:􀀔.:. ·:.􀀕 .. ,,., THE ANGLO-SAXON CEMETERY, DARENTH PARK HOSPITAL cult conditions. In particular my thanks to Messrs. D. Phillips and C. Baker, assistant directors, Messrs. S. Marlowe and R. Darvill, for assistance with the surveying and plans, Mr. G. Harris and the photographic section, for the plates, and Mrs. M. Newton, for the excellent drawings of the bowl. The Group is most grateful to Mrs. L. Webster, B.A., F.S.A., of the British Museum for her preliminary report on the finds and to Dr. H.D. Cheetham, M.D., F.R.C.Path., for his report on the skeletal remains. Finally my thanks to Miss A. Parke, M.A., M.Sc., A.M.A., the Curator of Dartford Borough Museum, for the advice and assistance unstintingly given and for the research and preparation of Appendix 3. The help of the Kent Archaeological Society in the person of the Honorary Secretary, Mr. A.C. Harrison, B.A., F.S.A., was very much appreciated at the initial meetings. THE EXCAVATION All the earlier recorded burials seemed to relate to an area under or adjacent to the junction of the main drive with Gore Road (see Appendix 3). Hearsay also suggested that other unrecorded burials had been.found when parts of the boundary wall and the gatehouse were demolished c. 1970. More recent work was carried out by Lt.Col. G. W. Meates, F.S.A., when the entrance bellmouth to the drive was widened in 1972. Initially, it was decided to excavate a two-metre-wide trench from west to east at the top of the ploughed field to the south of the hospital drive (see Fig. 2) and roughly parallel with it. This area was not too far from the earliest recorded burials and was badly plougheroded. The top edge of the -eld was selected to ensure minimum damage ws caused to a newly planted cereal crop. The trench was dug as a continuous strip for over 50 m. and then intermittently across the field to a total distance of 315 m. from Gore Road. Mechanical excavation was ruled out because of the shallow nature of the topsoil which was barely 23 cm. thick and lying directly on the natural chalk. It was felt, rightly as it turned out, that the use of a machine could damage any remaining shallow features. The method adopted was that of manual excavation followed by careful trowelling and finally sweeping the surface of the plough-damaged chalk, the recording of all finds and features and rapid backfilling to minimise crop damage or undue advertisement. On the first day an anomaly was detected, associated with fragments of coarse, badly-fired, grass-tempered pottery. As excavation proceeded and the area was cleaned back, the outline of a shallow 307 R. M. WALSH grave was revealed, (Fig. 3 and Plate 2). The grave, as found, was cut only 5 cm. into the plough-damaged chalk. This grave was termed Grave 4 to continue the sequence with those previously recorded. The grave had an approximate east-west alignment of 110° with a much plough-damaged skeleton with head at the western end. The pottery and glassware from this grave are dealt with under 'Finds'. To the north of Grave 4, a post-hole had been cut into the chalk and several packing flints were still in position indicating a post of approximately 20 cm. diameter, (see Fig. 2). Throughout the length of the west-east trench, fragmentary pieces of bone were recovered, which appeared to be of the same general appearance and condition as those found in the grave. After discounting some bone fragments, which were obviously more recent and of animal type, the remaining scatter of bone appears to indicate that a large, plough-damaged cemetery exists just to the north. The bone fragments were found well beyond 100 m. from Gore Road. A second trench on an approximate north-south line was then excavated along the western edge of the ploughed field for a distance of 30 m. to ascertain whether Grave 4 represented the southern edge of the cemetery. Again, a continuous two-metre-wide strip was excavated revealing several bone fragments and an unstratified glass bead, but no graves. It is appreciated, however, that this trench does not conclusively prove that no further graves are to be found south of the west-east trench. An extension to the north of Grave 4 was then opened (see Fig. 2) to ascertain whether further post-holes or features were in the near vicinity and as a result Grave 5 was discovered. This grave was cut more deeply into the chalk (see Fig. 4) and the chalk in this area showed less plough damage. The grave contained two skeletons superimposed one on the other and was aligned more north-south (bearing 20°). The west-east trench revealed several modern intrusions including the trenches for G.P.O. cables, drainage and gas and these will help to pinpoint the location of finds from the earlier reported graves. At a distance of 312 m. from Gore Road a double ditch system was located, regrettably with no finds, but which in style could have been Iron Age or Romano-British. 308 &J Plan Grave 4 0􀀚 w' J 2 Scale Metres Fig. 3. Grave 4. Plan Grave 5 Upper Skeleton l "'---- -􀀈-------􀀉 --· - -·- . -· (i) Grave 5 Lower Skeleton Fig. 4. Grave 5. 􀀄 􀀅 C) 5 (/) 􀀆 0 z (j tTl3::: tTl @ ,, .-< 0 ► deposit 􀀇 z 5! hillwash .,, ► :;,:, :;,:: chalk ::i:: 0 (.I').,, 􀀈 r North-south trench R. M. WALSH THE FINDS 1. Melon-shaped blue glass bead. 9 mm. in diameter, 6 mm. high, hole 2 mm. Unstratified. Possible bead from necklace of Saxon woman. West-east trench Grave 4 2. Male skeleton. Plough damaged, (see Appendix 2). In situ measurement 1.815 m. excluding feet. The skull was ploughed away except for the back of the cranium. The lower jaw was lying over the right elbow and a fragment of the upper jaw was found over the left knee. The pelvis was crushed and fragmentary. 3. Pottery. Over the right shoulder in upright position. One black fabric, grass-tempered cooking pot. 18.2 cm. overall diameter and 12.8 cm. high. Badly plough-damaged with incised lines and stamped circle and dot decoration (see Fig. 6 and Appendix 1). 4. Glassware. Positioned over the left shoulder in an inverted placing, a complete and undamaged glass cup/bowl of fifth century date. The bowl is of transparent glass with a slight greeny brown tinge and measures 13.2 cm. in diameter by 5 cm. in height. The sides were found to be less than 1 mm. thick. The weight of the bowl (including patination) is 57.9 gr. The bowl was mould-blown and decorated on the base with a Chi-Rho monogram surrounded by a vine scroll design and an unintelligible Latin inscription. Around the rim there is a trailed pattern of glass filament. Formed in thirteen turns this was added after removal from the mould (see Appendix 1, Fig. 5 and Plate 1). Northern extension Grave 5 (Double burial) 5. Upper skeleton. Young male (see Appendix 2). Lower legs mainly missing. Skull fractured at rear. 6. Small iron knife blade located near left hip (Fig. 4). 7. Lower skeleton. Adult male (see Appendix 2). Ribs and vertebrae disturbed. Skull missing. 8. Small iron knife blade located adjacent to right hip (Fig. 4). DISCUSSION Grave 4 The glass bowl and pottery vessel were the only grave goods associated with the male skeleton, and on the basis of these finds the grave has been dated middle to late-fifth century. 310 THE ANGLO-SAXON CEMETERY, DARENTH PARK HOSPITAL Fig. 5. Glass Bowl (¼) (Drawn by Mary Newton). Glass Bowl (approx. actual size) 311 PLATE I R. M. WALSH The east-west alignment indicates a Christian burial as does the undisputed Christian design on the bowl. The burial appears to have been carried out with care, not only in the positioning of the body and the grave goods but also in the backfilling so as to avoid damage to the fragile glass vessel. This is undoubtedly the finest moulded glass bowl of fifth-century date in England and the only glass bowl of this date with a Christian monogram to be found in this country. Its survival under less than 22 cm. of well ploughed topsoil is remarkable in the extreme. The possibility that the post-hole to the north of Grave 4 was a Saxon marker for this grave or for the cemetery must also be considered. Although the presence of this Christian bowl does not prove that the burial was Christian, the possibility that it was cannot be ruled out. The finding of the bowl in an east-west aligned grave may mean that the other east-west burials of this period will have to be re-evaluated, it is hoped that future research will resolve this problem. This early Saxon burial might just be associated with the Christian influence established in this part of Kent in the latter years of the Roman period (as evidenced by the Christian chapel at Lullingstone and the finding of part of a Chi-Rho on painted plaster at Otford). In similar shape have been receovered with Chi-Rho symbols or derivacrete evidence of the survival of Christianity into the Saxon period. The nearest parallels to the Darenth Bowl are to be found in southern Belgium near Namur 1 where some fourteen bowls of similar shape) have/ been\ recovered with Chi-Rho symbols or derivatives therefrom but with no inscription as such. The presence of the bowl at Darenth may, therefore, indicate a direct trading link with the Continent. In England the nearest parallel is the mould blown bowl from Westbere, near Canterbury2, which had a nonsense inscription but no Chi-Rho. This bowl was not recorded in situ, was fragmentary and cannot at present be traced. Another plain bowl of generally similar shape was recovered from the Highdown Hill Saxon cemetery in Sussex3 • Thus, the importance of the bowl found in its true context cannot be over-stressed. On realising the importance of this find, the Group wrote to the Chief Inspector of Ancient Monuments asking that the ' A. Danoy, 'Coupes en Verre ornees de Symboles', Archaeologia belgica, xxxiv (1957), 360-73. ' F.W. Jessup, 'An Anglo-Saxon Cemetery at Westbere, Kent, Antiq. Journ., xxvi (1946), 11-21. 3 D.B. Harden, 'Saxon Glass from Sussex', Sussex County Magazine, 25 (June 1951), 260-8; 'Glass Vessels in Britain and Ireland, A.O. 400-1000', in (Ed.) D.B. Harden, Dark Age Britain, (1956). 􀀃1? 3/J R. M. WALSH 314 THE ANGLO-SAXON CEMETERY, DARENTH PARK HOSPITAL site be scheduled to protect it from mineral extraction; this action has now been taken. Ideally, the cemetery should be preserved in case further Christian evidence remains. Expert teams from the British Museum or other specialist bodies could then, with no time threat, carry out research in the future. Certainly the conditions found on the site preclude the normal rescue or salvage type of excavation of site stripping by mechanical means. Grave 5 This double burial is at present undated, but appears to be later than Grave 4 and may possibly be sixth-century. The upper burial of a youth of about fifteen years of age appears to have been hurried, with the head and shoulders hunched up at the north end of the grave. The skull was fractured in antiquity and could indicate a violent death. Little or no plough damage was caused to Grave 5 and subsoil lay over the natural chalk. The lower skeleton of an adult male was headless. The vertebrae and rib-cage had been somewhat disturbed and this would seem to indicate disturbance by the later burial of the youth. The possibility that this was a family grave cannot be ruled out but the relationship (family resemblance) will be more difficult to establish owing to the absence of the lower skull. Further research into the bones of these two skeletons is planned for the future. All the finds and copies of the excavation notes, drawings etc., together with copies of all photographs taken on site will be lodged at Dartford Borough Museum. APPENDlX 1 Preliminary Report on Glass and Pottery from Grave 4 MRS. LESLIE WEBSTER, B.A., F.S.A. The glass bowl is made of translucent greenish metal with mouldblown decoration consisting of a central Chi-Rho monogram on the base, surrounded by two concentric zones, the inner a vine-scroll, and the outer, a continuous Latin inscription. This reads, beginning with the letter immediately above the stem of the rho in the monogram, VITAINTETUIASRUUINDEIURI. This has not yet been fully interpreted, though it contains a number of words which suggest that, like the rest of the decoration, the inscription has a Christian significance. 315 R. M. WALSH / Fig. 6. Cooking-pot (¼) The bowl is a most important example of a type not hitherto found in England. It is of Frankish manufacture, and was probably made in north Gaul where parallels to it have been found in Frankish cemeteries. In particular, the cemetery at Haillot, in Belgium, has produced a series of similar bowls from graves, which are dated to the period c. A.D. 425-500. The decoration on the Darenth bowl is both more elaborate and more carefully executed than on any of these, and it could well stand earlier in the series than the other examples of the type. A date in the first half of the fifth century is probable. Throughout the Anglo-Saxon period, glass was a luxury, much of it imported from Gaul and the Rhineland. The Darenth bowl was just such a prestige import, and the fact that it is decorated with Christian motifs does not necessarily mean that its Anglo-Saxon owner was himself a Christian - something which would itself be extremely unlikely at the period in question. The hand-made pottery bowl also found in Grave 4 needs further study, but its wide-mouthed globular shape and its restrained coarse stamping would not be incompatible with a late fifth-century date for the grave as a whole. The finds from Grave 4 suggest the existence of an important early stratum of settlement on this site. It is interesting to compare them with the fragmentary, but prestigious finds made on the same site in 1954 (Arch. Cant., lxx (1956), 187) when a top-quality silvergilt square-headed brooch dateable to the first half of the sixth century, and a fragmentary bossed-rim bowl of Frankish type were found in a grave dating to the second half of the sixth century. These tantalising indications suggest that the cemetery was probably in use for at least 100 years and contained a proportion of important and well-furnished graves. 316 THE ANGLO-SAXON CEMETERY, DARENTH PARK HOSPrTAL APPENDIX 2 Report on the Bones Dr. H.D. CHEETHAM, M.D., F.R.C.Path. The criteria used in assessing the age, sex and stature of the individual from examination of the bones are those described in Forensic Medicine by Keith Simpson (Arnold, 1974) and Medical Jurisprudence and Toxicology by John Glaister (Livingstone, 1947). Grave 4. Portions of human bones from all parts of a single human skeleton - the base of the skull and the smaller bones of the hands and feet were absent. The bones are generally badly eroded, but there is no evidence of disease or injury before death. All the epiphyses are united indicating an age of greater than 19 years and the partial closure of the skull suture suggests an age of about 40 years. The angle of the sciatic notch is 60° which is a male characteristic, and this is supported by the general size of the other bones and in particular the length of the right femur. The stature of the man can be estimated from the lengths of the right femur (49 cm.) and the left tibia (39.5 cm.) using formulae, and the heights calculated are 173 cm. using Pearson's formulae and 178 cm. using Dupertius and Hadden's formulae. The latter agrees better with the measured length of the skeleton of 181.5 cm. Grave 5, Upper. Portions of human bones from a single human skeleton with an almost complete skull, though many of the other bones are so fragmented as to be unidentifiable. The third molar teeth are absent on both sides of the lower jaw and the epiphyses of the femoral head and the lower end of the femur are ununited indicating that the age is less than 17 years. The angle of the sciatic notch in the pelvis is about 60° indicating that this is a male skeleton though, as this ts the skeleton of an adolescent, this cannot be confirmed by other characteristics. The length of the left femur including the epiphyses is 41 cm. so that the stature estimated by Pearson's formulae is 158.38 cm. and by Dupertius and Hadden's formulae is 160.85 cm. There are no signs of disease or injury before death. Grave 5, Lower. Portions of human bones from a single skeleton from which skull, lower spine and left arm are missing. All epiphyses are united and from the bones present this indicates that the individual was over 19 years of age. The general characteristics of the bones are those of a male, though no definite criteria are available apart from the length of the long bones which are in the range for adult males - right femur 46.5 cm., left femur 46.5 317 R. M. WALSH cm., left tibia 36.5 cm., right humerus 33.5 cm. The stature calculated from these lengths is 168.73 cm., 165.39 cm., and 167.59 cm., using Pearson's formulae, and 173.6 cm., 169.00 cm. and 173.07 cm., using Dupertius and Hadden's formulae. As in the other skeletons, any abnormalities could be attributed to erosion, and there was no evidence of disease or injury before death. APPENDIX 3 Historical Considerations MISS A.G. PARKE, M.A., M.Sc., A.M.A. It is too early yet to sum up the significance of the appearance of a Frankish and Christian bowl of the immediately post-Roman period on a west Kentish site in any study of the Migration period. However, a note of a number of the factors involved, documentary and archaeological, should lead us to the points most easily settled and to those for which further research is necessary. Firstly, perhaps a reminder that the 'withdrawal of the Romans' in c. A.D. 410 was an evacuation of the permanent military force and higher civil service, but not of the majority of the Romanised, and probably Christianised, Britons. The latest authoritative opinion puts the destruction of the Christian chapel at the Lullingstone villa, 9.6 km. by road from the Darenth burial site, at about A.D. 420, and the fire which caused it need not have been by sacking. Then, Frankish remains, possibly rather later in date, have already been identified in the Darenth valley area. An angon and francisca have come from Northfleet (as well as Anglian material)5 whilst another possible francisca has been found in the neighbourhood of the Charton Manor, Farningham site, (Dartford Museum Register, no. 1938-91). Whilst the otherwise well-documented travels of St. Germanus do not detail the routes which he and his took, his visits of A.D. 429/30 and A.D. 447 could well have included at least one voyage up or down the Thames, before striking inland to St. Albans. The significance of the bowl itself as a religious object needs consideration, especially if any further evidence can be derived from ' Arch. Cant., lxx (1956), 187. ' A.J. Philip, A History of Gravesend and its Surroundings, (1954), 20; A Meaney, 'Gazeteer of early Anglo-Saxon Burial Sites'. 318 THE ANGLO-SAXON CEMETERY, DARENTH PARK HOSPITAL its continental parallels. Particular points of interest would be evidence of associated grave goods in the Namur region, which could also be traced in the Darent valley. Further checking of early church records might confirm whether the Franks, mainly Arian heretics, would consider themselves bound by any of the early Church councils, which forbade the use of glass for liturgical purposes. The inscription remains a mystery for which much the most satisfactory solution would be the discovery of a related example elsewhere, so as to give a pointer as to whether the letters in their present form are meaningless because the maker was illiterate and mis-copied an inscription or whether the text is over-abbreviated or both. Intensive study of the Darent Valley, even in advance of further digging can clarify much of the local picture. Recent excavation of buildings at Dartford and Wilmington will amplify our knowledge of local Roman land-holding at least to the third century, with clues for later periods. A thorough re-working over all traceable records of Migration and Saxon period artifacts found in the area may be able to allot these more precisely to sites, or to specific parts of known sites, so that comparisons between them may be more accurately made. SCHEDULE OF GRAVES RECORDED, BY REPORT OR HEARSAY, FROM THE DARENTH PARK AREA PRIOR TO 1978 (1) A report to the British Archaeological Association6 and a later statement by the finder to the Dartford Museum Committee' agree that in 1881 Ernest C. Youens found a Saxon shield urnbo and a spear-head in a trench for a drain about 1.22 m. below the surface. The site 'on the Downs', near the Metropolitan District Asylum (the old name for the hospital) was marked on a map by Mr. Youens which has unfortunately not survived with the B.A.A. Shortly after being appointed Curator, Mr. Youens presented these items to the Dartford Museum (Register nos. 1908-14 and 15). (la) A senior lady, resident opposite the hospital since the first houses were built there, came to the museum shortly after the bowl was put on public exhibition to say that when the gas-main was laid in 1928 in Gore Road, she remembered that human bones, but no other objects were found, at a place immediately to the north of the former hospital gatehouse, and about on the margin of the road or pavement, on the east side near to the hospital wall. (2) A report in Archaeologia Cantiana by Dr. D.M. Wilson, 6 J.B.A.A., xl (1884), 120-1. 'Higher Education Sub-committee, Dartford U.D.C. Minutes 5.3.1908. 319 R. M. WALSH F.S.A., 8 describes a burial in the grounds of the hospital found whilst laying a telephone cable.The grave goods reclaimed were a silver-gilt square-headed brooch and Coptic bronze bowl fragments which are now in the British Museum. (2a) Local hearsay runs that former members of the hospital staff knew of earlier disturbed graves. The references are sufficiently specific to a date about forty years ago, and to the disturbance being by ploughing 'a skull and something that was cut through' for this perhaps to refer to war-time plough-damage in the field where Graves 4 and 5 were found. (3) Report by Lt.-Col. G.W. Meates, F.S.A.,9 on excavations conducted by him in 1972 and 1973 with the then Assistant Curator of the Dartford Museum, Mr. J. Ritson at the request of the Department of the Environment to the Museum 10 along both sides of Gore Road, prior to projected road widening. Only one grave was found, that of a male adolescent without grave goods, aligned approximately north-south, although other ditch and post-hole features proved interesting. The remains are in Dartford Museum. (Register no. 1973-71 (3a) Local hearsay runs that when the gatehouse to the hospital was demolished in 1970, human remains or the fragments of them were found. • Arch. Cant., lxx (1956), 187-91 and plate. • Copy in Dartford Museum. 1° Correspondence in Dartford Reference Library file Darenth 913, Archaeology. Dartford Museum Committee Reports 26.8.1970 and 28.6.1972. 320