A. C. Harrison, B.A., F.S.A.
An area of some six acres of scrub-land has recently been cleared on the summit of the Downs in Wouldham parish. When a tree was uprooted the owner, Mr. Banfield, noticed fragments of Romano-British pottery and further investigation brought to light four small coins - subsequently identified by Rochester Museum as Constantinian. At the request of the owner an investigation was undertaken by the Maidstone Area Archaeological Group under the direction of the writer and it has to be said at once that, although further pottery and two more coins were found, there has as yet been no evidence of any Romano-British occupation site, though one cannot, presumably, be far away. What was discovered, however, and quite unexpectedly, was a ploughed-out Bronze Age round barrow.
This barrow had a diameter of 46 feet, the ditch surrounding it being 3 feet deep and 4 feet 6 inches wide. Unusually this ditch was tapered to a narrow slot about 4 inches wide suggesting that it had originally contained a timber palisade but, if so, this must have been deliberately removed as the filling was clean chalk. Nothing remained of the mound of the barrow which must in any case have been fairly slight as only a moderate amount of spoil could have been obtained from the surrounding ditch. Two burials were found inside the barrow, firstly a cremation in the exact centre and secondly an inhumation 12 feet to the east of it. The cremated bones had been placed in a circular pit cut into the chalk to a depth of 18 inches, with an urn inverted over them. Four post-holes set around the pit are interpreted as being the supports for a platform on which the body was exposed prior to cremation. The inhumation was in an oval pit and, unlike the cremation, had a capping of flints. The body was in a crouched position and the only object with it was a flint shaped like a small dagger - perhaps a substitute for a bronze weapon too precious to sacrifice. The urn, which expert opinion at the British Museum dates c.1300 a.c., stands 18 inches high and has a decoration of three 'horse-shoes'. While such urns are found in this country - the nearest parallel in Kent being the one from Capel-le-Ferne, illustrated in Arch. Cant. lxxiv (1960) p.52 - they are more common in the Low Countries and are perhaps an indication of crossChannel traffic at this period. One interesting small detail was that there were scorch marks on the inside of the urn, suggesting that the ashes were still hot when it was placed over them.
The newly discovered Bronze Age burial urn. Credit: Alaric Bamping.
It is hoped to continue work on the site this summer.
