The Continuing Saga of Bayford Castle
Following my article on the suggested origins of Bayford Castle, Sittingbourne, published in the Summer 2003 edition of this magazine, I was pleased to read Alan Ward’s extensive comments and criticisms of my theory. Little has been recorded of this castle’s past and following extensive industrial activity in the 19th century, any tangible remains have been obliterated. The best we can now do is to put forward our own individual hypotheses based upon what knowledge we might have. I’m grateful to Mr Ward for his thoughts on this subject.
Bayford Castle is without any shadow of doubt an ancient structure. It is mentioned on most OS maps and I was able to purchase a copy of Christopher Saxton’s map of Bayford and Goodmanstone manors dated 1590, from the British Library. On it he mentions ‘Castle Ruffe’, a name by which Bayford Castle was also known at that time.
Re my hypothesis of the origins of Watling Street, the A2, Mr Ward said that there is no evidence for its original line once having been adjacent to Bayford Castle, some 300m to the north. He does agree with me however, when I suggested the Romans initially used the Lower Road when marching between London and Dover/Richborough.
It is only since embarking upon a course of studies in archaeology with Exeter University that I started to question how the Romans actually got from Richborough to London and Colchester. I assumed they built Watling Street section by section as they progressed across Kent, but I now know this was not so. In the early days of the invasion they would have used existing trackways. It was only later, once the southern tribes had been subjugated, that there was the need for a fast access road back to the Channel ports to be built.
Watling Street conveniently links London, Canterbury and Dover by a more or less straight road. Our Iron Age ancestors would not necessarily have needed to link such large distances. They were not great travellers in comparison to the Romans. If they sought to link one community to the next, the Lower Road would make more sense. Locally, the original settlements of Faversham, Teynham, Sittingbourne and Milton Regis were all in this line, being small fishing ports. There is nothing of Iron Age date along Watling Street.
I agree with Mr Ward when he offers the theory of Ospringe also being a possible overnight resting place for travellers. This is borne out by the recent discovery of Roman remains here, possibly the long lost town of Durovernum. It must be accepted however, that resting places would be needed for east-west journeys as well as those from west-east.
Moving on to the mysterious earthworks shown in ‘VCH’ that once lay by St Michael’s church, I concede they could indeed be flood defence measures, especially in view of the closeness of the stream that once crossed Watling Street here.
This is what makes the study of Bayford Castle such a fascinating and thought-provoking study. I’m truly grateful to Mr Ward for his views on the matter.
John Clancy
