Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

Site of a Roman building discovered in 1863 and 1895 when quantities of coloured wall plaster, concrete and roof and flue tiles found. Listed as the possible of a Roman villa.

Monument Types

• VILLA (Roman - 43 AD to 409 AD)

Associated Finds

• QUERN (Roman - 43 AD to 409 AD)
• SHERD (Roman - 43 AD to 409 AD)
• TILE (Roman - 43 AD to 409 AD)
• WALL PLASTER (Roman - 43 AD to 409 AD)
• SEAL (Roman - 317 AD? to 363 AD?)

Full description

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[TR 22945801] Roman building [NR] (Site of). (1) Roman remains, walls of solid concrete, flue and roof tiles, coloured wall plaster, pottery, quern, etc., were found in 1863 in a field called Church Ure or Oare, half a mile east of Ickham Church. Roman material found in a field near Britton Farm [TR 236581] in 1895 doubtless belongs to the same building. (2) The site is under growing crops and close investigation was not possible. At TR 22945788, 130m due south of the site, the flint walls of a small 19th century farm shed contain several pieces of pink Roman cement, some adhering to flint. (3)

In 1977-9 fieldwalking was undertaken on the site. Seven lead sealings were found. Five were imperial, one of Constantine II as Caesar (AD 317-37) and the others of Julian (AD 360-3). One other seal bore the name of the city of Smyrna, modern Izmir in Turkey. Their presence has lead to suggestions that the building may have had an official function. (5)

A very prominent cropmark was visible on Google Earth images of 2013. It consists of rectilinear marks on a northwest-southeast alignment and covering an area c.50m x 15m. This is probably the building found in 1863. (4-5)

KE 46 Listed as the possible site of a Roman villa. (6)

<1> OS 1956 (OS Card Reference). SKE48243.

<2> VCH Kent 3 1932 119 (REM Wheeler) (OS Card Reference). SKE51006.

<3> F1 ASP 07.JUL.64 (OS Card Reference). SKE41975.

<4> Field report for monument TR 25 NW 8 - July, 1964 (Bibliographic reference). SKE5730.

<5> Michael C.W. Still, 1995, Parallels for the Roman Lead Sealing from Smyrna found at Ickham, Kent, Arch Cant 114: 347-356 (Article in serial). SKE17535.

<6> Eleanor Scott, 1993, A gazetteer of Roman villas in Britain (Unspecified Type). SWX23549.

Sources and further reading