unexcavated, in Fawkham parish which is thought also to be that of an Iron Age farm. The Ash farm may or may not have been already in existence when Julius Caesar made his forays against Britain.
   It has long been known that the valleys of the Darent and the Medway were colonised in Roman times and, as the years go by, increasing evidence is found of Roman or Romano-British occupation of the uplands between those valleys. In Ash the most important discovery from that era was made in 1914, when a Roman villa was found on land then farmed by Mr Gorge Day and now within the confines of New Ash Green. The villa was excavated at the time and again after the commencement of the New Ash Green development. From subsequent discoveries made in its vicinity, there appears to have been a more extensive occupation than was at first thought.
   Whether or not a Romano-British presence continued after, or even until, the withdrawal of the Roman legions, it is with the Saxon settlement that the history of Ash, as such, begins. Allegedly the Saxons 

eschewed buildings, or ruins of buildings, left by their predecessors. Whether or not such was the case, it seems likely that in Ash the settlers built their homes on virgin land some short distance from whatever Roman ruins then remained. Presumably, the feature of their new habitat which most impressed them was a prominent ash tree or, possibly, a prevalence of trees of that kind.
   The Saxons seem to have made their first serious inroads into this country about the middle of the fifth century, but there is no knowing how soon, or how long, after that they arrived in Ash, or whether as pagans or Christians. Christianity came early to West Kent, the diocese of Rochester being founded in the year 604. A Saxon church was almost certainly built at some time in Ash, probably on the site where the present church stands. The church is not mentioned in Domesday, but in the Textus Roffensis, the ancient charter book of the mother church of Rochester, Ash (Aeiace) is