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LARKFIELD.—A cemetery was found in
planting fruit trees in 1892 on the hill above the river Medway, 350 yds.
south-west of Holy Trinity Church, New Hythe, in a field to the right of
the road from New Hythe to Larkfield. It contained 13 graves of urns, some
with burnt bones inside, arranged in no particular order. Among the
pottery were 4 Samian dishes (shape 31) stamped CR/CURO.
FEC; AMBITOV.MA; AET . . . R (?) ABB . . . FEC; which had been
buried with a flat tile covering them, a Samian cup (form 33), Upchurch
ware, much grey and rude ware, some of the urns being 18—20 in. high,
and iron hobnails from 2 places. [James in Proc. Soc. Antiq. xvii,
94—6, where is a plan but no key to it. Site marked on O.S. Sheet No.
xxxi, S.W. Maidstone Museum has Samian, Upchurch, grey and rude ware, and
nails.] See also Eccles.
LENHAM.—Roman coins are said to have been found near the
supposed Roman road; and in the south wall of the church are Roman bricks.
No other Roman remains have been recorded. from here and therefore its
identification with Durolevum, chiefly through the similarity of two
letters, cannot be accepted. [Philipott; Villare Cantianum (1659),
215; Harris, Hist. of Kent. i, 367; Hasted, Hist. of Kent, v,
418.] For Durolevum, see p. 96.
LITTLEBOROUGH.—An old name for the amphitheatre at
Richborough, see p. 33.
LITTLE CHART.—Several urns with bones and ashes (?Roman)
were dug up about 1700 near the Warren House on Cale Hill. Harris, [Hist.
of Kent, p. 69.; Hasted, Hist. of Kent, iii (1780), 226, hence
Gough in Camden Brit. (1806), i, 354.]
LONGFIELD.—Rude Roman pottery with objects of very
different date were found in a dene hole in a flint quarry near the
church. [Journ. of R. Studies, xv, 245.]
LOOSE.—Several cinerary urns, one light yellow, the
remainder brown, much common pottery, and a Samian saucer (form 31)
stamped DOMITVS.F (Domitus of Banassac,
C.I.L. xiii, 10010, 108), were found just to the east of Hayle
Place, but within its grounds, in 1834. Arch. xxx, 537; 6-in.
Ord. Map, Sheet No. xlii, S.E.; Maidstone Museum.]
LOCKHAM.—This remarkable cemetery was in a wood on a hill
11 yds. west of the Roman road from Maidstone towards Sutton Valence and
the Weald (see above, p. 139) between Pested Bars and Lockham Farm in the
parish of Langley and on the opposite side of the road to Joy Wood. The
villa in Boughton Monchelsea (p. 105) lies in a
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Fig 32 walled Cemetery at Joy Wood,
Lockham
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narrow little valley about half a mile south, and was dug out in 1842 by
Mr. C. T. Smythe. The cemetery was a rectangular inclosure 85 ft. long and
77 ft. wide, bounded by walls 3 ft. wide and 1 ft. high from
the original surface. They were well and strongly built of Kentish
ragstone both sides faced with blocks 4 in. by 4 to 6 in. long laid in
regular courses. The foundation below the footing was of irregular blocks
of ragstones carefully fitted together and the whole made firm with earth
from a trench outside rammed in between the blocks.. Part of the
south-east wall had been destroyed. The entrance was thought to be in the
north - east wall. Inside the enclosure the ground rose on the southwest
side, that is, the side nearest the road, and there, facing the road, were
the monuments and burials. These consisted of a square and a circular
tomb, two cists and five urn burials. (1) The square building stood 20 ft.
from the south-east and south-west walls, measured 4˝ ft. by 6 ft.
inside and 12˝ ft. by 14 ft. outside. Only half of the longer
walls
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