A Roman Settlement at Sheldwich in Kent
Since the Summer of 2003 metal detectorists David Button and Gill Davies have been searching on farmland near Sheldwich, a parish to the south of Faversham. They regularly report all their finds both to the landowner and to the FLO for Kent, who has been recording them. On one field David Button began to find not only considerable numbers of Roman coins, but also large numbers of Roman tile fragments and a few pieces of what appeared to be Tessarae; small cubes of tile used to make up floors. This material was found across a large but discreet area and together suggested the presence of a Roman building. The coins from this site dated mostly to the 3 rd and 4 th centuries, although some 2 nd century coins were present, with the earliest datable example being a Sestertius of Antoninus Pius. No 1 st century coins or brooches have been recovered so far from this site, in contrast to another part of the same farm where David and Gill have made such finds.
The Kent FLO visited the site in the Autumn of 2003 and confirmed that large amounts of Roman tile were present on the surface. On the likelihood that a Roman structure was present it was decided to arrange a geophysical survey at the site. This took place on 25 th February, using the Kent Archaeological Society resistivity meter. The survey was undertaken by Andrew Richardson, David Button and Stephen Robinson (a GCSE student on a work experience placement with Kent County Council's Heritage Team) under the supervision of Ted Connell of the KAS. Two 20m grid squares were surveyed, one on the site of a possible cropmark and one in the area which had produced the majority of finds. The first area produced no conclusive results but the second grid surveyed located a concentrated area of very high resistivity, suggesting the presence of a structure. Sampling in this area using a hand-augur revealed a layer of mortar immediately below the ploughsoil.
Figure 1: A
Geophsyical Survey at Sheldwich. Andrew Richardsom, the Kent FLO at the controls.
Figure 2: The geophysical survey diagram produced from work shown in the photograph above.
On the basis of this information, it was decided to excavate a small 2m by 1m trial trench in the vicinity of the geophysical anomaly, in order to try to confirm the presence of intact Roman archaeology and hopefully to obtain some datable finds. This excavation took place, for the most part in appalling weather conditions, on Sunday 14 th March and was carried out by Andrew Richardson, David Button and Gill Davies, with the assistance of Gill's husband Mr John Davies. No structures were located, other than an area of flint rubble or hardstanding, which may account for the resistivity readings. Immediately adjacent to this (and possibly cutting it) was a refuse pit with shallow sloping sides. This contained a fill of dark brown and black soil, and large quantities of pottery, tile, animal bone and building debris. The latter included pieces of opus signinum flooring and wall plaster, including some pieces of painted plaster. The pottery included one sherd of decorated Samian, many coarse sherds, and some diagnostic rims, including two pie dish' rims. This material has yet to be subjected to specialist study, but appears to date to the 2 nd , or perhaps early 3 rd century AD.
Clearly the scope for further work at this site is very great, but from the information gathered so far it seems clear that the site of a substantial and high status Roman settlement, including at least one building provided with Opus Signinum and tessellated floors, painted plaster walls and tiled roofs, has been located and recorded thanks to the responsible metal detecting of David Button and Gill Davies.
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