1. Bridge House
The Group’s first opportunity to explore the heart of
Dartford’s origins came in 1974. The town grew up at a communications
crossroads where the River Darent running into the heart of the county
from the Thames was forded and bridged by the main road running from the
coast to London. It was this road which had been a trackway from the very
earliest times and which was later to be adopted by the Romans as their
main invasion route into the country. The Romans worked their way along it
trying to find a place where the Thames could be forded. This place was
eventually found at London but it has always been a source of amusement to
the Group that had they been able to cross at Dartford our home town would
have been declared the capital!
The same road later became the Pilgrims’ route to
Canterbury, Dartford being one of the many staging posts for the journey
and there then followed a ceaseless flow of other travellers, merchants
and men of business over the centuries to the present day. For much of
that time the river was simply forded but the first known of a succession
of bridges was built in the early 15th century.
From an early stage it was clear that
the town’s redevelopment would involve a re-channelling of the River
Darent. With this in mind permission was granted to the Group to carry out
an excavation on the lawn of Bridge House immediately opposite Holy
Trinity Church. Two initial grids were opened which were later merged into
one excavation. The first obstacle to be tackled was a meandering chalk
path of Victorian date which could be clearly identified on the Ordnance
Survey map of the area.
To one side of
this we found red brick foundations thought to be |
|
the remains of a
cellar.
Layer after layer of the
sub-soil and then gravel was removed. A variety of sherds of
pottery served to indicate that Medieval and then Roman levels
were being recorded. Just before the transition from Medieval
times, an at first mysterious assembly of large mortared flints
was uncovered widening out at one point to a rectangular base.
This was identified to be the revetment wall of one of the
earliest bridges.
Below this level the gravel
clearly revealed the successive fording points which had preceded
the bridge. At least two metalled trackways approaching the ford
in Roman times were identified. These layers were also the richest
in finds although no complete vessels were recovered. This would
seem to indicate that the river was used for the disposal of
refuse. Finds ranged from coarseware including patchgrove wares to
fine and coarse sandy wares to samian forms, one sherd of which
was embossed with a lion’s head. One base of a small vessel of
terra nigra (blackware) and a variety of other sherds were also
found. In addition there were fragments of a small oil lamp filler
or baby’s feeding bottle and many large sherds of beakers,
amphorae and mortaria. A considerable amount of Roman building
material was also located including brick and tile. Metallic finds
including four coins, one of Constantine I and another of Julian
11(4th century A.D.) and a lead weight from a balance.
Beyond these levels at a little
over 2m (6ft 7ins) in depth the water table was reached reminding
the diggers of their close proximity to the present course of the
river and indeed to the origins of this particular site. |