Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

Inhumation burial, incomplete excavation. The body was orientated head in the east with no grave goods found, except four nails (presumed to be from a coffin). Both orientation and presence of coffin suggest a late-Roman, or early Medieval date.

The site is on the north facing slope of a dry Downland valley, underly geology chalk. OD 115m.

Monument Types

• INHUMATION (INHUMATION, Roman - 167 AD to 332 AD)

Full description

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TR 30054552. The eastern end of a grave containing an inhumation burial was found in April 1976 by workmen, excavating a sewer-pipe trench, north of the junction of house numbers 5 and 7 Nursery lane, Whitfield (see plan). It was not possible to excavate the remainder of the grave due to other services and a large tree above it. The skeleton was extended, supine, skull to the east. The bones recorded appear to be of a middle-aged adult, probably female. No artefacts were found but evidence that the skeleton had been contained in a wooden coffin is suggested by the presence of at least four large iron nails. It is likely that the burial is Roman dating from the late 2nd to early 4th centuries AD. (1)

Inhumation burial, incomplete excavation. The body was orientated head in the east with no grave goods found, except four nails (presumed to be from a coffin). Both orientation and presence of coffin suggest a late-Roman, or early Medieval date. The site is on the north facing slope of a dry Downland valley, underly geology chalk. OD 115m. (2)

<1> KAR 83 1986 54-57 (J Willson) (OS Card Reference). SKE45447.

<2> Andrew Richardson, 2000, Gazetteer of Anglo-Saxon Cemeteries and Burial-Sites in Kent (Unpublished document). SKE29253.

Sources and further reading