Ramsgate’s Roman Heritage
In 1800 Edward Hasted wrote:
'... The ville and town of Ramsgate... the inhabitants, of which... are fond of having it famous for its antiquity... have fancied the name of it to have been derived from Romans gate, that is, from its being used as a port, or landing place, by the Romans; but... it may well be doubted, whether during the time of the Romans frequenting this island, there was here any way or gate at all to the sea... no Roman coins &c. have been known ever to have been found here... might... a station [have existed] in this island.'
At a meeting of the Numismatic society in May 1841 a Captain Martin exhibited Roman coins and plans of features discovered during the excavation for the construction of a patent slipway. The coins were found 'among the piling of an ancient jetty' which Captain Martin asserted was of Roman date.
As the town expanded in the 19th and early 20th century, the East and West Cliffs of Ramsgate frequently provided antiquarians with tantalising glimpses of late Iron Age and Roman remains. In 1878 Robert Hicks M.R.C.S. published a lithograph of vessels and objects he had collected from archaeological features he had examined on the East and West Cliffs. All were encountered during the construction of houses in the growing town and Hicks lamented that:
'it seems always necessary to build a house in order to discover them; for whenever we have made an attempt by trenching, in a likely spot, we always draw the covers blank'
A sentiment many archaeologists past and present will have sympathy with!
The descriptions of the circumstances of discovery of these features made by Hicks reveal his diligence. Careful observations were made of the location of archaeological features and the vessels contained in them providing a record of three groups of cremations of Late Iron Age and Roman date and a single Roman inhumation with nails from a coffin all within a radius of two hundred yards on the West Cliff. Hicks also recorded at least four inhumations.
and several cremation groups on the East Cliff near the Granville hotel.
The two further burials on the West Cliff are reported by Corbin, encountered during building works in the grounds of St. Augustine’s college in the later 19th century and in 1902 C. H. Woodruff published a report of the discovery of a disturbed grave in Archaeologia Cantiana (Payne 1902). This grave, located further to the west of Hick’s discoveries but still on the West Cliff, was cut three feet into the chalk and apparently originally contained a large amphora in which had been placed four pottery vessels, a vessel of lead and one of bronze shaped like a bucket with a ring soldered to its base.
The finds encountered in the excavation of the chalk pit in the late 1870’s at the northern end of the High Street, were reported by James T. Hillier in the 1889 edition of Archaeologia Cantiana. His description of pits, ditches and a well in what he called a 'British Village' include many finds of Roman date including coins, pottery, animal bone, and a bronze vessel.
Between 1922 and 1923 the development of the Royal Esplanade area on the West Cliff by the Borough of Ramsgate produced several Late Iron Age and Early Roman finds, most probably originating in cremation or inhumation groups. Excavations in this area by the Trust for Thanet Archaeology in 2002 discovered a curving ditch of Roman date and other minor features of the same period.
A skeleton with a poppy head beaker was unearthed in the grounds of the National Sunlight Laundry in Willsons Road on the West Cliff at Ramsgate, possibly during the excavation of an air raid shelter in 1939. Recent development of the site produced no further burials but the area had been extensively terraced in the 19th century.
It had been clear since the late 19th century that Ramsgate was the site of an extensive Roman settlement of some size but there have been few opportunities to explore the central area further because of the extent of early suburban development.
In recent years there has been an increased level of development in Ramsgate often exposing areas of the town long built over to scrutiny by archaeologists.
Excavations carried out during August on a small development site on the West Cliff has afforded the Trust the first opportunity to investigate the nature of the burials occurring in this area using modern excavation techniques.
Five inhumations and a small pit, which may have contained an infant burial, were encountered on the site. All the graves were aligned approximately northeast-southwest. Previous erosion of the site through agricultural processes and subsequent building and demolition had truncated the graves to a depth of less than half a metre and two in particular only survived to 10 centimetres deep. Bone preservation was very poor and it is likely they will render limited information. All of the graves showed evidence for deposition of grave goods, mostly consisting of fragmentary pottery vessels. Each of the skeletons was buried within a coffin or coffin-like structure as nails were present around the inside edge of the graves.
One grave provided a virtually intact assemblage of pottery vessels, placed on a board at the end of the grave, over the feet of the female occupant. The vessels were accompanied by a copper alloy bracelet formed by twisted wire strands and a further single strand of copper alloy wire with two knots, which may have been used to seal a fabric pouch. A copper alloy bracelet was around the left wrist of the female skeleton and she may have been wearing shoes, as hobnails were found beneath the pottery vessels at the foot of the grave although none of the foot bones survived.
It is clear from the discoveries made by the antiquarian pioneers that they were recording the gradual destruction of funerary groups dating from the Later Iron Age to the Roman period. The location of these groups suggests that they once lined the ancient trackways that intersected at the three valleys forming the sea gate at Ramsgate.
The plotting of the discoveries made by the antiquarians described above and the recent excavation by the Trust, along with other records on the Thanet Sites and Monument register’s GIS database is now putting Roman Ramsgate firmly back on the map. Whatever the true etymology of the place name Ramsgate, Hasted would perhaps not have been so sceptical if he had known what we do now of Roman Ramsgate.
Ges Moody and Emma Boast
Trust for Thanet Archaeology.
References
Hasted, E. 1800. The History and Topographic Survey of the County of Kent. Volume X. p.385.
Hicks, R. 1878. Roman Remains found at Ramsgate. Archaeologia Cantiana. Volume XI p.14-18.
Hillier, J. T. 1889. A British Village at Ramsgate. Archaeologia Cantiana Volume XVIII p.1-4.
Payne, G. 1902. Researches and Discoveries in Kent 1900 - 1901. Archaeologia Cantiana. Volume XXV p.lix-lxii.