Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

An excavation trench by the Lenham Archaeological Society in January and February 2005 dug near the site of Royton Chapel. Glazed tiles discovered.

Monument Types

• WALL (Unknown date)

Associated Finds

• FLOOR TILE (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)

Full description

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An excavation of a 1 x 3 m trench by the Lenham Archaeological Society in January and February 2005 discovered several glazed medieval tiles and the footings of a wall between Royton Manor and the supposed site of Royton Chapel. The excavators suggest that this may represent the true site of the chapel.

A layer of mortar was found only 10 cm below the ground surface and contined several pieces of highly glazed medieval tile. There was no design on the tile but the excavators thought it similar to tiles from Boxley. A pece of leaded window glass was also found and numerous snail shells. A short section of wall was located but no floor. Buried close to the wall was the skeleton of a pig, presumably form the modern pig farm that existed here previously.(1)

Further trenches were dug in 2010 [number and location unknown] by the Lenham Archaeological Society. A piece of patterned tile was found. (2)

<1> Lenham Archaeological Society, 2006, Report on research in the vicinity of Lenham (Miscellaneous Material). SKE13570.

<2> Lenham Archaeological Society, 2011, Discovering Ancient Lenham: Volume 1 Edition 3 (Serial). SKE16752.

<3> Lenham Archaeological Society, 2018, Late Iron Age Settlement at Royton-Mountcastle, Lenham Heath, Kent (Unpublished document). SKE32557.

<4> Lenham Archaeological Society, 2018, Late Iron Age Settlement at Royton-Mountcastle, Lenham Heath, Kent, Archaeological survey and excavations (Unpublished document). SKE52887.

Sources and further reading