The Re-Discovery of Hartlip Roman Villa
By Gerald Cramp
In April and May 2021, the re- discovery of this important Roman Villa at Hartlip, near Sittingbourne, was undertaken by members of the Shorne Woods Archaeological Group (SWAG). David Ambrose, a member of SWAG, has monitored the site for some years, and it was through his guidance, the Villa was re-examined. The Roman Villa, which is on private land and thus cannot be visited, is about 5 miles west of Sittingbourne. The Villa is pleasantly situated on the sloping ground overlooking Roman Watling Street, about half a mile away.
This article arose from a small exhibition on this Roman Villa held by invitation on Thursday 22nd 2021 at the Forum Shopping Centre in Sittingbourne. On this occasion, the Historical Research Group of Sittingbourne received the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service for promoting local history through research, exhibitions, events and publications by the Lady Colgrain,
Her Majesty’s Lord-Lieutenant of Kent. Congratulations are due to Richard Emmett and the Historical Research Group for receiving this prestigious award.
The Discovery of about 1750
The Villa was first identified in about 1750. Edward Hasted describes this discovery in the first edition of his History of Kent, published in 1782. He describes the discovery in the following terms “there were discovered about 30 years ago, the ruins of a building the top of which reached but even with the surface of the ground. As it appears at present, the east end of it has been cleared of the earth, which filled it about three feet deep and thence gradually deeper in length 60 feet to the west end of it whence it is about 10 feet deep. At each end, where the walls return as part of a square, they are plastered over. The walls are bare and composed of large flint stones laid regularly in rows with two rows of large Roman tiles laid close together.
Large quantities of these tiles are scattered around the place, and many building foundations have been discovered in different parts of the adjoining grounds”.
The Re-Excavation of 1845 to 1848
In his publication entitled Collectanea Antiqua Volume 2, published in 1852, Charles Roach Smith describes how several buildings were uncovered between the autumn of 1845 and 1848.
The illustrated article of 24 pages, with a plan showing five buildings, describes in detail his discoveries.
He illustrates several buildings, including the main building with walls standing 10 feet high, a bathhouse, and another large building. Charles Roach Smith describes how “the field slopes consistently towards the northeast. To form a level area, it appears
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Fig 1: Looking south at the exceptional survival of Roman walls at Hartlip villa that the Roman colonists had dug across the field in the line of the trees indicated in Fig 3 and carried the earth forward into the lower part of the field, thus forming a bank adjoining which was built a row of rooms, M on the plan”. The Roman walls were thus preserved to a height of 10 feet in the bank as soil from the upper part of the field drifted into the rooms.
The 1852 article describes another building being about 40 feet by
15 feet and labelled ‘I’ on the plan in detail. The remains included the substructure of two rooms composed of oblong hollow tiles that served as pillars for the floors of which scarcely any traces remained except for a few coarse red tesserae. Both rooms were heated by two furnaces which can be seen in the 1852 drawing of the Bath Block (plate 1). Adjacent to the bath block and partially overlapping it, another more extensive building measuring 70 feet by 50 feet was excavated. This building marked ‘K’ on the plan was described in 1852 as a basilica.
During April and May 2021, it was impossible to investigate these two buildings, but further investigation is desirable to understand the nature of these buildings.
In his 1852 article, Charles Roach Smith illustrates several finds, including a highly decorated fragment of Roman Samian ware made in France and a highly decorated fragment of a glass cup. Other finds include several bronze items, pieces of painted wall plaster, and patterned flue tiles for use in the heating system.
Charles Roach Smith
Charles Roach Smith, who lived from 1807 to 1890, was a prolific writer on archaeological discoveries during the nineteenth century and undertook many excavations himself. One of his many published works was the book entitled “The Antiquities of Richborough, Reculver and Lymne”, an account of the
3 Roman forts in Kent published in 1850. (The third Roman fort is now known as Stutfall Castle at Lympne.). He was well known for rescuing Roman antiquities, which were unearthed during the extensive
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Fig 2: 1782 Drawing in Hasted’s
History of Kent – 1782 Hasted Vol 1 p584
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Fig 3: 1852 Plan In Charles Roach Smith’s Article – 1852 CRS Plan Bottom
Fig 4: 1852 CRS Plate 1 engineering works in London during the Victorian period. He published the results of his researches in his book “Illustrations of Roman London“, published in 1859. He explains that the “excavations which led to those researches were made for sewerage, for what is commonly termed “city improvements” and for deepening the bed of the Thames to facilitate navigation”. He published seven volumes of Collectanea Antiqua between 1848 and 1880.
Apart from the article on Roman Hartlip in volume 2, these volumes contain many articles on Roman and Anglo Saxon antiquities discovered in Britain, France, and elsewhere. He lived in London until 1859, when he moved to Temple Manor, Strood. He was elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London in 1836.
The Kent Archaeological Society’s Museum
The antiquities discovered during the 1840s excavations at Hartlip were presented to the Kent Archaeological Society Museum in 1858 by William Bland, the owner of the Hartlip Estate. William Bland was one of the first members of the Kent Archaeological Society, and his gift to the Society formed the nucleus of the Society’s Museum Collection. These discoveries were first exhibited during the Society’s second annual general meeting held at the Deanery in Rochester in August 1859. Charles Roach Smith explained these antiquities to the assembled company and remarked that “they afforded a good example of the miscellaneous contents of a Roman villa.”
This gift to the Society was listed in the “Catalogue of the Kent
Archaeological Society’s Collections at Maidstone” prepared by George Payne and published in 1892 both as a separate pamphlet and also in volume 19 of Archaeologia Cantiana, which is the first Index. The Hartlip Roman Antiquities form part of the Society’s Collection, which is housed in Maidstone Museum. George Payne F S A was another influential Kentish Archaeologist who, for example, published the first Archaeological Survey of Kent in 1888.
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Fig 5: Drawing of Samian Fragment
In Charles Roach Smith’s Article 1852 CRS p13
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Fig 6: 1852 CRS wall
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Fig 7: Comparison of 1852 & 2021 wall
The Re-excavations in April and May 2021
This year’s excavations aimed to locate the buildings described, illustrated, and planned by Charles Roach Smith in 1852. It has not been possible to place this 1852 plan of the buildings accurately on a modern map. Fortunately, the excavation uncovered a stretch of the Roman walling illustrated in the 1852 article. In the 1840s, this Roman walling survived to a height of 10 feet – it is now about 8 feet high and is still an exceptional survival from the Roman period. The red line on the 1852 drawing shows the wall loss between 1852 and 2021.
As a result of this excavation, the remains have now been plotted on a modern map using GPS equipment owned by the KAS.
2021 Finds
Finds from this year’s excavation include some of the highly decorated flue tiles used in walls for heat distribution and a piece of a finely decorated bowl of Parchment Ware made in the Oxfordshire area. Other finds include some pieces of Samian and some locally made coarse pottery and red tesserae used in floors.
This small selection of finds indicates the Villa was occupied during the second to fourth centuries. Most of the finds are un- stratified as they were discovered when the backfill from previous excavations was removed.
Summary
This excavation aimed to locate the Roman remains that were the subject of the 1852 report and to plot the remains using GPS techniques; this was achieved. Thanks are extended to the owners and tenants of the site who readily permitted these excavations.
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Fig 8: Today’s view of 1852 & 2021 wall
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Fig 9: Roman Walling located using GPS techniques