East Lenham Moated Manor: Finds from the Garderobe
We know from histories that East Lenham was once a parsonage. Perhaps we now have evidence of an ecclesiastical house or chapel on Stack Platt (as the plateau within the horseshoe of the past moat is now known), based on the evidence of finds in a garderobe. These were made in a dig in April 2008, which finally gave up secrets about the Tudor, and earlier, manor house.
From the small drawing of the house on William Boycott’s 1660 map it appears that the house had four floors. The accuracy of the map, with the moat and fields all drawn as they are still, would suggest that he may have drawn the house exactly as it was.
A wall located in 2007 was uncovered again in our first 2008 trench. It was tracked in a westerly direction but a mass of yellowish clay indicated it had been robbed out and backfilled at some point. We persisted and dug another trench 3m further along. Although any structure of the brick wall was absent we did find the garderobe. It was 70cm x 80cm in size and 70cm deep, the base being chalky clay/hill-wash. There was no evidence of any drain into the lake, but at that level water was seeping in from the water table.
4 or 5 rows of neatly cut, smoothly finished chalk blocks were revealed. The top layers had a ‘glazed’ deposit of brown excrement (at first mistaken for painted plaster!). Dispersed within the soil of the garderobe were various pieces of glass. The first found was a piece of window glass with a painting of a bishop (or archbishop) with a halo around his head. This was identified as 15th century by Leone Selinger of Canterbury Cathedral Glass Studio. The image is very like one of an Archbishop on a piece of 15th century glass found in Canterbury, the mitre design being exactly the same (Stained Glass of the Middle Ages, Saint and Arnold, p 232). The rectangular shape of our piece of glass suggests it was more likely from a house than a chapel, a fact confirmed by Leone Selinger.
A piece of glazed medieval tile had similar glazing to the tiles found on the 13th century chapel site at Royton (1 mile south of East Lenham, see LAS Journal vol 1). A local archaeologist has since confirmed findings of identical tiles from a building site in Charing, close to the medieval Archbishop’s Palace.
Also in the garderobe were two late-16th century Venetian tarzee. One has a beautiful lattissimo twisted design of white opaque glass in the stem. There are 34 strands of white glass with four finer strands between them. The floor of the bowl has 17 raised white glass applied lines. No pieces of the actual upper bowl were found, only its flat floor, so it could have been rather like a cake stand than a cupped glass. Restricting the stem are two bands of greyish glass that have been applied over the lattissimo glass. The bottom of the base has been neatly folded in to form a rim.
The other tarzee had horizontal bands of white glass on the bowl with diagonal lines between them, an intricate cut design crossing to make a lattice diamond design. Also found were four 16th century green glass bottles and thin (1mm) glass, with spiral fluting around the necks. Amongst these glass finds were some 50 pieces of bone, including rabbit, pigeon, chicken, carp, flatfish, duck and rat and many oyster shells.
It is now evident that the house was a high status Manor house (possibly with ecclesiastical connections), judging by the items found in the garderobe! The chalk blocks probably extended up the side of the house for four floors (if William Boycott’s drawing of 1660 is accurate). One can invent a mental picture of celebrations and feasting (room service in the solar) and the broken glasses and refuse being thrown down the long drop.
If the garderobe was on the south east corner of the house (our best guess from results so far), then next year we may try to locate the north east corner in the area beyond the present farm track, where we have not yet excavated.
Lesley Feakes
Lenham Archaeological Group