Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

Roman foundations found in 1895 near the river south of the town. The area is currently occupied by allotment gardens but there is a scatter of tile present. Possibly the site of a large Roman villa.

Summary from record TQ 57 SE 77:

Excavation uncovered the site of a Roman building, interpreted as a possible villa, a cult room was supposedly found.

Monument Types

• BUILDING (BUILDING, Roman - 43 AD to 409 AD)
• FLOOR (Roman - 43 AD? to 300 AD? (at some time))
• VILLA? (Roman - 43 AD to 409 AD)
• VILLA? (VILLA, Roman - 250 AD? to 350 AD?)

Associated Finds

• BROOCH (Roman - 43 AD to 409 AD)
• KEY (LOCKING) (Roman - 43 AD? to 300 AD?)
• NEEDLE (Roman - 43 AD to 409 AD)
• NEEDLE (Roman - 43 AD to 409 AD)
• PATERA (Roman - 43 AD? to 300 AD?)
• PIN (Roman - 43 AD to 409 AD)
• PIN (Roman - 43 AD to 409 AD)
• COIN (Roman - 138 AD to 161 AD)

Full description

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[ TQ 5464 7345 ] Roman Foundations found A.D.1895[T.I.] (1) Applies to the site of Roman foundations situate about 1/2 mile N.E. of the Masonic Hall [Dartford] Photographs of these Roman foundations, as exposed in 1895, in Dartford Library. (1-3) Tenter Field site. Only a small portion uncovered. Photograph in Keyes' book, vol. 1, p. 625. (4) References to a Roman villa in Tenter's Field, Dartford. Tenter's Field is situated behind Victoria (Hard's) Mill, (now demolished). From the illustration in Keye's Historical Notes, the foundations could appear to have been roughly excavated (i.e. part of the foundation has been casually uncovered) but there is no account of such excavatins which agree with the date 1895, which appears on the O.S. map. (5) ".....there are traces of a Roman villa, of considerable dimensions, near the river, on the south of the town, where are now the allotment gardens." (6) "Between Darenth and Dartford, on either side of the public footpath opposite the Powder Works of Messrs. Pigou & Co. foundations of Roman buildings have recently been exposed to view, and they may be traced during dry seasons in the corn over a wide area. ...." (7) Photo (E. C. Youens) of Roman foundations in Tenters Fields. No references in text. (8) The field is at present covered by allotment gardens. A footpath crosses the site indicated by authority 1. No foundations are now visible but there is a scatter of tile. (9)

Additional Reference: (10-15)

Partially re-excavated by the Dartford District Archaeological Group in June 1979. The site is of a winged corridor villa consisting of a large hall surrounded by smaller rooms of differing sizes comprising store rooms, kitchen, with a hearth and a room with an opus signinum floor. A drainage ditch to the east of the site contained much household rubbish, pottery, bone pins and needles, iron keys and nails. The only coin from the site dated to the mid 2nd century. The sites seemd to have fallen out of use, or demolished, around 250-300AD.(16)

Description from record TQ 57 SW 178:
Tenter's Hill Field. TQ 545 738 (1). Ordnance survey maps from the 1890's onwards have shown foundations on the slope of this hill, just above the River Darent, following the discovery of walls about that time. In 1979 it transpired that the hillside was to be substantially remodelled and terraced. Survey uncovered the corner of a mortared flint wall in the corner of one of the allotment plots. The wall was followed west of a footpath, and slowly an H configuration emerged, which corresponded exactly with a photograph by S. K Keyes in 1933. The Roman villa had been relocated after eighty years. Work went on to reveal store rooms, a kitchen and a separate room with an opus signinum floor. A long open rubbish pit outside the kitchen window yielded a rich harvest of finds including vast quantities of pottery and bone pins, needles, nails, fragments of glass and a bronze brooch. The villa would in all have been approx. 30m long east to west and about 15m wide north to south. There is evidence to suggest that the Romans themselves demolished much of the villa. Our pottery studies suggested that this occurred between 250 and 300 AD (1). Between three eighths and one half of the villa at the west end hace been ploughed away in antiquity and our conjecture is that this included a large covered barn with side store rooms and stabling (2). Additional reference, not consulted (3).

Description from record TQ 57 SE 77:
(TQ5671 sited to Darenth only) Roman buildings,East Hill,Darenth (1)In 1895 the remains of a Roman Villa were found in Tenter's Field, East Hill. This building was lived in during the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD, and was left after the end of the 3rd century. This east-west facing villa was a rectangle some 50 feet by 100 feet, and surrounded by a courtyard. Storage rooms, and a kitchen were found. A room at the south-east corner was used as a shrine to the Roman Gods.

<1> Kent Arch Rev 59 1980 214 (OS Card Reference). SKE45798.

<1> O.S. 6" 1938-39 (OS Card Reference). SKE47827.

<1> Rediscovering Dartford, Dart Dist Arch Grp (1986) 7,8-9 figs, plates, 50. (OS Card Reference). SKE49122.

<2> (J. E. Tiffen, Town Surveyor) (OS Card Reference). SKE32700.

<2> Dart Dist Arch Grp Newsletter 21 (1979) 1. (OS Card Reference). SKE39626.

<3> Dart Hist Notes 1933 625 (S K Keyes) (OS Card Reference). SKE39632.

<3> Rev. P. Smith, Vicar of Dartford) (OS Card Reference). SKE49236.

<4> Rev. O.N.B. 1938039, p. 65. (OS Card Reference). SKE49221.

<5> Corr., 6" (P. J. Tester, Feb. 1957) (OS Card Reference). SKE39303.

<6> F. J. G. Foot & A. Cumberland, Dartford, 23.7.55. (OS Card Reference). SKE41728.

<7> Kent Archives Dept. 6" (Gordon Ward 1920-30) (OS Card Reference). SKE45903.

<8> Roman Villa, Tenter's Field, Dartford. (Anon, undated MS) (OS Card Reference). SKE49338.

<9> Dartford Library, Archaeology: Roman (File: MS in progress) (OS Card Reference). SKE39648.

<10> Dartford & Neighbourhood, 1911, p. 19. (C. J. Redshaw) (OS Card Reference). SKE39633.

<11> Arch. Cant. vol. XXII, 1897, p. 50. (G. Payne) (OS Card Reference). SKE37104.

<12> Historical Notes on Dartford, 1933, Photo. opp. p. 625 (S. K. Keyes) (OS Card Reference). SKE44084.

<13> F1 ASP 23-OCT-59 (OS Card Reference). SKE42248.

<14> Field report for monument TQ 57 SW 11 - October, 1959 (Bibliographic reference). SKE3119.

<15> Canterbury Archaeological Trust, 1994 Jan, A2/A282 Dartford - Historic Environmental Assessment (Unpublished document). SWX6767.

<16> Dartford District Archaeological Group, 1993, Under Your Feet: The Archaeology of Dartford District, p12-13 (Monograph). SKE12025.

Sources and further reading