to be demolished. Will they not at once join hand in hand with the antiquary, and rejoice with him that every nation, and almost every town in Europe, has its public or private collection, wherein these relics may be safely housed, and protected from the hands of desecrating workmen?
   The neighbourhood around Murston has for years furnished us with innumerable examples of Roman manufacture. Many objects of fictile ware from these brickfields enriched the collection of the late Mr. Bland, of Hartlip, which were presented by that gentleman to the Kent Archaeological Society’s Museum, at Maidstone. Dr. Grayling, of Sittingbourne, also possesses a few fine types.
   In 1869 a Roman leaden coffin, containing a skeleton and the fragments of a glass vase and lachrymatory, was 

 found near the old church of Murston, in a field called  "Eleven Acres." This coffin was ornamented with bars of bead moulding, arranged crosswise; the lead was of the finest quality, but of no great thickness. It is strange that in this district, which must have been densely populated, we scarcely ever find any trace of the dwellings or camping rounds of its former occupants. The whole place teems with the ashes of the dead, the ground is constantly being excavated in every direction from Rainham to Teynham, and yet no vestige of a Roman villa or pavement has been (during my researches) brought to light, except the villa at Hartlip.
   It is probable that in past times the vestiges of buildings have succumbed to the plough, and to the various purposes to which we daily see ancient buildings applied.

Page 183  (This page prepared for the Website by Ted Connell)