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[Arch Cant. xxiii, 6.]
A piece of paved Roman road was found with
several skeletons in excavations made for the Thames and Medway Canal at
Strood about 1819 ; in C. R. Smith, Coll. Antiqua, i, p1.
xiii, a Roman pavement is indicated, while on the 6-in. Ordnance Survey
map [Sheet No. xix, N. iv], the discovery is marked, seemingly with an
incorrect date, as ‘ Roman foundations.’ [Gents. Mag. 1819,
i, 646 ; Arch. xxii, 436—7, from MS. Minutes Soc. Antiq.
xxxv, 426, 5 June, i 828.] A dozen rubbish pits were discovered In
laying the foundation .:of Budden & Biggs Brewery next to the parish
church and about 150 yards north of Watling Street. In shape the pits were
both square and round, about 4 ft. wide and x 0 ft. deep, and they were set closely together; many relics were recovered from them, and
some (as indicated below) may be seen in Rochester Museum. There were
several Samian vessels, both plain and decorated, and the following potter’s
stamps are recorded : ATILLI.O, PRAEERITI,
TITVRI.M, CAPRASIVS.FEC, DISANIVS, CENTOR.F, TITVRANIS, CLENA, ILLIOMARI. Of these, ATTIVS.FEC
(Attius of La Graufesenque; Flavian) on an 18, and CAPRASIVS FEC (a
Rheinzabern potter) on a 31, can be recognised in Rochester Museum,
together with ILLIOMARI, on a fine bowl (form 38),
8¾ in. diameter. In the
Museum also are three small ‘ Upchurch ‘ beakers, one of which
contained oxidised bronze, two indented beakers of black ware with
granulated surfaces, a vase and fragments of Castor ware, a late type of
vase of black pottery with scored vertical lines, a wide-mouthed urn of
late type, a cauldron of reddish clay provided with lugs for suspension
cords, a funnel of hard dark grey clay, and finally two jugs possibly of
late 2nd-century type. In addition, the published account mentions an
amphora handle stamped TAFVA, fragments
of marble or alabaster, a lava
quern, broken roof tiles, fragments of square glass vessels, the neck of a
flagon, iron nails, two iron knives, one with a handle, two keys, a
spatula, a bronze finger-ring with a green glass bead, the link of an iron
chain, a ferrule with rivets, bone pins, oyster shells, bones of ox, pig,
dog, and deer, a human skeleton, and finally a few coins, apparently of
Tetricus, but only one was legible. It is fairly evident that these
rubbish pits cannot have been contemporary; it is possible that they
represent the occupation of a neighbouring site the precise location of
which is not yet known, over a long period of time. [Arch. Cant. xxiv,
proc. p.. lv.] A denarius of Galba and one of Barbia Orbiana were found in
Strood (? cemetery) in 1867. [Numis. Chron. vii (x 867),
proc. p. 7.] The long record of discoveries here is partly due to the fact
that Charles Roach Smith, one of the founders of the study of
Romano-British archaeology, lived at Temple Place, Strood. But even so
their number and character can only be explained in relation to the small
town of Rochester (see p. 87).
STUDDAL.—See East Studdal.
STURRY.—Cemetery at Oaklands, Staines Hill, near Whatmer Hall. See
Westbere.
STUTFALL CASTLE.—Lympne Fort. See pp 55—9.
SUNDRIDGE.—Near Combebank, many Roman urns were found some time in
the 17th century. Some large red sepulchral urns are now in
the Kent Arch. Soc.’s Museum. [Philipott, Villare Cantianum (1659),
332; hence Harris’ Hist. of Kent (1719), i, 367, and Hasted, Hist.
of Kent, iii, 140.]
SUTTON VALENCE.—A large walled cemetery was found in 1827 in planting
hops in a field called Bowhaws or Bowhalls, on the top of a hill 130 yds.
north of the Grammar School and 220 yds
east of the road to Maidstone. The walls were about 18 in. thick and 3
ft. to 4 ft. high, and built of stone and cement. The north-east side was
60 ft. long, and the north-west and south-east sides 15 ft., and the
south-west side joining them was carried into an oval shape. Two inner
walls joined the outer walls at the north-east corner, enclosing a square
of 8 ft., and within this and against the north-east wall was a cist, 4 ft.
square and 5 ft. deep, the west side only being walled; the
cover was round, and was of coarse cement, 6 in. thick, fixed on with
clay. The contents of the cist were (1) the fragments of a large 2-handled
glass vessel (with a capacity of a gallon) containing bones, ashes and
lime found on the west side; (2) a smaller glass (capacity of a quart)
with a fluted handle; (3) a long-necked earthen vessel, 2 Samian paterae,
one placed in the other and filled with, lime, all in or near the
south-east corner; 2 more and similarly placed Samian paterae were found a
little distance from these; a small Samian cup standing in a glass patera
in the north-east corner. The bottom of the cist was covered with, and
many of the vessels were filled with, lime. Outside the cist (? and the
square enclosure) and running the whole length of the enclosure were two
and a half rows of nearly 100 large unglazed urns of various shapes
containing bones and ashes, placed at regular intervals apart and
accompanied by smaller rows, baked and unbaked, red, blue, brown and black
and Samian cups and paterae, etc., one globular brown urn, 13 in. high,
with illegible characters scratched on it; some stamped ’TITIVS,
QVINTI.OONNAA OPMAC COMPLRIAIAI CRESI’ bronze fibulae, one set
with red glass, part of a bronze clasp, a key, and some bone ornaments. A
‘2nd brass’ of Claudius was the only coin recorded. Charcoal, bones
and a layer of ashes, some inches deep, near the north wall indicated the
‘ustrinum’ of the cemetery. A well, filled up with stones and rubbish,
occurred
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