Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

Roman burials and Anglo-Saxon inhumation cemetery found at Huggins Fields, (Fair Meadows), in 1824. It is possible that Buckelurnen had been found at the site pre-1924. Further inhumations were excavated in 1826 bringing the toatl excavated to circa 50. In 1828, urns containing bronze axes were found in a field circa 140 yards from the inhumations, suggesting that the buckelernen may have been Bronze Age cremations.

The site lies on a gentle north-west facing slope,OD 5-10m.

Monument Types

• CINERARY URN (CINERARY URN, Roman - 43 AD to 409 AD)
• CREMATION (CREMATION, Roman - 43 AD to 409 AD)
• CEMETERY (CEMETERY, Early Medieval or Anglo-Saxon - 550 AD to 699 AD)

Associated Finds

• BEAD (Early Medieval or Anglo-Saxon - 550 AD to 699 AD)
• BRACTEATE (Early Medieval or Anglo-Saxon - 550 AD to 699 AD)
• BROOCH (Early Medieval or Anglo-Saxon - 550 AD to 699 AD)
• BUCKLE (Early Medieval or Anglo-Saxon - 550 AD to 699 AD)
• KNIFE (Early Medieval or Anglo-Saxon - 550 AD to 699 AD)
• PENDANT (Early Medieval or Anglo-Saxon - 550 AD to 699 AD)
• SHIELD (Early Medieval or Anglo-Saxon - 550 AD to 699 AD)
• SPEAR (Early Medieval or Anglo-Saxon - 550 AD to 699 AD)
• SWORD (Early Medieval or Anglo-Saxon - 550 AD to 699 AD)

Full description

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[TQ 9059 6405] Saxon Burial Ground [NR] (1) [Sited on Map A, No. 22] In 1824, an Anglo-Saxon cemetery was discovered in the brickfields between Sittingbourne Station and Milton Creek. In 1826, further graves, with skeletons and grave goods, were uncovered. In the same fields, but nearer Milton, urn burials of Roman date were found. (2) The area is now a scrapyard belonging to Messrs. Bowaters Ltd. No closer siting evidence than Goerge Payne's small scale maps (1.125 miles:1 inch) could be found. (3) [TQ 906 640] Anglo-Saxon inhumation cemetery, Huggins Field, Fair Meadows (4). Two groups of burials 148 yards apart (6). Late 7th century. 1824 "in a brickfield in the last field before you enter the paths along the water's edge, leading into the lower part of Milton" burials were found. There was no sign of mounds and the fields had not been ploughed within living memory (5). The skeletons were very well preserved. Before the Reverend William Vallance knew of the site several fragments of lead-coloured and red urns were dug up - "the larger ones of a coarse black earth mixed with sand and shells, surrounded with ashes and calcined matter. Some were ornamented with beadings of four or more lines, some with a zigzag pattern, some with horizontal circular mouldings about the brim, some plain, others twisted. The coarsest specimens are very little burnt, and the ornaments are done by hand without a lathe". Can these be Anglo-Saxon cremations in Buckelamer-type urns? In 1928 urns containing bronze celts and lumps of copper (bronze) were found 140 yards from the skeletons (see TQ 95 SW 23) which may indicate that the urns of 1824 were also Bronze Age (4). According to Authorities (5) and (8) Bronze Age implements in an urn and several Bronze Age cineraries were disturbed. Many articles were carried away and sold during the excavations, including a piece of gold "chased at one end, broken at the other", coloured beads of baked clay and glass, amethyst pendants, pieces of bronze wire, a buckle of "copper gilt", a silver bracleate and a pitcher shaped urn of slate colour (4). An iron sword 14 inches long, with a thin brass plate on the handle, the convex side stamped with a foliated figure, was found in one grave, and in another adjoining a bronze spearhead with a piece of deer's horn, ?Bronze Age. Swords and daggers were discovered. In some graves there were only a few bones, and a number of common snail shells were often found with them (4). In February 1826 three graves in the northern group were opened on the same day. Grave A contained on the right of the skeleton a sugar-loaf shield boss, dated to well into the 7th century (7), with grip and studs. The shield boss is in Dover Museum. Grave B, three feet to the right of A contained only a "small dagger",the skeleton had evidently disintegrated. [TQ 905 642] Grave C, 10ft. east of B, contained a "tolerably perfect"female skeleton. The grave goods included a slate-coloured beaker, capacity about a pint, various beads, a quoit brooch and a disc brooch known as the Vallance Brooch (see Illustration Card). This brooch was presented to Dover Museum in 1854 by W. Vallance with other objects from the same site, but was stolen in 1967 (6). The total number of graves opened was c. 50 (8). One piece of metal was found which may have been a coin but it was very corroded. A-8)

<1> OS 1:1250 1957 (OS Card Reference). SKE48175.

<2> Rev Wm Vallance Ms (OS Card Reference). SKE49210.

<3> Coll Cant 1893 103-7 (G Payne) (OS Card Reference). SKE39122.

<4> F1 ASP 15-JUL-63 (OS Card Reference). SKE42123.

<5> TBAA Canterbury 1844 2336 (OS Card Reference). SKE49818.

<6> Coll Ant 1 1848 97-106 (Roach Smith) (OS Card Reference). SKE39090.

<7> Remains of Pagan Saxondom 1855 60 (J Y Akerman) (OS Card Reference). SKE49149.

<8> Coll Cant 1893 103-108 118-21 (G Payne) (OS Card Reference). SKE39121.

<9> Guide to Anglo Saxon Arts BM 1923 53 (R A Smith) (OS Card Reference). SKE43640.

<10> Gaz of Early Anglo Saxon Burial Sites 1964 128-9 (A Meaney) (OS Card Reference). SKE43498.

<11> VCH 1 1908 373-4 (R A Smith) (OS Card Reference). SKE50793.

<12> Arch Cant 85 1970 1-8 17-18 illus (S E Rigold and L E Webster) (OS Card Reference). SKE35803.

<13> Ant J 43 1963 48 52 86 illus (V I Evison) (OS Card Reference). SKE33189.

<14> The Arts in Early England 4 1915 737-8 (B Brown) (OS Card Reference). SKE50102.

<15> Field report for monument TQ 96 SW 27 - July, 1963 (Bibliographic reference). SKE4955.

Sources and further reading