Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

A small Roman building with a hypocaust was located to the north of the temple complex during excavations undertaken at Springhead. The building is located off the branch road which leads towards the Roman settlement area from Watling Street. It is relatively isolated but may be associated with another larger building situated c.7m to the north west. The function of this building is not known, and the hypocaust does not appear to have been used. (location accurate to the nearest 10m based on available information)

Monument Types

• BUILDING (Roman - 80 AD? to 350 AD?)
• HYPOCAUST (Roman - 80 AD? to 350 AD?)
• PATH (Roman - 80 AD? to 350 AD?)
• PIT (Roman - 80 AD? to 350 AD?)
• WALL (Roman - 80 AD? to 350 AD?)
• BURIAL (Roman - 250 AD? to 300 AD?)
• FLOOR (Roman - 300 AD? to 350 AD?)

Associated Finds

• JAR (Roman - 50 AD? to 100 AD)
• COSMETIC SET (Roman - 80 AD? to 350 AD?)
• COUNTER (Roman - 80 AD? to 350 AD?)
• MOUNT (Roman - 80 AD? to 350 AD?)
• PIN (Roman - 80 AD? to 350 AD?)
• STYLUS (Roman - 80 AD? to 350 AD?)
• POT (Roman - 200 AD? to 350 AD?)

Full description

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A small Roman building with a hypocaust was located to the north of the temple complex during excavations undertaken at Springhead. The building is located off the branch road which leads towards the Roman settlement area from Watling Street. It is relatively isolated but may be associated with another larger building situated c.7m to the north west. The function of this building is not known, and the hypocaust does not appear to have been used. It was quite well preserved, the
walls, on average, survived to a height of c.70cm although this is mainly because the hypocaust was below Roman ground level. Four rooms were visible in plan, with one of them, that located on the north eastern side of the building, being a later addition. They were well made in flint and reinforced with brick with additional reinforcement at the wall ends. Plain coloured wall-plaster was also found in the debris, suggesting the walls were plastered. The pilae were square and consisted of alternate layers of flint and brick. Part of a well-made arch led into the hypocaust from where the stoke-hole would normally have been but there was none present, thus leading to the suggestion that the building was not heated. The superstructure must have been made on a grand scale, first, substantial chunks of mortar were found which were part of the floor and similar to the mortar found in the building to the north west, also a small area of tesserae were discovered which suggests a tessellated floor, again like the building to the northwest. It may well be, therefore, that the two buildings were erected at about the same time. The entrance was likely on the south western side, facing the branch road and a chalk path, measuring approximately 2m in width and 20m in length, leads from the western side of this building and connects it with the branch road. Two cess pits were also uncovered in association with this structure, one outside the north east wall and the other outside the south east corner, both were unlined and sterile. The building appears to have gone through a phase of abandonment in the late third century when a number of infant burials were placed inside the building. A further period of re-occupation dates to the early fourth century when a chalk floor was added to the structure but by this point is seems likely that It must have been a relatively crude structure. (1-2)

<1> WS Penn, 1965, Archaeologia Cantiana, Springhead - map of Discoveries (Article in serial). SKE12613.

<2> W. S. Penn, 1968, Archaeologia Cantiana - The Romano British Settlement at Springhead, Miscellaneous Excavations (Article in serial). SKE53588.

Sources and further reading

Related records