Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

A Roman and Saxon burial ground was located on Tremworth Downs about three quarters of a mile west of Crundale. The site was first discovered when it was dug into in 1703 and in 1713 a grave in the chalk, was found containing three urns. The site was excavated in 1757 and 1759 and this event was well documented. The ealier cremations were tentatively dated to the 3rd AD and the later inhumations include one, probably a woman date to the immediate post-Roman era. A sword pommel found at the site is now in the British Museum, and this dated to the 7th century AD. The site is chiefly a Roman cremation cemetery but there are some inhumation graves, some of which are certainly Anglo-Saxon. There is nothing remaining to be seen at the site and there is no record of any subsequent finds after 1759.

The site lies on the upper steep west faciing part, of the north facing Tremworth Down, a spur of the North Downs, overlooking the Stour Valley. OD 100-120m.

Monument Types

• CREMATION CEMETERY (CEMETERY, Roman - 43 AD to 266 AD)
• INHUMATION CEMETERY (CEMETERY, Early Medieval or Anglo-Saxon - 500 AD to 699 AD)

Associated Finds

• URN (Roman - 43 AD to 266 AD)
• BROOCH (Early Medieval or Anglo-Saxon - 500 AD to 699 AD)
• BUCKLE (Early Medieval or Anglo-Saxon - 500 AD to 699 AD)
• SWORD (Early Medieval or Anglo-Saxon - 500 AD to 699 AD)

Full description

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[TR 06324933] Roman & Saxon Remains found A.D. 1757 (NAT) (1) On Tremworth Downs on each side of a hollow road about three quarters of a mile west of Crundale and within quarter mile of the River Stour, a burial ground of both Roman and Saxon date was dug into in 1703 by the then rector, in 1713 by the Earl of Winchelsea, and in 1757 and 1759 by Faussett. The earlier cremations probably date to pre-mid-C3rd AD and the later inhumations include one, probably a woman dating to the immediate post-Roman era. A sword pommel, now in the British Museum, date to the C7th AD. (2-4) The site of this burial ground falls just below the summit of a ridge, partly in arable, partly in woodland. There is nothing to be seen and there is no record of any subsequent finds. (5) TR 062494. Inhumation cemetery - Crundale. The site is chiefly a Roman cremation cemetery; but there are some inhumation graves and some of these are certainly Anglo-Saxon. In 1703 a skull was found by a walker; and afterwards a human skeleton with an urn of Roman form was uncovered. Near by was a child's skeleton with a little red pot. In 1713 a grave, well dug in the chalk, was found containing three urns. The excavations by Faussett in 1757 and 1759 are well documented (6). The Henry Durden Collection, a large part of which was purchased by the British Museum in 1892, contained antiquities said to have been found at Crundale (7) in 1858 (8). There seems to have been some confusion in Durden's notes, and it is possible that some of these objects were found at the Anglo-Saxon cemetery at Sarre (TR 26 NE 11) (7). Among the finds of 1858 were a buckle of Bronze, plated with silver and gold and inlaid with garnets, 6.02 inches long, and a flat annular brooch of silver parcel gilt, diameter 3.06 inches. This is the well known brooch always thought to have come from Sarre (6). Upon "the loop of the pin is a figure of a dove, and two similar figures are fixed upon the feat outer ring facing the opening of the brooch, one so adjusted as to revolve" (7,8). The buckle, British Museum Acc No 93 6-1 204, is among several assessed in a study of cross-hatched goldfoil as backing for garnet and glass settings on jewellery of the C6th and C7th (9). References to the purchase of this buckle and the undoubtedly C7th (12) sword with the ornamental hilt in the archives of the British Museum reveal that it is highly probable that they came form the same grave. Information from D.M Wilson (10,11). (6-12) Crundale buckle mentioned. (13) Additional bibliography - not consulted. (14-16)

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

<1> OS 6" 1951 (OS Card Reference). SKE48363.

<2> Invent Sep 1856 177-198 (B Faussett ed C R Smith) (OS Card Reference). SKE44487.

<3> VCH Kent vol 1 1908 367-8 fig (R A Smith) (OS Card Reference). SKE51196.

<4> VCH Kent vol 3 1932 151 (R F Jessup & M V Taylor) (OS Card Reference). SKE51214.

<5> F1 CFW 21-MAY-1963 (OS Card Reference). SKE42691.

<6> Gazetteer of Early AS Burial Sites 1964 116 (A Meaney) (OS Card Reference). SKE43574.

<7> PSA 2nd Series 14 1891-3 314-5 (G Payne) (OS Card Reference). SKE48811.

<8> Arch Cant 21 1895 l-li (G Payne) (OS Card Reference). SKE34831.

<9> Md Arch 21 1977 20 (R Avent & D Leigh) (OS Card Reference). SKE46604.

<10> Md Arch 2 1958 81 (G Haseloff) (OS Card Reference). SKE46593.

<11> Anglo-Saxon Art to AD 900 1938 86 100-2 (T D Kendrick) (OS Card Reference). SKE33091.

<12> Anglo-Saxon Ornamental Metalwork 700-1100 in British Mus 1964 64 (D M Wilson) (OS Card Reference). SKE33094.

<13> Archaeologia 98 1961 148 150 (G C Dunning & V I Evison) (OS Card Reference). SKE37325.

<14> The Arts in Early Eng 3 1915 plate 73 1 (G Baldwin Brown) (OS Card Reference). SKE50087.

<15> The Anglo Saxons in Eng 1926 fig 222 N Aberg (OS Card Reference). SKE49931.

<16> IPEK 9 1934 Tf 28 12 (OS Card Reference). SKE44506.

<17> Field report for monument TR 04 NE 3 - May, 1963 (Bibliographic reference). SKE5119.

Sources and further reading