Excavations at Keston Church 1950 Jackson

EXCAVATIONS AT KESTON CHURCH, 1950 By E. D. C. JACKSON and N. PIERCY Fox DURING the war a bomb fell outside the east wall of Keston Church, and in June, 1950, the work of rebudding the east waU commenced. The buUder, Mr. George Smith, without whose interest and generous help httle could have been achieved, Mr. D. C. Harben and the writers watched and recorded the course of the work, and later, with the permission of the Rector of Keston, the Reverend W. J. Hepburn Whyte, excavated the area outside the blocked 13th-century arch on the south waU of the nave with the help of other members of Keston Field Club. When graves were discovered under the foundations of the east waU, Mr. W. F. Grimes, F.S.A., came and advised. No excavation of undisturbed graves was aUowed and such evidence as they may contain could not be recovered. Keston Church is close to the Roman site and it was hoped that evidence of Roman occupation would be found, but there was no trace of any Roman material in the ground examined. Only three potsherds were found: two 13th—14th-century unstratified sherds from the S.E. corner of the Tower were part of a " thumbed " base with speckled green glaze adhering, and the thhd was part of the base of a Tudor pot with traces of green glaze found near the entrance to the vault. The excavations show that the site of Keston Church was used as a burial ground before the foundations of the original building were laid. The present church is of the normal nave and chancel type without aisles. It stands on the original foundations except at the west end where the church was lengthened in 1878, and on plan could be of Saxon or Norman date (see Plan No. 2). The demohtion of the east waU revealed that it traversed parts of four shallow graves, cut in the chalk, previously cleared of theh contents sufficiently to allow the waU material to stand upon the floor of the graves. The photograph (Plate No. 1) is taken from the south end of the chancel east wall and. shows the lower walls from which Section EE of Plan No. 1 was measured. It also shows aU four graves, after removal of the southern end of these walls, and theh position in relation to the chancel floor which is seen on the left. The skull at the right-hand bottom corner belongs to a later interment and is some 18 in. above the chalk graves. An undisturbed skuU from grave No. 5 on Plan No. 1 was examined by Sh Arthur Keith who identified it as the skull of a woman of Romano-British type and placed it in the first half of the first mUlenium A.D. Mr. Roberts, of the Department of Human 110 PLATE I :• ' . Vs KESTON CHURCH. KENT. East wall rebuilding, 1950. [face p. 110 K E S T 0 X H U R C W . K E N T. PLAN N° f. Foe of wall splay _J Traces of walling continuing southward Splayed cornerstone/^--] as profile for wall splay. Base for Norman claspinp bullies.5. c H A . IH C E L s Resited wjll splay ^.—"'profile with later c angle bultyesscs. PRFMORMAN CRAVES NEARLY WAILINC FOUND DURING RfBulLOIMC OF EAST WALL OF CHANCCL. JuttE 1950. Measured « Drawn fay (• D U 0 L E f C. J C I K S O N , K E £ To N . I960. \ P L A N OF EAST WALL B E F O R E D E M O L I T I O N. found neve . Pvesent Cfound Leye OU turf P L A. N Of E X C A V A T I O N TRCNCH AFTER WALL J? E M 0 V E 0 '»*g : Four graves cut" info the chalk fa.ee. The alignment of the lowest wall CY&Uj- in bond. Numerous fragments of Novtn^n tvorlced -slor^es in i ^ l Y i *. Flint willing in hard \>e Sble morTar Ori'uJenfifi'ed worked stones in fnafrix. falling Ii\ fllnte, lump anJ crushed chalk ' witk c/a_y filling. ////iS/ms/Mik^. F t t T. •f H Line of demolition \ trench. Undisturbed pelvl< and -femur E • E K E S T O N C H U R C H , K E N T. PLAN N° 2. FOUNDATIONS & LOWER. WALLS OF FORMER AOJUNCT TO THE NAVE Aftd PART CONJECTURAL PLAN OF SU& WALLINC BELOW THE NORMAN CHURCH. •s/SYxr—^: Nave ofende [5 feet in 1878 3!:S^3SSSS;SSSX yy/Mm u mmmm r -1=^==^=™=, u=^«L—^l UPERIMPOSED PLAN OF SUB WALL (identified wKcre hatched). O S 10 20 30 40 SO iJave floov -f- 5 C, A L E Windows &fe omitted from these dt-awirvgs. They aye Efcyly Enoli-sk ov |a.ter. Adjunct floor m^www WM//mm/// ^mrnmmm 1 EARLY WALLINC (subvraff.). MORMAN. EARLY ENGLISH c.1250. 1 8 T H CENTURY- 1 9 T H CENTURY. W mw Present Croond Level. Mediewl Ground Lei/el. unmr chalk' S E C T I 0 N C - G b r 3 = ^ " OTnnTwnw iT0mnTTnTTnTr s E c T I o H TTTTTITTTTTITrTTTfnTTT H - H. w rnmn PresenT Gvound Level Medieval Cround Level. ckalK. Floor Level of Adjunct. r|odern timLe* floor. S/4S _^___ PYeiet\\ Cround Line. Carved stone veused as s ^ hvofile -fen wall -iplay. XV (oYi^inal purposE unknown). WW///S$&P 3Z^%> S5«3t \twM/ri wm Brick Vault [avih billing c. 1734 OF F E E T. Measured A Drawn by E. DUDLEY C. JA^KAON, K E 5 T 0 N'. I^^O EXCAVATIONS AT KESTON CHURCH, 1950 Anatomy in the University of Oxford, also examined the skull and reported that it was definitely post-Iron Age and pre-Norman. The orientation of the graves is approaching S.E. and N.W. with the heads to the N.W. At present this cannot positively be ascribed to Christian tradition and may be conditioned by sand pockets (see Plan No. 1). No grave goods were found in the limited parts of the graves which could be examined and there is no evidence to justify a close date. A pointed Paleolithic hand-axe was found in a pocket of sand close to grave No. 4. (National Grid Keference 541850/163000. O.D. 443.40.) The chancel fabric above ground is of Early English period of about A.D. 1250, but carved fragments embodied in the matrix of the demolished east wall proved that an earher wall existed and the footings of a flat clasping buttress at the S.E. corner suggests late 11th-century work. Below the level of these footings another wall was found; the orientation was materially different and it was of greater length than the wall above it. No dating material or technique was identifiable, but excavation at the S.E. corner of the nave proved that the return of the wall showed no break in ahgnment between the nave and the chancel (see Plan No. 2). The excavations south of the nave in front of the high 13th-century blocked archway revealed the foundations and walls of an adjunct to the nave. The walls retained a splay similar to that found round the 13th-century chancel and from their thickness (4 ft. 6 in.) the inference is that a tower was raised upon them (see Plan No. 2). The internal dimensions are 11 ft. by 12 ft. Carved members of the base of an arch pilaster in situ were also found corresponding in style to the blocked archway. Within this adjunct and at a lower level an uncharted vault was discovered which belonged to the family of John Pepys, Watchmaker of St. Brides, and a relative of the Diarist. The first Pepys entry in the burial register is that of " John, infant son of Mr. John Pepys from London, buried in the vault December 10th, 1734." The barrel roof of this vault stands about 2 ft. above the floor of the adjunct and almost fills the floor area. The manner of its construction shows that it could not have been built until the adjunct had been demoMshed and this would appear to have taken place prior to 1734. Mr. John Pepys died in 1749, and his son, Edmund, later became head of the senior (Cottenham) branch of the family. A closely detailed atlas of the County by Andrews, Dury and Herbert, pubhshed in 1769, no doubt the result of many years preparation, shows Keston Church with a tower at the S.E. end of the nave as at Kingsdown, near Farningham. Other than this and the fact that " two small bells of brass suted in the steple " are mentioned in the Inventory of Church Goods VI Edward VI no record of an adjunct is known to exist. I l l