Lullingstone Roman Villa at 70

By Gerald Cramp

This year marks the seventieth anniversary of the start of the excavations at Lullingstone Roman Villa. This article examines the history of these excavations and the many personalities involved.

BEFORE THE EXCAVATIONS

Roman occupation in the Darent Valley first caught the attention of antiquaries in about 1750 when a mosaic pavement was encountered near the north gate of Lullingstone Park. John Thorpe documented this discovery in his book, Custumal Roffensis, published in 1788. He states that “Sir Thomas Dyke of Lullingstone Castle informed me that Roman bricks had been dug up near the said ruins (Lullingstane Church) and in digging a hole for the third post of the paling (park fence) from the park gate (roughly where the present entrance to the Villa is) part of a tessellated pavement was discovered and that Roman coins and instruments had at times been ploughed up near the said church”.

Although many Roman discoveries were made during the next century in North West Kent including those at Springhead near Gravesend, no more were found in the Valley until the late nineteenth-century. These included a villa site at Wilmington in 1886, a further villa site near the centre of Dartford in 1895 and, that same year, a large villa complex excavated by George Payne at Darenth, about two miles from Wilmington.

In circa 1895, excavators of the main Darent Valley Public works sewer failed to report those groundworks cut straight through the centre of what would later become know as Lullingstone Roman Villa. Other Roman villas were discovered in Farningham in 1925 and Otford in 1927.

These findings demonstrate a pattern to the Roman occupation of the Darent Valley, with known villas at Dartford, Wilmington, Darenth, Farningham and Otford. The first three listed are roughly two miles apart, so archaeologists began asking whether this arrangement existed in the rest of the Valley?

The hunt was on for more Roman villas. An archaeological survey of the Valley was started before the last War by Ernest Greenfield and Edwyn

Birchenough. In August 1939, their investigations resulted in Roman building debris being discovered in the roots of an upturned tree near the north gate of Lullingstone Park; was this the site of the discoveries made in about 1750?

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Fig 1: Guide 1949–50 pages 1 and 4

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Fig 2: Guide 1949–50 pages 2 and 3

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Fig 3: Circa 1954 general view northwest with original park drive and visitor plaform in background Opposite

Fig 4: Circa 1954 general view with park gate and park drive visible in background

In 1947 Colonel Meates joined Greenfield and Birchenough in the renewal of their survey, and in 1948 Meates led a team to excavate another Villa discovered in Farningham. The group returned to the site of the 1939 discoveries in January 1949.

Since that date, several more Roman buildings have been discovered in the Valley including those at Horton Kirby, Shoreham and Kemsing.

Meates’ analysis of the Darent Valley written in 1964 suggested that, besides the extensive use of the land for agriculture, there would likely have been Roman tile production and a road linking the Villas. Still, to date, no Roman road has been identified.

THE EXCAVATIONS OF LULLINGSTONE ROMAN VILLA FROM 1949 TO 1961

Getting permission to dig the site was not easy as at this stage the villa was in the ownership of three organisations: Kent County Council; Lullingstone Castle Estate and Kemp Town Brewery in Brighton. Excavations started on 7th January 1949 in the area where the Roman building material had been discovered in 1939, and by March the mosaic pavement of the villa had been found.

During the first year, discoveries at the villa came thick and fast, and by 30th July 1949, the Illustrated London News reported on the remarkable finds of the mosaic pavement and marble heads in the deep room. The published photograph shows the pavement wholly exposed. The pavement shows the damage of 1750, fortunately, restricted to the two holes. The damage caused by the construction of the Darent Valley Sewer had already been detected. Throughout the season further discoveries continued including a large earthenware jug, hundreds of oyster shells, a bronze disc and a bronze ingot and a small perfume jar. These discoveries were listed in an addendum entitled 1949 Excavation Year to the booklet

Lullingstone Silk Farm 1932-1948 by Lady Zoe Hart Dyke of Lullingstone Castle where many of the finds were exhibited and stored.

On 19th July 1950, Meates gave an illustrated lecture at Maidstone Museum on the discoveries at Lullingstone including the marble busts in the deep room. The address was reported in the Kentish Times. By the end of 1950, the first leaflet on the villa was published showing that there were three areas of excavation, namely the deep room with the marble busts, the mosaic pavement with two panels separated by a step and a bath block comprising a furnace with hot rooms and other cooler rooms (Figs 1 & 2). The first interim report was published in Archaeologia Cantiana volume 63 (1950). By 1951 the whole site was brought into the ownership of Kent County Council.

During the 1952 season, excavations continued in the deep room and the bathhouse complex. From the first year in 1949, many examples of painted wall plaster were recovered from the deep room, and it was during this year that the significance of this plaster was realised. The Times, reported on 22nd February 1952, the discovery of “An early Christian Chapel” at Lullingstone.

The article noted that “The finds include many thousand fragments of painted wall plaster recovered from a basement room into which they had fallen from the walls of an upper chamber at the time of the final destruction of the villa by fire circa

367”. The work of Mr C Nicholson, a restorer of the plaster and Professor J Toynbee recognised the Christian significance of the plaster. It demonstrated the existence of the earliest domestic Christian chapel in the country. At this stage, only half of the basement room was available for archaeological research as a road covered the other half.

The Daily Telegraph of 20th May 1952 reports the discovery of another Roman building on the other side of the road. It was described as a basilica-type building, and teams of volunteers excavated the stone bases of six columns at weekends. After a further season of excavation in 1953 this building was later described as a granary and in 2019 was the subject of new excavations directed by Dr Anne Sassin.

During the next two years (1954 and 1955), excavations continued in several areas of the villa (Figs 3 & 4). Unfortunately, the granary building had been left open for several winters, and by December 1956 its condition had deteriorated to the extent that the Ministry of Works proposed to backfill the granary with spoil from its excavation at Eynsford Castle. Medieval material was found in this backfill during the 2019 excavations.

The first book, written by Colonel G Meates, entitled Lullingstone Roman Villa, was published by William Heineman Ltd in the summer of 1956.

1956 proved a momentous year for excavations at Lullingstone: firstly, the villa had become nationally significant, and the Ministry of Works assumed responsibility for the site and the excavations with Meates as Director. This act enabled sufficient funds for the excavations to continue Until 1956, a road had covered significant parts of the villa.

After many discussions, the road and the Darent Valley sewer were moved, allowing the eastern half of the deep room to be excavated to recover more fragments of the Christian wall plaster. Unfortunately, significant rainfall on 18th July 1956 resulting in a mud cascading down the adjacent hillside and being deposited over the site. The clear-up operation continued for several years (Fig 5).

The deluge of water over the site had one unexpected result; the water displaced flints in one of the walls of the deep room resulting in the discovery of the niche containing the painting of water nymphs.

The excavated area was extended into the hillside to the west of the mosaic floors where the overburden of clay with flints hillwash was considerable. This excavation revealed the remains of the villa’s kitchen and the brewhouse. Your President started his archaeological career in this area behind the kitchen. A lengthy report in The Times of 5th August 1956 described further excavations being carried out to examine an adjacent area where more Roman walls had started to appear. By September 1957 a long trench had been dug into the hillside across several solid flint walls.

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Fig 8: 1958 lifting lead coffin from mausoleum

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Fig 9: 1958 Lullingstane parishoner and not a Roman

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Fig 10: 1958 East view mosiac pavement with Col Meates

Opposite, top left

Fig 5: 1956 Deep Room after the flood

Opposite, top right

Fig 6: 1769 Illustration of Lullingstane Church

Opposite, bottom

Fig 7: 1958 general site view looking west

During 1958, excavations concentrated in the area up the hill. Before long, the walls of two buildings were exposed; one overlaid the other — the walls of the upper building comprised three remaining walls of the Parish Church of Lullingstane. A few burials were discovered on its south side, and the Church was disused by 1412 upon the amalgamation of Lullingstone and Lullingstane Parishes (Fig 6).

The walls of the Church overlaid the walls of the Roman mausoleum comprising two concentric squares.

Within the inner square, a deep square hole had been dug into which two Roman lead coffins containing a man and a woman had been placed. These burials were accompanied by everyday items to accompany the deceased in the afterlife. On 26th October 1958, the Observer carried a full-page article on “The Pagan Burial Temple”. Unfortunately, this part of the Roman villa is not open to the public.

During 1959 further excavations were carried to the north of the mausoleum where a small Roman circular temple with a tessellated floor was uncovered. A temporary viewing platform was constructed during 1960 and the unexcavated soil removed as part of the preparations for the construction of the cover building.

The final year of excavations was limited to examining a few targets where questions remained. I can remember being asked to re-examine one of the sections along the line of the Darent Valley sewer cut.

THE LATER HISTORY OF THE SITE AND THE PRESENT COVER BUILDING

The construction of the cover building was begun in 1962 and finished in 1963. It was opened on Tuesday 2nd April 1963 by Mr

Richard Sharples, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Public Buildings and Works, without any of the diggers being present.

In 1973 the Kent Archaeological Review reported the death of Mr Rook (affectionately known as “Rookie” – Fig 15) and in 1977 the death of Mrs Rook. They had both served the excavations at Lullingstone since its beginning in 1949. Both Mr and Mrs Rook were known for their pleasing disposition and their willingness to help others; he was noted for his model making and artistic talents. Their son, Tony Rook is a well-known archaeologist and author of several books including Roman Bath Houses in Britain, published in the Shire Series.

1. In 1979, the Kent Archaeological Society published Col Meates’ first volume on “The Lullingstone Roman Villa” and the second followed in 1987 after his death. On 31st May 1981, Meates unveiled a portrait of himself at the villa to commemorate his eighty-first birthday. This event was organised jointly by the Kent Archaeological Society and the Archaeological Group of the Royal Photographic Society as a tribute to him. Fortunately, a recording was made of his talk on this occasion and is perhaps the only recording of him talking about the site. He passed away four years later.

In contrast to the opening ceremony in 1963, many diggers from the past excavations were present at the first reunion held on the 17th September 2004 when new interpretation boards were unveiled. At the same time, an appeal was launched in the local press for diggers to come forward and record their memories of the excavation. Many did, and give accounts of their involvement in the discoveries at Lullingstone.

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Fig 11: 1958 Mosaic looking east Middle

Fig 12: 1958

General site view looking east Bottom

Fig 13: Long trench cut into hillside September 1957 over Mausoleum and Church

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Fig 14: 1958 general site view looking east with wall of Lullingstone church in foreground

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Fig 15: 1958 Rookie examining Roman gaming counters

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Fig 16: granary excavation 2019, looking northwest

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Fig 17: 2019 community excavation in the field to the north of the villa

The 60th anniversary of excavations was celebrated at the villa on the evening of Friday 30th October 2009, and many diggers from the original excavation were still able to attend.

This year a few remaining diggers were present at the 70th-anniversary reunion held at the villa on 19th July. Emma Freeman, a custodian at the villa, created an informative temporary exhibition with my help on the history of the excavations. Emma encouraged both Brian Philp and me to talk about our time on the excavations; Brian related how he had started in 1952 when still a schoolboy and I spoke about my involvement since 1957.

Other presentations included one by Caroline Mackenzie launching her new book entitled Culture and Society at Lullingstone Roman Villa. This book examines how the residents lived in the villa during the fourth century.

Dr Anne Sassin also talked about the current Darent Valley Project. This project started with a LIDAR survey, which is proving invaluable in providing latest information regarding the use of the Valley since before the Roman colonisation of the area. During the summer of 2019, Anne organised a community archaeological excavation in part of the granary that was not available for excavation during the 1952/3 dig, and secondly further away in the field north of the villa (Figs 16 & 17). This project is planned to run for a further four years to discover more about the historic landscape of the Valley, ending in 2023. Futher community excavations within the Darent Valley will be taking place in 2020.

Figs 3, 4 and 5 reproduced with kind permission of Tony Rook. Figs 7, 8, 14 and 15 courtesy of Foxphoto.