Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

Two walls belonging to what would have been a large Roman building were located during excavations at Springhead. It appeared to front onto the branch road which links Watling Street to the settlement area to the north. Only a small section of the building was exposed but the remainder is likley to be present beneath the present course of the A2. (location accurate to the nearest 10m based on available information)

Monument Types

• BUILDING (Roman - 43 AD? to 200 AD?)
• PATH (Roman - 43 AD? to 200 AD?)
• PLATFORM (Roman - 43 AD? to 200 AD?)

Associated Finds

• MOSAIC (Roman - 43 AD? to 200 AD?)
• SHERD (Roman - 43 AD? to 200 AD?)
• SPADE (Roman - 43 AD? to 200 AD?)
• TILE (Roman - 43 AD? to 200 AD?)
• WALL PLASTER (Roman - 43 AD? to 200 AD?)

Full description

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Two walls belonging to what would have been a large Roman building were located during excavations at Springhead. It appeared to front onto the branch road which links Watling Street to the settlement area to the north. Only a small section of the building was exposed but the remainder is likely to be present beneath the present course of the A2. Just over 6m of the south-west wall of the building was exposed and this was c. 0.5m thick. Approximately 0.3m of a second wall was also exposed to the north east of the first, suggesting the presence of a corridor that was c. 3.5m wide. The building may well, therefore, have been quite large. The evidence is that the corridor had a wooden floor as debris had collapsed through it when it rotted away. Underneath was a thick chalk base, a feature which was common in the temple area to the south. In the debris which had once been on top of the floor were found red, pink, white and blue tesserae, indicating much greater richness elsewhere in the structure, wall-plaster, nails, many tiles and much pottery (mostly 1st and 2nd century in date). Thus we have a picture of a well-made house, certainly with a tessellated floor in one part of it and possibly a mosaic floor. The walls were covered with plaster and there was a tiled roof. It was probably Antonine. An entrance appears to have been situated on the south western side (facing the branch road) and a small chalk road links this entrance to the main branch road. (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