East Farleigh Roman Buildings: August 2010 Update

August 2010 Update

Image: Open Day in August

The Maidstone Area Archaeological Group has been investigating a number of Roman buildings overlooking the River Medway at Lower Gallants Farm, Lower Road, East Farleigh since 2005. This was initially reported in Newsletter no.76, with subsequent updates in no.79, no.82 and no.84.

The foundations of Building 1 were located by resistivity survey and excavation in 2005/6 uncovered a domestic building similar in plan to that reported in Smith’s Topography of Maidstone and its Environs, 1839, p57. During 2007 a further four contemporaneous non-domestic buildings (Buildings 2, 3, 4 and 5) were found about 40m to the southeast, where they were preserved behind a lynchet with some walls remaining to a height of over a metre. All the buildings appear to have been constructed in the early to mid-third century, and demolished at the end of the fourth century.

Excavations this year have concentrated on Building 5, which ended its life as a kitchen. Construction appears to be early third century and its original use is still open to speculation.

The building consists of two rooms lying east/west, each 4.5 metres square. These are surrounded on the north, east and south sides by a 2.3 metre wide corridor. Just inside the entrance between the two rooms is a mortar scar on the floor, indicating the position of a quern. A large greensand quern top stone broken into five pieces, and half of a second one, were scattered on the floor of this room (see Newsletter no.84, page 5). Also found was part of a millstone grit lower stone. The quern was adjacent to where two pots were found built into the floor last year.

The northwest corner of the room contained a stokehole-like hearth consisting of a fire channel between two rows of stone. This may have heated a cauldron placed over it. The

The walls of the room contained evidence of burning where small fires had been lit. Stake holes and daub indicated the position of a small 350mm-diameter oven. Against the south wall a patched area of floor produced a possible hoard of 130 mid-fourth century copper alloy coins, ranging in size from 3mm to 15mm diameter. Fifty coins were 4mm in diameter, and these are believed to date from 350-365 AD. These coins are being studied by staff at the British Museum.

The east room produced a second oven, 700mm in diameter, located in the southeast corner opposite the 1.2 metre bread oven located last year. A common stokehole for these ovens is under investigation. This stokehole built into the floor has left the decayed mortared floor of the room covered in a sooty/ash deposit.

The corridor has a mortar floor on the north and east sides. The walls at the west end of the north corridor were plastered with a layer of opus signinum on a base coat of yellow mortar. This had at some time been painted white. Nearby a small D-shaped alcove 600mm wide was located at floor level on the inner wall.

The external painted and decorated render previously located was proved to cover the whole of the outside of the west wall.

An Open Day held on the 1st August as part of the Festival of British Archaeology attracted over 300 people to the site.

Excavations will continue until the beginning of October, when the site will be backfilled.