Investigations at Blacklands, Faversham

In August 2007, archaeological students and members of the Kent Archaeological Field School descended on School Farm, just to the east of Faversham, and adjacent to Watling Street, to investigate the probable site of a Roman settlement found by field-walking, limited excavation and geophysical survey.

Paul Wilkinson had discovered the site by field walking some years before and had excavated a small area with Brian Philip in 1996. The initial

Mosaic fragments retrieved from the demolition debris of the hypocaust flues. The mosaic pavement covered an area of about seven square metres. It was full colour and pictorial, with individual tesserae sometimes smaller than one centimetre.

The geophysical survey; the black lines are conjectural walls, some of which have now been shown to be Roman foundation walls. The Roman bath-house (left) has a hypocaust system built of chalk blocks which were full of demolished parts of the building including mosaic fragments and painted plaster.