Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

A cemetery in use during the pagan Saxon period from the late 5th century to the middle 7th century was excavated by Miss V Evison and G C Dunning on the Buckland council house estate in 1951/2 when 126 graves were found. Excavations in 1994 by the Canterbury Archaeological Trust revealed another large section of the cemetery; 244 graves were excavated. The cemetery may originally have had more than 500 such burials and further burials could survive in the area.

The site extends over the middle slopes of a steep south-west facing side of the Dour valley. On Upper Chalk 30-80m contours. The enclosed un-excavateed land may contain further burials.

Monument Types

• INHUMATION CEMETERY (Early Medieval or Anglo-Saxon - 475 AD to 650 AD)

Associated Finds

• COIN (Late Iron Age - 100 BC to 42 AD)
• COIN (Roman - 43 AD to 409 AD)
• INTAGLIO (Roman - 43 AD to 409 AD)
• SHERD (Roman - 43 AD to 409 AD)
• ANIMAL REMAINS (Early Medieval or Anglo-Saxon - 450 AD to 650 AD)
• ANNULAR BROOCH (Early Medieval or Anglo-Saxon - 450 AD to 650 AD)
• ARROWHEAD (Early Medieval or Anglo-Saxon - 450 AD to 650 AD)
• AXEHEAD (Early Medieval or Anglo-Saxon - 450 AD to 650 AD)
• BALANCE (Early Medieval or Anglo-Saxon - 450 AD to 650 AD)
• BEAD (Early Medieval or Anglo-Saxon - 450 AD to 650 AD)
• BEAKER (Early Medieval or Anglo-Saxon - 450 AD to 650 AD)
• BILL (Early Medieval or Anglo-Saxon - 450 AD to 650 AD)
• BOWL (Early Medieval or Anglo-Saxon - 450 AD to 650 AD)
• BRACELET (Early Medieval or Anglo-Saxon - 450 AD to 650 AD)
• BRACTEATE (Early Medieval or Anglo-Saxon - 450 AD to 650 AD)
• BROOCH (Early Medieval or Anglo-Saxon - 450 AD to 650 AD)
• BUCKET (Early Medieval or Anglo-Saxon - 450 AD to 500 AD)
• BUCKLE (Early Medieval or Anglo-Saxon - 450 AD to 650 AD)
• CASKET (Early Medieval or Anglo-Saxon - 450 AD to 650 AD)
• CHATELAINE (Early Medieval or Anglo-Saxon - 450 AD to 650 AD)
• COMB (Early Medieval or Anglo-Saxon - 450 AD to 650 AD)
• CRUCIFORM BROOCH (Early Medieval or Anglo-Saxon - 450 AD to 650 AD)
• DISC BROOCH (Early Medieval or Anglo-Saxon - 450 AD to 650 AD)
• EAR RING (Early Medieval or Anglo-Saxon - 450 AD to 650 AD)
• HUMAN REMAINS (Early Medieval or Anglo-Saxon - 450 AD to 650 AD)
• KNIFE (Early Medieval or Anglo-Saxon - 450 AD to 650 AD)
• MANICURE SET (Early Medieval or Anglo-Saxon - 450 AD to 650 AD)
• PENANNULAR BROOCH (Early Medieval or Anglo-Saxon - 450 AD to 650 AD)
• PENDANT (Early Medieval or Anglo-Saxon - 450 AD to 650 AD)
• PIN (Early Medieval or Anglo-Saxon - 450 AD to 650 AD)
• PURSE (Early Medieval or Anglo-Saxon - 450 AD to 650 AD)
• RING (Early Medieval or Anglo-Saxon - 450 AD to 650 AD)
• SAUCER BROOCH (Early Medieval or Anglo-Saxon - 450 AD to 650 AD)
• SHIELD (Early Medieval or Anglo-Saxon - 450 AD to 650 AD)
• SLEEVE CLASP (Early Medieval or Anglo-Saxon - 450 AD to 650 AD)
• SMALL LONG BROOCH (Early Medieval or Anglo-Saxon - 450 AD to 650 AD)
• SPEARHEAD (Early Medieval or Anglo-Saxon - 450 AD to 650 AD)
• SPINDLE WHORL (Early Medieval or Anglo-Saxon - 450 AD to 650 AD)
• SQUARE HEADED BROOCH (Early Medieval or Anglo-Saxon - 450 AD to 650 AD)
• STRAP END (Early Medieval or Anglo-Saxon - 450 AD to 650 AD)
• SWORD (Early Medieval or Anglo-Saxon - 450 AD to 650 AD)
• WEAVING BATTEN (Early Medieval or Anglo-Saxon - 450 AD to 650 AD)
• WEIGHT (Early Medieval or Anglo-Saxon - 450 AD to 650 AD)
• VESSEL (Early Medieval or Anglo-Saxon - 500 AD to 600 AD)

Full description

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A cemetery in use during the pagan Saxon period from the late 5th c. to the middle 7th c. was excavated by Miss V Evison and Mr G C Dunning on the Buckland council house estate in 1951/2 when 126 graves were found. (1) (Area TR 31004300)

Local information indicated that the cemetery was centred at or near the junction of Napier Road and Hobart Crescent and extended for a considerable distance about the junction of those roads. (2)

The site lies on the S and SW slopes of a broad southerly spur, below the crest of a hill (a). It is now fully built over. All the finds are in the British Museum with the exception of a representative selection on loan to Dover Museum. (Acc. No. AI/1525). (3)

Finds included 6th/7th century brooch with two short runic inscriptions scratched on the back. This is the only brooch found in England of the pagan period with an inscription on the back, with the exception of a bow brooch probably of continental import. (4)

Additional bibliography. (5-18)

In 1994 Archaeology South-East carried out an evaluation on land to the west of the railway cutting. A number of burials were located in the western part of the site, c.80m south of the area investigated in the 1950s. (19)

Excavations in 1994 by the Canterbury Archaeological Trust to the south, on the west side of the railway, revealed a large section of the cemetery already known and a supposed satellite group of burials. Cultivation terraces were discovered dating from the Iron Age-Medieval periods. 244 graves were excavated and there can be no doubt that they belong to the same cemetery as that excavated in the 1950s. (20) (23)

Two graves were enclosed by small ring ditches implying that they were originally covered with barrows. It is clear that most of the bodies were interred fully clothed and equipped for the after life, just over 2 thirds contained grave goods and a significant number were quite richly furnished. The available evidence suggests that all the graves belong to the period c. AD 475-625. It is clear that a very considerable number of graves must have been destroyed during the construction of the Dover-Deal railway line cut through Long Hill in 1879-80. The complete cemetery could have contained well in excess of 500 graves. (21)

The site was almost certainly first encountered during the digging of the railway cutting in 1879-80. A contemporary newspaper report records the discovery of a burial with a sword. It is likely that many more such burials were found at this time, and even that navvies had searched the immediate area. Further unrecorded losses occurred in the 1980s when the southern part of the southern half of the site was terraced during housing construction. Workers on the site in the 1980s confirmed finding graves but these were not excavated. Of the 244 graves excavated in 1994 15 contained more than one body. The burials were all inhumations and were grouped in a number of apparent plots or clusters. Over two thirds of the burials were accompanied by grave goods. Weapons buried with male skeletons including seven swords, shields, spears, arrowheads, a seax, large knives, a fauchard and an axehead. Other grave goods included a glass bowl, glass claw beakers, pots, brooches, pendants, a reused Roman rock crystal intaglio, beads, rock crystal balls, gold bracteates, rings, buckles, ear rings, a balance with weights, a comb in a case, purses with assorted objects within them, weaving equipment, pins, keys, chatelaines and knives. (22)

Andrew Richardson, 2000, Gazetteer of Anglo-Saxon Cemeteries and Burial-Sites in Kent (Unpublished document). SKE29253.

<1> Jessup, F.W., 1953, Annual report for the year ended 31st December 1952, Arch Cant LXV 1952: xlii (Article in serial). SKE24828.

<02> F1 NVQ 23.09.54 (OS Card Reference). SKE43039.

<03> Gaz of Early Anglo-Saxon Burial Sites (Audrey Meaney) (OS Card Reference). SKE43505.

<04> F2 ASP 25.05.64 (OS Card Reference). SKE43161.

<05> Ant J 44 1964 242-5 Fig (V I Evison) (OS Card Reference). SKE33191.

<06> The Spearheads of the Ang-Sax Settlements 1973 (MJ Swanton) 170-71 82-83 202-04 (OS Card Reference). SKE50515.

<07> Dover; The Buckland Anglo-Saxon Cemetery 1987 (VI Evison) 1-412 (OS Card Reference). SKE41502.

<08> Arch Cant 71 1957 36 (GC Dunning) (OS Card Reference). SKE35498.

<09> A Corpus of AS Pottery of the Pagan Period 1 1977 92 (OS Card Reference). SKE32760.

<10> A Corpus of Wheel-Thrown Pottery in AS Graves 1979 66 71 72 73 75 79 (VI Evison (OS Card Reference). SKE32772.

<11> Arch 107 1982 47-8 53 63 (VI Evison) (OS Card Reference). SKE34371.

<12> The Arch of AS Eng 1976 161 (DM Wilson) (OS Card Reference). SKE49956.

<13> Ant J 55 1975 78 83 (VI Evison) (OS Card Reference). SKE33212.

<14> Ant 39 1965 214-17 (VI Evison) (OS Card Reference). SKE33115.

<15> Arch 101 1967 63-118 (VI Evison) (OS Card Reference). SKE34366.

<16> BAR 128 Sceattas in Eng and on the Continent 1984 251 (D Hill and DM Metcalf) (OS Card Reference). SKE37489.

<17> Field report for monument TR 34 SW 32 - September, 1954 (Bibliographic reference). SKE5980.

<18> Field report for monument TR 34 SW 32 - May, 1964 (Bibliographic reference). SKE5981.

<19> Archaeology South-East, 1994, Castle View, Dover, Kent: Archaeological Evaluation Report (Unpublished document). SKE6879.

<20> Canterbury Archaeological Trust, 1996, Canterbury's Archaeology 1994 - 1995, CAT Annual Report 1994-5: 27-31 (Serial). SKE11882.

<21> Parfitt, K., 1995, Buckland Anglo-Saxon Cemetery: An Interim Report, Arch Cant CXIV 1994: 454-456 (Article in serial). SKE24829.

<22> Parfitt, K. and Anderson, T., 2012, Buckland Anglo-Saxon Cemetery, Dover: Excavations 1994 (Monograph). SKE24827.

<23> Canterbury Archaeological Trust, 1994-1995, Canterbury’s Archaeology 1994–1995, Fieldwork III Kent sites (Article in serial). SKE32046.

Sources and further reading

Related thematic articles

• Anglo-Saxon Kent (Period Overview)