Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

Site of Roman Villa. A large courtyard villa, baths, outbuildings, hypocausts, tesselated pavements, painted wall plaster, window glass etc. and finds including a bronze lioness's head, pseudo-Samian, Castor, Upchurch and other pottery and 53 coins from Domitian to Gratian

Monument Types

• AGRICULTURAL BUILDING (Roman - 43 AD to 409 AD)
• BARN (Roman - 43 AD to 409 AD)
• BATH HOUSE (Roman - 43 AD to 409 AD)
• CISTERN (Roman - 43 AD to 409 AD)
• COURTYARD (Roman - 43 AD to 409 AD)
• FULLING MILL (Roman - 43 AD to 409 AD)
• GATE (Roman - 43 AD to 409 AD)
• HYPOCAUST (Roman - 43 AD to 409 AD)
• INDUSTRIAL BUILDING (Roman - 43 AD to 409 AD)
• LEAT (Roman - 43 AD to 409 AD)
• ORNAMENTAL POND (Roman - 43 AD to 409 AD)
• OUTBUILDING (Roman - 43 AD to 409 AD)
• SHRINE (Roman - 43 AD to 409 AD)
• STOREHOUSE (Roman - 43 AD to 409 AD)
• TESSELLATED FLOOR (Roman - 43 AD to 409 AD)
• TESSELLATED FLOOR (TESSELLATED FLOOR, Roman - 43 AD to 409 AD)
• VILLA (Roman - 43 AD to 409 AD)
• WALLED GARDEN (Roman - 43 AD to 409 AD)
• WATER CHANNEL (Roman - 43 AD to 409 AD)
• WATER CHANNEL (Roman - 43 AD to 409 AD)
• WATER TANK (Roman - 43 AD to 409 AD)
• WORKSHOP (Roman - 43 AD to 409 AD)
• HYPOCAUST (Roman - 50 AD? to 399 AD? (at some time))
• VILLA (VILLA, Roman - 50 AD? to 399 AD? (at some time))

Associated Finds

• ASSEMBLAGE (Roman - 43 AD to 409 AD)
• COIN (Roman - 43 AD to 409 AD)
• COIN (Roman - 43 AD to 409 AD)
• VESSEL (Roman - 43 AD to 409 AD)
• WALL PLASTER (Roman - 43 AD to 409 AD)
• WALL PLASTER (Roman - 43 AD to 409 AD)

Full description

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[TQ 56337064] Roman Villa [R] (Remains of) [NAT] (1) Site of Roman Villa. A large courtyard villa, 370' x 414' as far as excavated 1894-5. Baths, outbuildings, hypocausts, tess. pavements, painted wall plaster, window glass etc. and finds including a bronze lioness's head, pseudo-Samian, Castor, Upchurch and other pottery and 53 coins Domitian to Gratian (Plan & ills.) (2-4) Very much overgrown, in March 1946, and now impossible to make anything of the site. (5) At the west end, a group of workshops which, provided with tanks and cisterns, it has been suggested, were in use as a 'fulling' factory. Finds are in Rochester Museum. (6) The site is contained within a wood, which is full of mounds and trenches, results of old excavations; but no building foundations are now visible. (7) Rescue excavations were carried out in 1969. The villa, including a bath house, was totally exposed. (8) The excavated area was centred at TQ 56287050. Surveyed at 1/2500. (9) TQ 563707. Darenth Court Roman Villa. Scheduled 142. (10) Additional bibliography (11-16). Rescue work in 1972 related to the installation of a sewage pipe to the west of the known Roman remains revealed a substantial wood-lined water channel, a flint boundary wall and several chalk rafts and ditches (15). A sherd of Romano-Saxon ware is listed (17).

From the National Heritage List for England:
Covering an area of around 2.6ha, the villa complex is one of the largest in the country. It has been shown by partial excavation in 1894-5, 1969 and 1972 to have been built during at least four main phases of construction between
the late first and late fourth centuries AD, resulting in the development of an extensive group of buildings and structures with flint footings, ranged around two, roughly north-south aligned, sub-rectangular, walled courtyards.
The main domestic range is situated along the northern side of the complex, and faces towards the south. This was constructed initially as a simple rectangular building of around six rooms, including a dining room and kitchen,
served by a detached bath house located c.100m to the south. During the mid to late second century, a new bath house was added to the western end of the main range and two further blocks of rooms were built to the west and east. These have been interpreted as originally free-standing structures subsequently incorporated into the main range by the construction of further linking rooms. By this time, the residential portion of the villa contained at least 50
rooms, and the level of comfort is indicated by the fact that many of these were heated by hypocausts, or underfloor heating systems, had tessellated or tiled floors and were decorated with painted wall plaster. By the early fourth
century, access to the main residential complex was via a monumental gateway to the south and through an inner courtyard or formal, walled garden. Situated immediately to the south of the gateway is a small, sub-square structure, with a small, square lobby on its northern side, interpreted as a shrine. Features discovered within the inner courtyard include a large, centrally placed water tank, with an associated cistern, which may have been used as an ornamental
pool or water management feature. To the south, situated along the western and eastern peripheries of the complex, are a series of outbuildings interpreted as barns, storehouses or worksheds, used for agricultural and industrial
activities. Around 140m to the south west is a large, rectangular, aisled building measuring c.50m by 20m which itself underwent several phases of development. This has been interpreted as a separate domestic unit, possibly
housing a villa estate manager. A timber-lined water channel, or leat, found adjacent to the river bank to the west of the villa buildings may indicate the presence of a nearby watermill.

During the second half of the fourth century, the villa was occupied on a reduced scale. From this time, parts of the former domestic ranges fell out of use, or were utilised as workshops or storerooms. The excavations also
revealed several contemporary trackways, a tile-built oven, and large quantities of Roman coins and pottery sherds.

Partial excavation during the construction of a pipeline in 1972 indicated that the western periphery of the villa complex, immediately adjacent to the river, overlies traces of the earlier use of the site during the prehistoric
period. The earliest deposits were found to be an assemblage of over 2,000 pieces of worked flint and around 90 flint tools dating to the Mesolithic period (10,000-3,500BC), all covering an area of 32 sq.m. These have been
interpreted as representing a tool making site. Several nearby pits and other features, now destroyed by the construction of the pipeline, were dated by pottery sherds and flint flakes found within them to the Neolithic period
(3,500-2,000BC) and the Late Bronze Age (900-600BC). Pottery sherds dating to the Late Iron Age (300-50BC) indicate that the site was also inhabited during this period.

ASSESSMENT OF IMPORTANCE
Romano-British villas were extensive rural estates at the focus of which were groups of domestic, agricultural, and occasionally industrial buildings. The term "villa" is now commonly used to describe either the estate or the
buildings themselves. The buildings usually include a well-appointed dwelling house, the design of which varies considerably according to the needs, taste, and prosperity of the occupier. Most of the houses were partly or wholly
stone-built, many with a timber-framed superstructure on masonry footings. Roofs were generally tiled and the house could feature tiled or mosaic floors, underfloor heating, wall plaster, glazed windows and cellars. Many had
integral or separate suites of heated baths. The house was usually accompanied by a range of buildings providing accommodation for farm labourers, workshops and storage for agricultural produce. These were arranged around or alongside a courtyard and were surrounded by a complex of paddocks, pens, yards and features such as vegetable plots, granaries, threshing floors, wells and hearths, all approached by tracks leading from the surrounding fields. Villa
buildings were constructed throughout the period of Roman occupation, from the first to the fourth centuries AD. They are usually complex structures occupied over several hundred years and continually remodelled to fit changing
circumstances. They could serve a wide variety of uses alongside agricultural activities, including administrative, recreational and craft functions, and this is reflected in the considerable diversity in their plan. The least elaborate villas served as simple farmhouses whilst, for the most complex, the term "palace" is not inappropriate. Villa owners tended to be drawn from a limited elite section of Romano-British society. Although some villas belonged to immigrant Roman officials or entrepreneurs, the majority seem to have been in the hands of wealthy natives with a more-or-less Romanised lifestyle, and some were built directly on the sites of Iron Age farmsteads. Roman villa buildings are found throughout lowland Britain and between 400 and 1000 examples have been recorded in England. Of these less than 10 are examples of `major' villas. These were the largest, most substantial and opulent type of villa which were built and used by a small but extremely wealthy section of Romano-British society. Roman villas provide a valuable index of the rate, extent and degree to which native British society became Romanised, as well as indicating the sources of inspiration behind changes of taste and custom. In addition, they serve to illustrate the agrarian and economic history of the Roman province, allowing comparisons over wide areas both within and beyond Britain. All major villas will be identified as nationally important.

Beginning in the fifth century AD, there is evidence from new settlements, distinctive burials and cemeteries, and new forms of pottery and metalwork, of immigration into Britain of settlers from northern Europe. At this time the Roman rural settlement pattern appears to have been disrupted, and although some Roman settlements continued in use, the native Britons rapidly adopted many of the cultural practices of the new settlers and it soon becomes difficult to distinguish them in the archaeological record.

Although it has been partially disturbed by modern agricultural activity, tree growth, pipeline construction and gravel working, the Roman villa and the associated, later Anglo-Saxon settlement east of Darenth Court Farm survive in
buried form and have been shown by partial excavation to contain archaeological remains and environmental evidence. The villa is the largest and most complex example of those which cluster along the Darenth valley, and
may be the largest in Kent. Traces of earlier, prehistoric features beneath the later villa serve to illustrate the continued importance of the site for human use over a period of several thousand years.



Analysis of some human bones (which are assumed to be from Darenth villa). From 7 burials there were at least 8 individuals: 2 females, 2 probable females, 1 male, 1 adult, 1 child, 1 infant, with a possible 2 further individuals. (20)

In 2002 a watching brief took place within the area. A series of ditches, pits and postgoles were excavated There were clearly many phases of activity but the ditches are probably related to fields and are both for drainage and to delineate the field boundaries. There were a number of postholes, and although no definite buildings could be identified, several possible alignments were noted including one parallel to that of the buildings of the nearby Roman villa complex, suggesting these were of Roman date. No traces of wood survived but some of these postholes were deep and others had traces of stone packing and tile fragments suggesting the buildings may have been substantial. These were possibly the remains of ancillary buildings in the fields surrounding the main villa complex. (21)

CORNER OF ROOM WITH HYPOCAUST.SEE ARCH CANT/22/1897/PL.A Types: VILLA/HYPOCAUST (Photograph). SKE219.

CORNER OF ROOM WITH HYPOCAUST.SEE ARCH CANT/22/1897/PL.A Types: VILLA/HYPOCAUST (Photograph). SKE219.

EARLY PHOTO WITH HYPOCAUST Types: VILLA/HYPOCAUST (Photograph). SKE518.

EARLY PHOTO WITH HYPOCAUST Types: VILLA/HYPOCAUST (Photograph). SKE518.

GENERAL VIEW OF EXCAVATION Types: VILLA (Photograph). SKE214.

GENERAL VIEW OF EXCAVATION Types: VILLA (Photograph). SKE214.

GENERAL VIEW OF EXCAVATION Types: VILLA/HYPOCAUST (Photograph). SKE215.

GENERAL VIEW OF EXCAVATION Types: VILLA/HYPOCAUST (Photograph). SKE215.

GENERAL VIEW OF EXCAVATION Types: VILLA/HYPOCAUST (Photograph). SKE221.

GENERAL VIEW OF EXCAVATION Types: VILLA/HYPOCAUST (Photograph). SKE221.

OS Correspondents Maps - Grinsell, L V (Collection). SKE6536.

OS Correspondents Maps - Grinsell, L V (Collection). SKE6536.

PLAN OF VILLA (EXCAV.1894-5),AND AISLED BUILDING,EXCAV.1969. FROM KENT ARCHAEOLOGICAL REVIEW 19 Type (Photograph). SKE277.

PLAN OF VILLA (EXCAV.1894-5),AND AISLED BUILDING,EXCAV.1969. FROM KENT ARCHAEOLOGICAL REVIEW 19 Type (Photograph). SKE277.

SEE ARCH CANT/22/1897/PL.B Types: VILLA/HYPOCAUST (Photograph). SKE220.

SEE ARCH CANT/22/1897/PL.B Types: VILLA/HYPOCAUST (Photograph). SKE220.

SEE ARCH CANT/22/1897/PL.B Types: VILLA/HYPOCAUST (Photograph). SKE217.

SEE ARCH CANT/22/1897/PL.B Types: VILLA/HYPOCAUST (Photograph). SKE217.

SEE ARCH CANT/22/1897/PL.C/D Types: VILLA/HYPOCAUST (Photograph). SKE216.

SEE ARCH CANT/22/1897/PL.C/D Types: VILLA/HYPOCAUST (Photograph). SKE216.

SEE ARCH CANT/22/1897/PL.E Types: VILLA/HYPOCAUST (Photograph). SKE218.

SEE ARCH CANT/22/1897/PL.E Types: VILLA/HYPOCAUST (Photograph). SKE218.

<1> OS 6" 1909 (OS Card Reference). SKE48103.

<2> Arch Cant 22 1897 49-84 plan illusts (G Payne) (OS Card Reference). SKE34846.

<3> Arch 59 1905 218-32 plan photos (GE Fox) (OS Card Reference). SKE34434.

<4> VCH Kent 3 1932 111 (OS Card Reference). SKE50996.

<5> Rec 6" (RF Jessup 1949) (OS Card Reference). SKE49074.

<6> Arch of Kent 1930 207-8 254 (RF Jessup) (OS Card Reference). SKE36892.

<7> F1 ASP 29.07.60 (OS Card Reference). SKE42339.

<8> Kent Arch Rev 18 1969 18-21 (B Philp) (OS Card Reference). SKE45751.

<9> F2 ASP 10.04.70 (OS Card Reference). SKE43094.

<10> Anc Mons in Eng 1978 110 (OS Card Reference). SKE33050.

<11> Arch Cant 97 1981 159-83 (E W Black) (OS Card Reference). SKE36274.

<12> Ro Brit 1978 210 (J Wacher) (OS Card Reference). SKE49266.

<13> Excav in W Kent 1973 119-54 (B Philp) (OS Card Reference). SKE41683.

<14> Stud in the Ro Brit Villa 1978 122 154-7 160 164 168 174 Fig 51 (M Todd) (OS Card Reference). SKE49694.

<15> Excavs in the Darnt Valley Kent 1984 72-131 (B Philp) (OS Card Reference). SKE41700.

<15> Philp, B. J., 1984, Excavations in the Darent Valley, Kent (Monograph). SWX7212.

<16> BAR 70 Agricutural Bldgs in Ro Brit 1979 103-31 (P Morris) (OS Card Reference). SKE37556.

<18> Field report for monument TQ 57 SE 30 - July, 1960 (Bibliographic reference). SKE3067.

<19> BAR 106 1982 Romano Saxon Pottery 58 (W I Roberts IV) (OS Card Reference). SKE37467.

<19> Field report for monument TQ 57 SE 30 - April, 1970 (Bibliographic reference). SKE3068.

<20> English Heritage, 1985, The Human bones from Darenth, Kent (Unpublished document). SKE17148.

<21> Museum of London Archaeology Service, 2011, Thames Water ALF pipeline, River Darent: An Archaeological Post-excavation Assessment (Unpublished document). SKE29445.

Sources and further reading

Related records

Related thematic articles

• Roman Kent (Thematic Essay)