Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

During a series of extensive rescue excavations, ahead of development in Dover’s town centre undertaken by Kent Archaeological Rescue Unit a building, a substantial Roman building consisting of 6 main rooms was uncovered lying on an east-west axis. This structure is today known as the ‘Painted House’ due to the vast quantity of painted wall plaster which was located, largely in situ, in association with it. The uncovered remains remain open to the public for viewing. Room 1, which was located at the eastern end of the complex, had been heavily damaged by later activity at the site, mainly by large Medieval pits, but parts of all four of its walls survive. (location accurate to the nearest 2m based on available information)

Monument Types

• WALL (Walls of room 1 of C9, Roman - 200 AD to 330 AD?)
• Wall Foundation (Foundations of structure C9, Roman - 200 AD to 330 AD?)

Full description

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(summarised from publication)

During a series of extensive rescue excavations, ahead of development in Dover’s town centre undertaken by Kent Archaeological Rescue Unit a building, a substantial Roman building consisting of 6 main rooms was uncovered lying on an east-west axis. This structure is today known as the ‘Painted House’ due to the vast quantity of painted wall plaster which was located, largely in situ, in association with it. The uncovered remains remain open to the public for viewing. Room 1, which was located at the eastern end of the complex, had been heavily damaged by later activity at the site, mainly by large Medieval pits, but parts of all four of its walls survive.

The walls were all rendered both internally and externally and were constructed of coursed flints set in a hard white mortar. At a height 50cm or five courses above the wall footing, were two courses of red bricks laid horizontally, this was then followed by more coursed flint. The average height of survival of the walls across rooms 1-4 was about 1.3m above the internal floor and 1.7m above the outside ground level (the internal floor being raised). The eastern wall of this room however is substantially lower with only two courses surviving. These walls sat upon wall footings of flint which were 30-60cm high and slightly wider than the walls (60cm - 70cm wide whereas the walls were a maximum of 60cm). The wall footings were in turn positioned upon a set of broad foundations which consisted of flint rubble with a few fragments of tufa and chalk, 70-80cm wide and 30cm deep. All six rooms were provided with floors of pink opus signinum which overlay the hypocaust heating system beneath.

Originally there would have been two door openings in this room, one in the north east corner and the other in the wall dividing rooms 1 and 2. These had subsequently been blocked, possibly at about the time the other rooms of this complex were demolished which is suggested by the build-up of soil and debris in the cavities left by the removed sill stones. The blocking consisted of chalk blocks with occasional fragments of tile and greensand, set in a white mortar at the lower level, while the upper level consisted of angular flints with occasional tile and greensand. The blocking survived to a height of 48cm high in the northern opening and 1.3m in the dividing wall opening.

In comparison to the other rooms of this complex, room one is quite badly worn; there is a general lack of the in situ or fallen painted wall plaster which is evidenced in rooms 2-4 and the floor is badly pitted. The worn nature of this room, along with the blocking of the openings and underlying hypocaust are suggestive of a continued use of this room after the demolition of the other rooms to the west in c. A.D. 270. (1)

<1> Philp, B, 1989, The Roman House with Bacchic Murals at Dover (Monograph). SKE24004.

Sources and further reading

Related records