Exploring Kent's Past

It should not be assumed that this site is publicly accessible and it may be on private property. Do not trespass.

Monument details

Summary

The remains of a Romano-British cemetery, found by the mouth of Cliffe Creek in 1909. A number of skeletons were revealed and at the time they were recorded alongside a number of pottery vessels. It is now thought that some of the c.40 pottery vessels may have been cremation urns. These were dated to the 1st - 3rd centuries. The other grave goods included pottery fragments, a bronze-gilt brooch, the handle, rim and part of the bowl of a bronze patella, the handle and rim of another and the upper stone of a 'pudding-stone' quern. These finds were last known to be in Rochester Museum.

Monument Types

• CEMETERY (Roman - 43 AD to 409 AD)

Associated Finds

• BROOCH (Roman - 43 AD to 409 AD)
• CINERARY VESSEL (Roman - 43 AD? to 299 AD?)
• HUMAN REMAINS (Roman - 43 AD to 409 AD)
• PAN (Roman - 43 AD to 409 AD)
• QUERN (Roman - 43 AD to 409 AD)

Full description

If you do not understand anything on this page please contact us.

Several Roman graves have been dug into by workmen excavating for mud for cement making 'in the marsh adjacent to the Nine Elms Cement Works, which are situated on the banks of the Thames about three miles from Cilffe-at-Hoo, and nearly opposite East Tilbury Church' 'All the information that could be gleaned... was that several skeletons were met with, and that vessels accompanied each skeleton, but it is reasonable to conjecture that some of the burials were by cremation, which would account for the large number of vases...' The marsh is close behind the river wall and the burials were about 4' deep in an alluvial deposit of c.20': their presence here suggests that the Thames was embanked down to Cliff Marshes in Roman times as the ground would otherwise be submerged at every tide. The finds, now in Rochester Museum, include over forty pottery vessels of all kinds, pottery fragments, a bronze-gilt brooch, the handle, rim and part of the bowl of a bronze patella, the handle and rim of another and the upper stone of a 'pudding-stone' quern. Illustration photograph. See AO/58/265/4. (1) Cemetery found about 1909. The pottery apparently dates from the late 1st to the 3rd cent. The most notable object was a bronze patella decorated in relief. (2) Nine Elms Cement works at TQ 708769. This cemetery was found in the marsh near those works but the exact position is not known. (3) The present location of the finds in Rochester Musuem (undergoing extensive alterations) was not confirmed. The Curator, Mr. Taylor, has promised to communicate with AO. Division (4). Additional references from reports (5-9). By the site of demolished cement works, heavily overgrown. No remains visible during the coastal survey 2005. (10)

<1> Arch Cant 29 1911 pp lxxvi-lxxix Photo (G. Payne) (OS Card Reference). SKE34973.

<2> VCH Kent III 1932 150 Photo (OS Card Reference). SKE51183.

<3> Oral Mr J Evans FSA (Hon Corr) Isle of Grain (OS Card Reference). SKE47958.

<4> F1 CFW 01-JUL-59 (OS Card Reference). SKE42375.

<5> F2 EG 01-JUL-59 (OS Card Reference). SKE43299.

<6> Field report for monument TQ 77 NW 3 - July, 1959 (Bibliographic reference). SKE4213.

<7> Nichols, W.N., 1973, The Thames estuary in Roman times, Arch Cant 24 (Article in serial). SWX7671.

<8> Philp, B. J., 1963, Romano-British West Kent AD 43-100 (Article in serial). SWX7492.

<9> Payne, G., Cliffe Marshes (Article in serial). SWX9387.

<10> Wessex Archaeology, 2005, North Kent Coast Rapid Coastal Zone Assessment Survey: Phase ll: Field Assessment Year Two Report (Unpublished document). SWX12323.

Sources and further reading