Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

Early Saxon cemetery first discovered pre 1849 and again in 1889 and in particular 1906-7, due to road widening, when 36 burials were uncovered. In 1910 another excavation, to try and find the extent of the cemtery found that a larger part had been destroyed by a chalk-pit just to the north.

The site lies on a south facing prominence of the North Downs scarp, overlooking Folkestone to the south-west and the English Channel to the south and east. OD 125-135m. Bedrock middle Chalk.

Monument Types

• CEMETERY (CEMETERY, Early Medieval or Anglo-Saxon - 500 AD? to 599 AD?)

Associated Finds

• COIN (Roman - 43 AD to 409 AD)
• BEAD (Early Medieval or Anglo-Saxon - 410 AD? to 650 AD?)
• BRIDLE BIT (Early Medieval or Anglo-Saxon - 410 AD to 600 AD?)
• PIN (Early Medieval or Anglo-Saxon - 410 AD? to 650 AD?)
• SHIELD (Early Medieval or Anglo-Saxon - 410 AD? to 650 AD?)
• SPEAR (Early Medieval or Anglo-Saxon - 410 AD to 600 AD?)
• SWORD (Early Medieval or Anglo-Saxon - 410 AD to 650 AD?)
• VESSEL (Early Medieval or Anglo-Saxon - 410 AD? to 650 AD?)
• BROOCH (Early Medieval or Anglo-Saxon - 580 AD? to 620 AD?)

Full description

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(TR 23803759) Anglo-Saxon Burial Ground (NR) (1)

In December 1906, when widening the road at Dover Hill, Folkestone, a number of Pagan Saxon burials were discovered with a few Roman coins. Early in the following year the area was excavated by Mr A.E Nichols (Folkestone Boro. Engineer) producing altogether 36 chalk cut graves. From the excavation plan and contemporary photographs the area was centred TR 23803759. The grave goods included swords, knives, spearheads, bridle-bits, umbones, necklets, and other ornaments, among them a garnet-set disc brooch dated to c.600 AD. All are on exhibition in Folkestone Museum. The site was again excavated in 1910 to determine inter alia, the limit of the cemetery; in the process four more graves were found, one of which contained a Jutish bottle. From this excavation it was evident that a large part of the burial ground had been destroyed by a (then disused) chalk-pit on the north side. Nine Anglo Saxon graves with spearheads, beads, buckles and c. found in 1889 "three parts up the hill from Folkestone to Dover" undoubtedly refer to this burial ground; the finds from these earlier burials were destroyed when Dover Museum was bombed during the 1939-45 war. More recent road widening again cut into the cemetery (the centre of which now falls under the road) without producing further evidence. (2)

TR 238376. Inhumation cemetery, Dover Hill, Folkestone. The first find from this site was prior to 1849, when a radiate brooch was discovered on Dover Hill. In 1889, nine graves were opened on the site, but the main discoveries were in 1907 when thirty-five graves of men, women and children were found during road widening operations on the Folkestone to Dover road. These were exavated by AG Nichols, the Borough engineer of Folkestone. There was no external indication of the graves, although the down had never been cultivated. One skeleton was in a crouched position, and one extended skeleton appeared to have been killed by knife. One grave contained two bodies. There were many arms found - a double-edged sword, ten spear heads, two shield bosses, twenty-five knives and a long `dagger'. There was one garnet inlaid brooch (7), which was of gilded silver, with three red garnets. Little information is available on the grave it was found in, but it was with a number of other grave goods. It is classified by Avent (8) as No.92. Other finds from this excavation included, several buckles, numerous amber and glass beads, and a small mounted crystal ball. In 1910 F.G Parsons excavated four graves, three of which had no grave goods. The fourth contained a wheel thrown bottle-shaped vase, c.23cm high decorated with horizontal grooves on upper part, a bronze pin and a stud. (Folkestone Museum OC9). Parsons made a report on the remains of the cemetery as a whole, estimating the males to be c.5' 6" tall and the females 5' 3.5" tall. The graves had been made by digging down to the chalk and then cutting a shallow bed in it. The head was supported on a pillow of chalk and the orientation varied from west to north-west, usually west-north-west. The cemetery is thought to be of the C6th. The finds are in Dover Museum, Folkestone Museum (including one skeleton) and the skulls are in the Natural History Museum. (3-9)

Additional bibliography not consulted. (10-19)

Excavation Information (7, 20, 21).

Mentioned in report (22).

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

<1> OS 6" 1962 (OS Card Reference). SKE48371.

<2> F1 CFW 23-APR-1964 (OS Card Reference). SKE42721.

<3> VCH Kent 1 1908 385 (R A Smith) (OS Card Reference). SKE50873.

<3> Page, W. (ed), 1908, The Victoria History of the Counties of England: Kent Volumne I, VCH Kent 1 1908 385 (R A Smith) (Monograph). SKE7882.

<4> Page, W. (ed), 1932, The Victoria History of the Counties of England: Kent Volume III, VCH Kent 3 1932 154 (R F Jessup & M V Taylor) (Monograph). SKE7810.

<5> JR Anthrop 1 41 1911 101-29 (F G Parsons) (OS Card Reference). SKE45032.

<6> Coll Cant 1893 199 (G Payne) (OS Card Reference). SKE39139.

<7> ?, 1907, Dover Hill, Folkestone, File & corres incl plan Folkestone Mus & Lib (Excavation archive). SKE8057.

<8> A Meaney, 1964, A Gazetter of Early Anglo-Saxon Burial Sites, Gaz of Early AS burial sites 1964 120-121 (A Meaney) (Monograph). SKE7939.

<9> Brown, G. B, 1915, The Arts in Early England: Saxon Art & Industry in the Pagon Period, Arts in Early Eng 4 1915 9 507 illust 709-711 (G B Brown) (Monograph). SKE8055.

<10> Unknown, 1928, Unknown, Arch Cant 28 1909 lxxiv (Article in serial). SKE8048.

<11> Payne, G., 1889, On a Roman Statue & Other Remains in the Dover Museum, Arch Cant 18 1889 205 (G Payne) (Article in serial). SKE8056.

<12> Leeds, E. T., 1936, Early Anglo- Saxon Art and Architecture, Early AS Art and Arch 1936 illus plate 32 5 (E T Leeds) (Monograph). SKE8050.

<13> Avent, R., 1975, Anglo-Saxon Inlaid Disc and Composite Brooches, AS Garnet Inlaid Disc & Brooches BAR 11 1975 24 illus plate 24 (R Avent) (Monograph). SKE8051.

<14> Evison, V. I., 1979, A Corpus of Wheel-Thrown Pottery in Anglo-Saxon Graves, Wheel thrown Pottery in AS Graves 1979 67 113 (V I Evison) (Monograph). SKE8052.

<15> Wright, T., 1875, The Celt, Roman & Saxon, The Celt, Roman & Saxon 1875 482 (T Wright) (Monograph). SKE8053.

<16> Arch Album 1845 202 (T Wright) (OS Card Reference). SKE34474.

<17> Brown, G. B, 1915, The Arts in Early England: Saxon Art & Industry in the Pagon Period, Arts in Early Eng 3 1915 142 (G B Brown) (Monograph). SKE8055.

<18> The Ant 43 1907 168-169 (OS Card Reference). SKE49933.

<19> Field report for monument TR 23 NW 7 - April, 1964 (Bibliographic reference). SKE5593.

<20> Unknown, Unknown, ANGLO-SAXON BURIAL SITE, DOVER HILL, FOLKESTONE (Collection). SKE6495.

<21> Nichols, A. E., 1907, "SKELETONS, DOVER HILL, 1907" (Excavation archive). SKE6547.

<22> Southern Water Services, 1993, Dover & Folkestone Wastewater Treatment scheme Environmental Statement (Unpublished document). SKE6815.

Sources and further reading