History Lesson on Doorstep

Canterbury Archaeological Trust has just completed a month's excavation at a fascinating Roman site in Florence Road, Maidstone, west of the River Medway. They were commissioned to excavate following discussions between the developer, Mr Don Crosbie, and Kent County Council Archaeological Team.

Not far below the modern ground surface, the team picked up the remains of what would once have been a substantial Roman structure, almost certainly a villa. The surviving archaeology was composed of masonry foundations constructed in Kentish ragstone with associated robber trenches indicating a number of rooms and part of a bath suite, extending under the Florence Road footpath. Remains of two plunge baths had survived, one with a large area of intact opus signinum floor. Op sig was a building material composed of various aggregates including crushed tile or brick mixed with lime and water. The result was a kind of concrete, waterproof and extremely durable and therefore ideal for building baths. It is likely that pilae stacks from the hypocaust system survive below this floor as it had a rather hollow ring to it. Connecting the two baths were the remains of a drainage system which would have channelled water from one to the other.

The projected plan for the building suggests that the villa complex extends beneath nearby St Michael's CE Infant School and naturally there was a great deal of interest in the work from the local children and their teachers. Some of the children in the Florence Road and were thrilled at the prospect of living on top of a Roman villa!

This was a history lesson on their doorsteps and a great opportunity for CAT to show them what archaeologists do and the kind of evidence they find.

Two days were spent giving infants and the entire junior school (from nearby Douglas Road) an insight into the processes of archaeology and more specifically the discoveries at the Florence Road site. All of the classes had knowledge of the Roman period and the Year 3 (7 and 8 year olds) teacher used the opportunity to support curriculum studies of the local area. Teachers were given additional support materials to use for follow-up work in the classroom. The staff and children were so inspired that the normal curriculum was suspended on the second day in favour of a 'Roman' day.

In addition to the villa remains, a number of earlier ditches were picked up at the site.

In the final week one of these produced masses of pre-conquest 'Belgic' pottery sherds, beneath which lay crushed fragments of a horse skull - a bonus find at the end of the excavation.

Top: Abby Guiness, one of the excavation team, telling children about the Florence Road discoveries. Masonry walls of the villa can be seen and one of the plunge baths. Below: CAT Education Officer, Marion Green, gives six and seven year olds their archaeology briefing before they cross the road to the site. More of the villa is probably beneath their bottoms!

Marion Green
CAT Education Officer