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Monument details

HER Number:TR 15 SW 3
Type of record:Monument
Name:Early Medieval Barrow Cemetery, Chartham Downs

Summary

A Saxon cemetery of about 100 barrows was discovered on Chartham Downs. Twenty graves were opened in 1730 by Dr. Cromwell Mortimer, and 53 by Bryan Faussett in 1764 and 1773. All were destroyed before 1856. Cremation was practiced in the early phase of the cemetery but the subsequent high proportion of unfurnished graves suggests that it became Christian. A Roman glass bottle in the British Museum and a brooch and coins of the late Empire were found in one barrow.

The site lies on the top and upper slope of a west facing spur of the North downs, overlooking the Stour valley. The ground slpoes away to the south, west and north. OD 60-70m.

Grid Reference:TR 1097 5426
Map Sheet:TR15SW
Parish:CHARTHAM, CANTERBURY, KENT

Monument Types

Associated Finds

  • BOTTLE (Roman - 43 AD to 409 AD)
  • BROOCH (Roman - 43 AD to 409 AD)
  • COIN (Roman - 43 AD to 409 AD)
  • BEAD (Early Medieval or Anglo-Saxon - 600 AD to 700 AD)
  • BROOCH (Early Medieval or Anglo-Saxon - 600 AD to 799 AD)
  • BUCKLE (Early Medieval or Anglo-Saxon - 600 AD to 799 AD)
  • COSMETIC SET (Early Medieval or Anglo-Saxon - 600 AD to 799 AD)
  • JAR (Early Medieval or Anglo-Saxon - 600 AD to 799 AD)
  • PENDANT (Early Medieval or Anglo-Saxon - 600 AD to 799 AD)
  • PIN (Early Medieval or Anglo-Saxon - 600 AD to 799 AD)
  • SHIELD (Early Medieval or Anglo-Saxon - 600 AD to 799 AD)

Full description

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[TR 10975426(5)] A Saxon cemetery of about 100 barrows on Chartham Downs. Twenty opened in 1730 by Dr. Mortimer, and 53 by B. Faussett in 1764 and 1773. All destroyed before 1856. Cremation was practiced in the early phase of the cemetery but, as witness, the subsequent high proportion of unfurnished graves, it became Christian. A Roman glass bottle in the British Museum and a brooch and coins of the Lower Empire were found in one barrow. (1-6) There are no extant remains of this barrow cemetery. (7)

Additional Reference (8 - 10)

Historic England archive material; 872558 MORTIMER FAMILY PAPERS Correspondence and lists of artefacts recovered from excavation of barrows on Swadling Downs, Chartham, near Canterbury.Contents : Small


Andrew Richardson, 2000, Gazetteer of Anglo-Saxon Cemeteries and Burial-Sites in Kent (Unpublished document).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

<1> "Arts in Early England" 4 1915 728-30 (plan) (GB Brown) (OS Card Reference). SKE32594.

<2> Arch Cant 46 1934 60 (OGS Crawford) (OS Card Reference). SKE35189.

<3> VCH 1 1908 369-70 (RA Smith) (OS Card Reference). SKE50792.

<4> VCH 3 1932 149 (OS Card Reference). SKE50810.

<5> Nenia Britannica 1793 Plate 24 (Douglas) (OS Card Reference). SKE47529.

<6> Early AS Burial Sites 1964 114 (Audrey LS Meaney) (OS Card Reference). SKE41560.

<7> F1 ASP 20.01.65 (OS Card Reference). SKE42196.

<8> Field report for monument TR 15 SW 3 - January, 1965 (Bibliographic reference). SKE5493.

<9> MORTIMER FAMILY PAPERS (Collection). SKE6543.

<10> Lawson-Price Environmental, 1996, Archaeological Desk Based Assessment of Land At St Augustine's Hospital Chartham (Unpublished document). SKE8362.

Sources and further reading

Cross-ref. Source description
---Unpublished document: Andrew Richardson. 2000. Gazetteer of Anglo-Saxon Cemeteries and Burial-Sites in Kent.
<1>XYOS Card Reference: "Arts in Early England" 4 1915 728-30 (plan) (GB Brown). [Mapped feature: #44063 cemetery, ]
<2>OS Card Reference: Arch Cant 46 1934 60 (OGS Crawford).
<3>OS Card Reference: VCH 1 1908 369-70 (RA Smith).
<4>OS Card Reference: VCH 3 1932 149.
<5>OS Card Reference: Nenia Britannica 1793 Plate 24 (Douglas).
<6>OS Card Reference: Early AS Burial Sites 1964 114 (Audrey LS Meaney).
<7>OS Card Reference: F1 ASP 20.01.65.
<8>Bibliographic reference: Field report for monument TR 15 SW 3 - January, 1965.
<9>Collection: MORTIMER FAMILY PAPERS.
<10>Unpublished document: Lawson-Price Environmental. 1996. Archaeological Desk Based Assessment of Land At St Augustine's Hospital Chartham.

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