Excavations at Broomhill Church, Camber, East Sussex, 1985
For ten days, in amazingly perfect weather at the end of September, Mark Gardener, of the London Institute of Archaeology and Andrew Woodcock, County Archaeologist for East Sussex, undertook a _ preliminary ‘dig’ on the site of the Medieval church at Broomhill. They have given us a short report, printed here. It is hoped that the excavation will be continued in September 1986.
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Very little excavation has ever been done on the Romney Marsh. Chance finds and surviving earthworks have shown the high potential of the area for archaeological research. As part of an exercise to assess. the survival of remains under the soil and consider how they may be better preserved the Field Archaeology Unit of the Institute of Archaeology was commissioned to carry out an examination of Broomhill church by East Sussex County Council.
The site of Broomhill church has been’ known for many years. It is marked on some of the earliest maps of the marsh and survives as a pile of stones in the middle of a field near Broomhill Farm, Camber. Two trenches (A and 8B) were cut across the mound, which was thought to be the remains of one wall of the church, but on removing the turf it was found that the walls lay om quite a different alignment. The mound consisted of flint rubble from the church walls and other debris from the collapsed building. Among the stones on the mound was the eroded carving of a head, probably from the top of a respond within the church. The collapsed building debris had also protected a length of wall in trench A, which was found to survive up to one metre in height above floor level. Scratched on the plaster of this wall was the medieval drawing of a= ship. Graffiti of this type have been found in a number of other churches in Kent and elsewhere, especially on churches’ near the sea. It is probable that they were carved to bring good luck and ward off the dangers faced by sailors.
To recover the plan of the church without extensive excavation a resistivity meter was used. — This instrument can detect areas of high electrical resistance in the soil, which may indicate walls. This gave very satisfactory results and when the readings were plotted on it was possible to draw ‘up a plan of the” church. To confirm the plan a third trench (c) was dug and the north-east corner of as the nave was found as Resistivity Survey expected.
The excavation has’ shown that the church was not a single phase structure. The materials used in the walling in trench C were quite different from the flint walls found in trenches A and B. In addition the aisle piers, located in the first two trenches, had been reinforced at a later date y a crude outer surround of mortared pebbles. Similar rinforcement was seen in the wall built against the main
Evidence of later marine incursions was found in the silt which had been deposited after the church was abandoned. The church was allowed to fall down and the roof collapsed. The tiles from the roof were found imbedded in the silts and they had not been robbed out. This would seem to indicated that the church at that time lay in an area which was permanently wet or marshy and the roof tiles could not be recovered and re-used elsewhere.
The excavation of the church therefore does not just provide evidence for the structure of the buildings, but of the history of this area of Romney Marsh. It is_clear that deep deposits of silt have been laid down, underneath which may survive evidence of the medieval landscape of Broomhill. Further excavation is planned for Summer 1986, when it is hoped that more of the west end of the church will be examined and the area outside the church walls also looked at.
Acknowledgements
We are grateful to East Sussex County Council for funding this; trial excavation and to Mr. Cooke for allowing access to his land and for this kind co-operation.
