which I found the four articles depicted on a large scale, on the right hand side of the plate. The two paterae of Samian ware were entirely without ornament, and the potters’ names were imperfectly impressed. The handsome vase in the centre of the plate had been burnt in what is called a smother kiln, and most probably was ornamented afterwards.
The discovery of these funereal deposits in what is now a marsh, over which the spring tides of the Medway flow, is of especial interest in relation to the discoveries, made in the Upchurch marshes, on the opposite side of the river, lower down towards the sea, so fully described in the sixth volume of Mr. Roach Smith’s ‘Collectanea Antiqua.’ These discoveries shew that very extensive potteries were there worked by the Romans; and that the and must have been well populated.

 Since then, the gradual encroachment of the water has submerged the pottery district, for miles, on the Upchurch side of the river, and the sepulchral deposits now described, prove that a similar submersion has taken place on the Hoo side. It is not to be supposed that the Romans would inter the ashes of their dead in land subject to periodical overflowings of the tide; and we may conclude that, 1500 years ago, the long tracts of marsh land on both sides of the Medway were well populated, the land being at all times dry; indeed, I have heard a person (now dead, but who, if alive, would be upwards of a hundred years old) say lie had seen corn growing on the Upchurch marshes, and such no doubt was the fact, as some portions of them still remain in ridges.
                                     Strood, August 20th 1874

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