Exploring Kent's Past

It should not be assumed that this site is publicly accessible and it may be on private property. Do not trespass.

Monument details

Summary

An Iron Age inhumation cemetery, (possibly more closely dated to the Late Iron Age) comprising both inhumations and cremations. Much evidence was recovered from the site in 1955 however the finds from this excavation are thought to been subsequently stolen.

Monument Types

• CINERARY URN (Iron Age - 800 BC to 42 AD)
• CREMATION BURIAL (URN, Iron Age - 800 BC to 42 AD)
• HUMAN REMAINS (HUMAN REMAINS, Iron Age - 800 BC to 42 AD)
• INHUMATION (Iron Age - 800 BC to 42 AD)
• MIXED CEMETERY (CEMETERY, Iron Age - 800 BC to 42 AD)

Associated Finds

• BROOCH (Iron Age - 800 BC to 42 AD)
• CINERARY URN (Iron Age - 800 BC to 42 AD)
• SLING SHOT (Iron Age - 800 BC to 42 AD)

Full description

If you do not understand anything on this page please contact us.

[TQ 9075 6178] Iron Age urn found A.D. 1922 [NR] (1) Highsted Chalk Quarry, Sittingbourne, August 1955; 20 skeletons and 6 cremations found. Belgic pottery, one La Tene brooch. (2) [TQ 9076 6178] The 1955 excavations were centred at this spot. 15 inhumations and 4 cremations were uncovered, some of the former accompanied by pots. Six sling stones were found and one La Tene 3 brooch which was the sole dating evidence. A small ditch enclosed the cemetery and at two points pots had been deliberately thrown in and smashed. Everywhere along its course we found isolated potsherds. The 1922 find (Authority 1) was undoubtedly from this cemetery, most of which had been lost to quarrying before the 1955 discoveries. Now the whole site has gone. (3) An emergency excavation of a late Celtic cemetery at Highsted, under the direction of Mr D. T. A. Ponton, on land belonging to the Associated Portland Cement Manufacturers Ltd., was undertaken during the summer of 1955. (4) [TQ 908 618] Pottery and drawings from the excavation reported by Authority 4 was stolen so no report was published nor is likely to be. The only record of the excavation in Maidstone Museum is a set of six photographs presented by the late Mr A. N. Berry of Tunstall, who took part in the excavation. One shows a number of graves, some still containing inhumation burials, and the others individual graves with pots accompanying the skeletons. Mr Berry stated that there were 20 inhumation and six cremation burials, with Belgic pottery and a La Tene III brooch. Two pots from the site, but not necessarily from the 1955 excavations, are in the Royal Scottish Museum, Edinburgh - Reg. Nos 1978, 373, 375, a third is in private possession. (5) An inhumation burial ground in a quarry at Highsted, Sittingbourne, was discovered and excavated in 1955. Approximately six graves were found and in each, or most cases, La Tene III pottery was associated with the skeletons. The subsequent disappearance of all excavated material prevents confirmation of these details. The only surviving evidence is a contemporary newspaper report and photograph, in the East Kent Gazette, 12th August 1955. (6)

<1> OS 6" 1938-47 (OS Card Reference). SKE48354.

<2> Daily Telegraph 10.8.55 (OS Card Reference). SKE39577.

<3> Maidstone Mus Arch Gaz MS in progress (OS Card Reference). SKE46312.

<4> Oral DT Ponton, Sittingbourne (OS Card Reference). SKE47917.

<5> F1 ASP 29-JUL-59 (OS Card Reference). SKE42345.

<6> Arch Cant 69 1955 46 (OS Card Reference). SKE35452.

<7> Arch Cant 94 1978 267 (OS Card Reference). SKE36189.

<8> BAR 90 (i) Burial Practices in IA Brit 1981 238 (R Whimster) (OS Card Reference). SKE37573.

<9> Field report for monument TQ 96 SW 20 - July, 1959 (Bibliographic reference). SKE4946.

Sources and further reading