SITTINGBOURNE.—Settlement, see pp. 96—8.
SLAY HILLS SALTINGS.—Potteries, see p. 132.
Two hoards of jewellery have been found. (1) In an urn found about
1864 on the Saltings west of Greenborough Marshes, were a hinged silver
torc, the decorated buffer-shaped terminals of another, two silver rings
set with engraved stones, together with silver coins of Nero (1),
Vespasian (2), Domitian (1), Trajan (3),. Hadrian (2), Pius (2),
Marcus Aurelius (2), and Faustina Junior (2), and bronze coins of Pius and
Crispina. The coins fix the date of the deposit about A.D. 180. The rings
are of late 2nd-century type; the intaglios represent (i) Perseus holding
up the Gorgon’s head, and (ii) a cock upon an ear of corn. Jewellery
purchased by British Museum in 1894; the coins seem to have disappeared.
[Payne, Coll. Cant. (1893), 74.] (2) The second hoard was found,
surrounded by the charred wood of the casket which contained it, on the
site of a Roman building (apparently destroyed by fire) in Slay Hills
Saltings. It consists of silver bracelets with snake-head terminals, two
bronze nail-charms, and a fused mass of silver rings, some set with
engraved stones. The two intaglios still identifiable represent (i)
Minerva, armed, with Victory on the outstretched palm of her hand, (ii)
Fortune, with cornucopiae and steering rudder. No coins were found with
this hoard, but the rings are of late 2nd-century type. The date of the
find was before the publication of Payne’s Catalogue in 1882. [Payne
Collection, British Museum, Nos. 32 1—6. Payne, Coll. Cant. (1893),
74—5. Brit. Mus. Guide to Antiq. of Rom. Britain (1922),
pp. 64—5.] Mr. Peter Gray of Rainham has noticed wattle and daub
on the saltings, and has found roofing tiles, and what seems to be the
remains of walling. See also Upchurch.
SLOUGH F0RT.—See Grain.
SMARDEN.—A coin of Faustina was found at Romden. [Journ.
Brit. Arch. Assoc. xii (1856), 235.] Roman pottery found at
Romden Place in 1913. [The Times., 26., Feb., 1913. Inf. from Mr.
N.. C. Cook.]
SNODLAND.—For the villa, etc., in Church Field, see p. 124.
The barrow at Holborough, 93 ft. in diameter, was opened in 1844 by Thomas
Wright. At the bottom was found a platform cut into the chalk, and on this
a smooth artificial floor was laid; on this, again, lay a thin coating of
ashes, among them long nails, potsherds showing the action of fire, and
part of a Roman brooch, but no urns and apparently no bones were
discovered. [Arch. Journ. i (1844), 262—3; Wright, Wanderings
of an Antiq. (1854), pp. 186—9.] See also Halling.
SOLE STREET.—See Crundale.
SOUTHFLEET.—See Springhead, p. 92.
SPRINGHEAD.—Settlement, see p. 90.
STANFORD.—Coin of Constantius II found in 1921. [Inf. from
Mr. N. C. Cook.].
STANGATE CREEK.—Potteries, see p. 132. In Dover Museum are
two brooches with pierced sheaths..
STODMARSH.—Potsherds have been found near the church. [Soc.
of Antiq. Proc. v, 125.]
STOKE-IN-HOO.—At White’s Works, 150 yds. from the
shore north-east of Lamhead Creek and opposite Burntwick Marsh, two rude
red urns (one, 17 in. high, 41 in. circumference; the other, 7 in. high),
both containing burnt bones, were dug out in 1890, with 4 Samian dishes,
one stamped CRESIMI, and another with
nearly, vertical sides and a plain flat rim an inch wide, a very shallow
black saucer 7¾ in. diameter, and part of a 2-handled drab-coloured vase.
[Soc. of Antiq. Proc., xiii, 189; Arch. Cant. xxi, proc. p.
xlvii; Payne, Coil. Cant. (1893), p. 196, note.] The late Mr. G. M.
Arnold had some pottery from here, mostly common ware.
STONAR.—The 6-inch Ordnance Survey Map [Sheet No. xlviii
N.E.], ‘accepting the unwarrantable identification of Camden (Britannia,
1607, p. 240) of a place mentioned in the Hist. Brit. (see
above, p. 28), calls this place Lapis Tituli, and records Roman
coins, urns, swords, axes, armour and human remains, south of the supposed
town. Swords, urns, etc., and a stone coffin, all thought to be Roman,
were found in reconstruction at Stonar House. [Ord. Surv. Name Books.] In
Roman times there seems to have been a long narrow beach, west of the
Stour, extending south-west from Pegwell and Minster, and terminating just
north of Sandwich and the Stour, and thus forming a breakwater for
Richborough harbour. (See pages 24 and 25.)
STONE (near DARTFORD).—Coins have been found near the
Lunatic Asylum and Wading Street. [Arch. Cant.. xviii.. 313.]
Potters’ kiln. see p. 121.. Burials occurred near Stone Castle, south of
the road from Dartford to Swanscombe and not far from Greenhithe, in 1902—1904.
They included a group of 2 Upchurch urns, containing bones, one, 11¾ in.
high, a red urn with bones, a jug, a small urn and bits of iron found at
the head of a skeleton; another group of 2 jugs, one, 9½ in. high,
containing bones, a small Samian vessel, 3¾ in. high, found near a
skeleton; 2 Castor vases, one, 7¾ in. high, ornamented in white slip on a
red ground. [Arch. Cant. xxvii, introd. pp. lxxix, lxxx, plate.
Some in Dartford Museum.] A skeleton, and urns, etc. [Daily News, 21
Feb. 1907], as well as other cinerary urns, 7½ in. and 8½ in. high,
were found, from 1½ ft. to 6 ft. below the surface, in 1907. [Daily
Graphic, 29 April, 1907.]
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