Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

A 1st century AD Iron Age to Roman cremation cemetery and urnfield located between Horn Street and Ashford Road. The site was discovered in 1948 when large amounts of pottery were found, some of which had been put in a wooden cist. In total 25 vessels from at least 9 cremation graves and 5 bronze and enamel brooches were found. Pottery discovered included Belgic and La Tene. Animal remains and an iron fragment from the blade of a knife predating the Iron Age period were also found at the site.

Monument Types

• CIST (Late Iron Age to Roman - 0 AD to 100 AD)
• CREMATION CEMETERY (Late Iron Age to Roman - 0 AD to 100 AD)
• FINDSPOT (Late Iron Age to Roman - 0 AD to 100 AD)
• URNFIELD (URNFIELD, Late Iron Age to Roman - 0 AD to 100 AD)

Associated Finds

• ANIMAL REMAINS (Late Iron Age to Roman - 0 AD to 120 AD)
• BROOCH (Late Iron Age to Roman - 0 AD to 100 AD)
• SHERD (Late Iron Age to Roman - 0 AD to 120 AD)

Full description

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TR 19273687. A C1st AD Belgic and early Romano-British cremation cemetery or urn-field was discovered in April 1948 when workmen were digging a trench for a proposed extension to a housing estate at Cheriton, Folkestone. The site, situated between Horn Street and the main Ashford Road, was discovered when large quantities of pottery was found. The Borough Surveyor granted permission for an emergency excavation to take place; the work being done by students of the Folkestone Emergency Teachers Training College under the direction of P.J Tester and H.F Bing. The pottery from nine burial groups represented c.25 vessels with five bronze brooches, one decorated with enamel, and some flint flakes. About the same number of vessels were represented from unstratified contexts in the original trench. The pottery ranged from coarse ware, Belgic in character, to samian pottery c AD 80 - 120. Some of the burials were thus earlier than AD 43, and extended into the Roman period as late as the end of the C1st. Burnt bones were found in, or associated with, some of the cinerary urns. The vessels from the most northerly cremations (group VIII) appear to have been placed in a small cist of wood or other perishable material, which had collapsed. Two patches of blackened sand with flakes of charcoal were found three - four feet below the surface. Ox bones, fragments of coarse pottery and corroded iron including part of a knife blade were in the sand, and may represent an occupation site pre-dating the burials. (1) Finds from this site are on display in Folkestone Museum. (2) TR 193369. Cheriton, Folkestone. Iron Age burials classified by Whimster as No.121. Twenty-five La Tene III to late C1st AD pottery vessels were excavated from nine cremation graves in 1948. Twenty-five vessels from an unknown number of graves were accidentally encountered. Two associated brooches are `Colchester' forms, and two others of later C1st AD type. It is difficult to determine with any certainty the exact extent of cemetery No.121 at Folkestone. (3) A C1st urnfield at Cheriton, on the Greensand Ridge, was discovered in 1948. (4) TR 196370. Cheriton. Colchester brooches in two burials. Included in a list of brooches found with Aylesford culture burilas. (5) Cheriton, Folkestone. Included in a catalogue of poppy-head beakers in Britain. (6)

Description from record TR 13 NE 13 :
TR 19273687. A C1st AD Belgic and early Romano-British cremation cemetery or urn-field was discovered in April 1948 when workmen were digging a trench for a proposed extension to a housing estate at Cheriton, Folkestone. The site, situated between Horn Street and the main Ashford Road, was discovered when large quantities of pottery was found. The Borough Surveyor granted permission for an emergency excavation to take place; the work being done by students of the Folkestone Emergency Teachers Training College under the direction of P.J Tester and H.F Bing. The pottery from nine burial groups represented c.25 vessels with five bronze brooches, one decorated with enamel, and some flint flakes. About the same number of vessels were represented from unstratified contexts in the original trench. The pottery ranged from coarse ware, Belgic in character, to samian pottery c AD 80 - 120. Some of the burials were thus earlier than AD 43, and extended into the Roman period as late as the end of the C1st. Burnt bones were found in, or associated with, some of the cinerary urns. The vessels from the most northerly cremations (group VIII) appear to have been placed in a small cist of wood or other perishable material, which had collapsed. Two patches of blackened sand with flakes of charcoal were found three - four feet below the surface. Ox bones, fragments of coarse pottery and corroded iron including part of a knife blade were in the sand, and may represent an occupation site pre-dating the burials. (1) Finds from this site are on display in Folkestone Museum. (2) TR 193369. Cheriton, Folkestone. Iron Age burials classified by Whimster as No.121. Twenty-five La Tene III to late C1st AD pottery vessels were excavated from nine cremation graves in 1948. Twenty-five vessels from an unknown number of graves were accidentally encountered. Two associated brooches are `Colchester' forms, and two others of later C1st AD type. It is difficult to determine with any certainty the exact extent of cemetery No.121 at Folkestone. (3) A C1st urnfield at Cheriton, on the Greensand Ridge, was discovered in 1948. (4) TR 196370. Cheriton. Colchester brooches in two burials. Included in a list of brooches found with Aylesford culture burilas. (5) Cheriton, Folkestone. Included in a catalogue of poppy-head beakers in Britain. (6)

<1> Archaeol Cant 62 1949 21-36 plan illust (P J Tester, H F Bing) (OS Card Reference). SKE37232.

<2> F1 ASP 17-MAY-1963 (OS Card Reference). SKE42152.

<3> Burial Practices in Iron Age Brit 1981 Part 1 151 Part 2 381 (R Whimster) (OS Card Reference). SKE38434.

<4> KAR 74 1983 92 (J Willson) (OS Card Reference). SKE45421.

<5> Prob in Economic & Social Arch (ed G De G Sieveking, I H Longworth, K E Wilson) 1976 413 (OS Card Reference). SKE48664.

<6> Early Fine Wares in Ro Brit (ed P Arthur G Marsh) 1978 86 (P Tyers) (OS Card Reference). SKE41563.

<7> Field report for monument TR 13 NE 13 - May, 1963 (Bibliographic reference). SKE5336.

Sources and further reading