
Excavations at Eccles 1969
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Rise and Decline: Dover and Deal in the Nineteenth Century - Part II
Two Lost Court Lodges - Longfield and Wootton
EXCAVATIONS AT ECCLES, 19691
EIGHTH INTERIM REPORT
By A. P. DETSIOAS, M.A., F.S.A.
lNTRODUOTION
ExoAVATIONS were undertaken by the Eccles Excavation Committee
for an eighth season, beginning in early April and terminating at the
end of October, 1969, at the site of the large Romano-British villa
at Rowe Place Farm, Eccles, in the parish of Aylesford (N.G.R.
TQ 722605; O.S. 6-inch Sheet TQ 76 SW). A continuous fortnight's
work was also carried out in August, during which period a Training
Course in Romano-British Archreology was based on the site.
Permission to continue with this work was again readHy granted by
the landowners, Messrs. Associated Portland Cement Manufacturers
Limited. I am once more greatly in the debt of their tenant farmers,
Messrs. A. A. & A. C. Southwe11, for their welcome on their land and for
continuing to facilitate our work by their generous co-operation.
Financial assistance for this work wa-s given by the Kent Archreological
Society, the British Academy, the Society of Antiquaries of
London, the Haverfield Bequest of the University of Oxford and other
private contributors.
The major burden of the work fe]l upon many volunteers, amongst
them several members of the Lower Medway Archreological Research
Group, without whose help this excavation could not have been undertaken
and whom space considerations alone prevent me from mentioning
individually. I must, nevertheless, make an exception in the case of the
following to whom I am particularly indebted for their continuous
support throughout the season's work: Mrs. D. Cloake, Miss S. M.
Emerton, Miss M. B. V. Webster, and Messrs. I. J. Bissett, R. W.
Chapman, N. H. Cloake, A. C. Ha.rrison, B.A., F.S.A., 0. K. Hales,
T. Hetherington, T. Ithell, B.Eng., W. A. Knowles, R. Lowson, B.A.,
C. E. J. Martin, and P. Thornhill, B.A. I am also grateful to Mr. I. J.
Bissett, for continuing dra,w the pottery a,nd the small finds; Miss D.
1 Arch. Oant., lxxviii (1963), 125-41; lxxix (1964), 121-35; lxxx (1965), 69-91;
lxxxi (1966), 44-52; lx.wi (1967), 162-78; lxxxhi (1968); 39-48, and lxxxiv (1969),
93-106. I am once age.in personally indebted to Professor S.S. Frere, M.A., F.S.A.,
for his practical support of the work of the Eccles Excavation Committee over the
yea a11:d for his kindness in rea.ding through this report in dra and suggesting
various unprovements.
55
EXCAVATIONS AT EOOLES, 1969
Charlesworth, M.A., F.S.A., for reporting on the glass; Miss S. M.
Emerton, for much help with field drawing; Mr. R. G. Foord, for the
monochrome site-photography and two of the prints illustrating this report;
Mrs. K. F. Hartley,B.A.,for reporting on the mortaria; 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. Finally,
I must a]so acknowledge my indebtedness to my wife for undertaking
the initial processing of the pottery.
Tm: Exo.A.V ATION
This season's work was intended to continue the examination of the
villa's living quarters to south-east of the area reached in 1968 and to
trench across the lines of the underlying ditches.
Periods I-II, to c . .A.D. 55
Ditch 1v2 was sectioned to north-east and south-west of the villa's
main block.of rooms, and its total known length has now reached some
135 ft.; its outline and dimensions remain unchanged, and it had been
filled in with a deposit of soft brown soil which is equated with the
topsoil in Romano-British times. No material was found in this filling
to determine the ditch's dating; on the other hand, as its alignment is
not quite parallel with that of Ditch VI, it is clear that these two ditches
are not contemporary.
Ditch vs was not found at the north corner of the central of three
trenches cut across the width of Room 106 where it should ha,ve passed
if it were rectilinear; it must be assumed, therefore, that it has changed
direction and passed under the unexcavated area to south-east of this
room's north corner.
Dit,cJ,, JV4 was sectioned by four trenches, and its known length is
now0 rather more than 213 ft.; though a slight deviation in its course
has been noted, it remains rectilinear and of approximately the same
width (S ft.) and depth (3 ft. 9 in.) as in the 1968 trenches. Towards the
south-eastern limit of the site, this ditch is very difficult to distinguish
from the subsoil through which it had been cut as its back-filling consists
of practically identical material. o A terra nigra plate, stamped ANDOR,7
2 Arch. Oant., lxxxiv (1969), 94.
8 lbw., 94.
' lbi,d., 94-5.
6 The line of this ditch is not shown on Fig. 1 to its full known extent at the
extreme southern area. of the site.
0 The same difficulty was experienced in previous years with a similar
ditch (Ditch II) further to west of the site; cf. Arch. Oant., lxxxii (1967), 164, and
Fig. I.
1 At Colchester dated A.D. 43/44-61; of. C. F. C. Hawkes and M. R. Hull,
Oamulodunwm, Oxford, 1947, 208.
56
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