Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

During perpetration for planting in October 1875 W. O. Hammond, the then owner?, discovered near St. Albans Court in Nonington fifteen skeletons. The graves were aligned East-West at a shallow depth and a number of finds were recovered. The finds included, , a blade about 8" long and around the forearm of one a bronze ring, riveted and 3" in diameter". The remains were later reburied to the north-east of where they were found under a stone pyramid. The location of the grave-goods found is not known.

The site is situated on the brow and upper part of a gentle east facing slope. OD 30-33m.. Bedrock Upper Chalk.,

In 2001 the Dover Archaeology Group, as part of their ongoing research into the history of St. Albans Court and the manor of Easole undertook a geophysical survey and excavation in the area where the graves were found. A further five graves were found closely spaced and also aligned roughly east-west. Only three of the graves contained grave-goods. Grave 1 contained a small iron and bronze buckle. Grave 2 had fragments of un-worked whale bone. Grave 5 had a rectangular iron buckle and had been enclosed by a discontinuous ring gully with a diameter of 4.5 metres. This suggests that it had originally been covered by a small barrow mound. A later unfurnished burial had been cut into the mound, largely destroying the earlier interment. Grave 2 also appears to be a later insert cut into the northern edge of the barrow.

The location of the cemetery on the slopes of a downland ridge are typical of Anglo-Saxon cemeteries. The general lack of grave-goods and the alignment east-west implies that they date from the 7th-8th century AD.

Monument Types

• CEMETERY (Early Medieval or Anglo-Saxon - 600 AD? to 799 AD?)
• ROUND BARROW (Early Medieval or Anglo-Saxon - 600 AD? to 799 AD?)

Associated Finds

• UNIDENTIFIED OBJECT (Early Medieval or Anglo-Saxon to Medieval - 410 AD to 1066 AD)
• ARM BAND (Early Medieval or Anglo-Saxon - 600 AD? to 799 AD?)
• BUCKLE (Early Medieval or Anglo-Saxon - 600 AD? to 799 AD?)
• BUCKLE (Early Medieval or Anglo-Saxon - 600 AD? to 799 AD?)
• KNIFE (Early Medieval or Anglo-Saxon - 600 AD? to 799 AD?)

Full description

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During perpetration for planting in October 1875 W. O. Hammond, the then owner?, discovered near St. Albans Court in Nonington fifteen skeletons. The graves were aligned East-West at a shallow depth and a number of finds were recovered. The finds included, "several bullets or balls of what appeared to be chalk saturated with iron (possibly iron pyrite nodules), a blade about 8" long and around the forearm of one a bronze ring, riveted and 3" in diameter". It is not known from which graves finds were recovered or if all the graves had finds. The remains were later reburied to the north-east of where they were found under a stone pyramid. The location of the grave-goods found is not known.

In 2001 the Dover Archaeology Group, as part of their ongoing research into the history of St. Albans Court and the manor of Easole undertook a geophysical survey and excavation in the area where the graves were found. A further five graves were found closely spaced and also aligned roughly east-west. Only three of the graves contained grave-goods. Grave 1 contained a small iron and bronze buckle. Grave 2 had fragments of un-worked whale bone. Grave 5 had a rectangular iron buckle and had been enclosed by a discontinuous ring gully with a diameter of 4.5 metres. This suggests that it had originally been covered by a small barrow mound. A later unfurnished burial had been cut into the mound, largely destroying the earlier interment. Grave 2 also appears to be a later insert cut into the northern edge of the barrow.

The location of the cemetery on the slopes of a downland ridge are typical of Anglo-Saxon cemeteries. The general lack of grave-goods and the alignment east-west implies that they date from the 7th-8th century AD.(1-2)

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

<1> Parfitt. K., 2002, Anglo-Saxon Cemetery at Nonington, KAR Spring 2002, No.147, Pages 154-59 (Article in serial). SKE7998.

<2> Anon, 1997, Researches & Discoveries in Kent: Archaeological Evaluations & Watching Briefs: Geech Grv, Nonington (Article in serial). SKE7999.

Sources and further reading