Researches and Discoveries in Kent 1905-1907 Payne

lxxxviii RESEARCHES AND DISCOVERIES IN KENT, 1905-1907. COMMUNICATED BY GEORGE PAYNE, F.S.A. RocIIESTEn..-During the extensive works connected with the laying of cables £or electric lighting, telegraph, and telephone, tbe whole length of the High Street was cut through in the year 1905. At Eastgate the remains of massive masonry connected with the drawbridge over the moat were met with. In front of Leonard's shop rock-like masonry occurred on the site of the Roman gate. Towards Star Hill several trunks of elm trees, neatly bored out, which bad served the purpose of a water conduit, were found, having been i n use up to quite recent times. These wooden pipes measured from six to ovel' seven feet in length and fifteen inches in diameter, the orifice being six inches in diameter at one end, diminishing to four inches at the other, each pipe being shaved off at the smaller end to enable it to fit in the next. The Roman l'oad was found to have been much cut about by successive trenchings £or mains of various sorts opposite the Cathedral Green. The section exposed-the best obtain.able throughout the operations-is sbewn on the next page . .A.bout ninety paces beyond the spot where this section was taken, the ancient way, on its course to the river Medway, seem s to run a little to the north side of the High Street, as it was not met with between Jenkins' sho1, and the bridge. In front 0£ RESEARCHES AND DISCOVERIES IN KENT. lxxxix the King's Head hotel a.11d Commin's shop adjoining, the foundations of a Roman building were discovered, consisting of tiles aud flint firmly bedded in exceedingly hard mortar. Amongst the debris cast up were found pieces of flange and flue tiles. This building stood by the side of the road here, and, as the hotel stands upon the site of the Medireval Market, it is possible that what we saw may have been connected with the Roman Forum, which doubtless preceded the market, as at Dover.* From Cronk's Alley, all up the High Street, the earth beneath the modern road was very black, containing a large quantity of huge flints, horn cores, and Moder'n road-metal Boulder's of Romon t"oad. Pebble. ltr'avel, t'Ommed. Sha(p gravel, r'ommec:i I E.ar'th, ehalk 1 ,1- far'g'e"6 flinre, rammed--􀄨 very hctr'd · at batle.. 1 I Na tu l"al t,r'a ve I ' jaw-bones of hos longifrons, the tusk of a boar, the skull of a dog, innumerable oyster shells, and several pi􀄧ces of Roman tile. When digging a manhole in front of the Bull Hotel, ' made ' earth was cut through to a depth of 11 feet 9 inches before the natural soil was reached. At the bridge no trace of the wall of the city was seen, the excavations not being of sufficient depth. At the eastern end of the city, Leonard's premises (late Miss Spong's house), on the southern side of the site of the east gate, have recently been extended into the garden in rear, which in my Paper on " Roman Rochester "t was described as the earthen rampart against the Roman wall of the city. This is proved to be correct, as the section exposed to view clearly shewed the slope of • See Canon Puokle's Vesti,.ge.r of Rotna1i Dove1·, .drck: Oatit., Vol. XX., p. 182. t .d.t·ch. ·Oant., Vol. XXI. XC . RESEARCHES AND DISCOVERIES IN KENT. the rampart. During the alterations an immense quantity of earth was removed, revealing the inner facing of the wall in its original state. The only objects found were potsherds and a bone netting needle of Roman date. On the outer side of the wall, and at some distance south of Eastgate, the new Baptist chUl'ch, now in course of constructiun, exteuds into the city moat. The excavatious, which necessitated the destruction of a lu.rge portion of the eastern side of the moat, shewed that the moat at this spot was 112 feet in width. While the work wrui in progress the workmen found many fragments of Roman and later ware and the remains of a human skeletou. It is a matter for profound regret that this fine moat is being built upon, as it is unquestionably one of the most interesting featut·es of the city, having formed part of its ancient defences from the Roman period until long after the fourteenth century. Turning to the various discoveries which have been made in the immediate neighbourhood during the past two years, we have again to thank om· numerous friends for prompt notification, whereby a rich harvest has been reaped for the Rochester Museum. In my report on Celtic Interments at !field Place Farm, Shorne, made in 1899 and printed in Vol. XX[V., attention was drawn to a causeway which runs from Lower Higham across the marshes towards Thong and Shorne, now known as the Land ·way, for which a high antiquity was claimed. Siuce tliat date