Ancient Cuxton: the Iron Age and the Romans...

Following on from an earlier post...

In around 800 BC, the Bronze Age gave way to the Iron Age and the Cuxton area continued to be a place where people lived. In particular, discoveries from an archaeological investigation undertaken in 1997 as part of the construction of the Medway bridge section of the Channel Tunnel rail link shows continuous human occupation from the Late Bronze/Early Iron Age right up until at least around mid Anglo-Saxon times (around 650 AD) (1).

What the Iron Age encampment at Cuxton in 400 BC may have looked like...

Iron Age encampments comprised of fenced enclosures protecting a number of wooden dwelling huts. The Cuxton rail link discoveries included post-holes and pits, evidence of just such an Iron Age encampment above the River Medway just to the south of where the M2 bridge is today. These, along with related pottery finds, date the Cuxton Iron Age settlement at around 400 BC.

Iron Age coins dating from around 150 BC have also been found at Ranscombe reserve, of a currency issued by the ruling Cantiaci Kentish Kings of the time...

Example of late Iron Age coinage found at Ranscombe. One side depicts a stylised head of Apollo, the other an equally abstract bull...

In 43 AD, the Romans invaded Britain. The Kentish Iron Age tribes that were ruled by the four Kings of the Cantiaci united under the command of Togodumnus and his brother Caratacus of the Catuvellauni tribe, who ruled over a swathe of land to the north of the Thames. 

They fought the advancing Roman army at the Battle of the Medway, spearheaded by Legio II Augusta under Vespasian (under the overall command of Titus Flavius Sabinus) who, in a daring move, crossed the river at Burham. The Kentish defenders were caught unawares by the fully-armed legionaries that swam across the river and although they fought for three days, they were eventually defeated and fell back across the Thames in an attempt to defend what was feted to become the Roman city of Londinium.

Roman remains have been found extensively across Cuxton. In 1860, the White Hart was completely rebuilt following a fire that destroyed the original inn. Roman pottery was found during the work, comprising of red lustrous ware vessels that probably belonged to a sepulchral interment. One cup had the potter's name MATERNVS stamped on the bottom. The vessels were originally sent to Cobham Hall but have long since been lost.

In the Church graveyard it is not unusual, even today, to dig down and find remains of Roman tiles and masonry. Some of these materials have even been incorporated into the structure of the original Norman church... 

Clay tiles found during a grave dig in the north-east corner of the graveyard...

Materials excavated from the same grave as above (c. 1963, picture by Derek Church)...

One story (probably apocryphal) relates the tale of Sir William St. John Hope, a distinguished antiquarian and architectural historian, whose wife and son are buried in Cuxton churchyard. Sir William is said to have noticed Roman foundations in his wife's grave at her funeral and promptly halted the ceremony, jumping into the grave to examine the archaeological remains!

As a result of such finds, it has long been supposed that there was a Roman villa predating the site of the church, (perhaps of a similar nature to the one discovered in nearby Eccles) but this has never actually been proven. However, it does seem feasible that the Church could well have been built on the foundations of some sort of Roman structure, which may have been a Roman villa or Roman temple. Such a building may have perhaps even been a Christian place of worship, as Christianity was certainly present in Roman Britain from at least the third century AD until the end of the Roman imperial administration in the early fifth century.

The pre-existence of a Roman building that subsequently served as a foundation for the existing church could perhaps account for the atypical orientation of St. Michaels and All Angels. Most English Christian churches are aligned east to west, but the axis of Cuxton Church is south-east to north-west, seemingly more aligned with the path of the River Medway than the points of the compass. Indeed, a famous piece of old doggerel declares: 

“ ....If you would see a church miswent
Then you must go to Cuxton in Kent….”

Perhaps the most mysterious of the Roman remains found in Cuxton were those of a young Romano-British woman. In 1951, a Mr. H. H. Martin, resident of a bungalow called “Wayside” (on the Rochester Road opposite the Rectory) was digging a small trench just outside his front garden when he discovered two small clay pots. They were subsequently identified as being of Roman origin, of a type of funereal urn dating from around 50-100 AD. (2)

These finds prompted a further investigation by the Kent Archaeological Association in 1962, which led to the discovery of a skeleton, subsequently shown to be the remains of a woman aged about twenty, whose height was approximately 4 ft. 10 in. – and who was promptly christened “Jemina”.

The discovery of "Jemima"...

"Jemina" (1962, pictures by Derek Church)...

Strikingly, the corpse had apparently been decapitated at time of burial and the head placed between its knees. Antiquarian Mr. T. C. Lethbridge, F.S.A., has suggested that the decapitation was probably a post-mortem ritual intended to prevent the dead person's ghost 'walking'. Some “abnormality of character” (possibly related to a diseased physical condition not apparent in the surviving bones) may have caused fear that the deceased's spirit might return to plague the living. Mr. Lethbridge had previously found a number of similar decapitations in Romano-British cemeteries in the Cambridge region.

Once the investigation had been completed, I am told that Jemina’s remains were placed in a metal box and quietly laid to rest, unmarked, in the church graveyard.

References: 

1)    Channel Tunnel Rail Link Union Railways (South) Ltd, Project Area 350, Cuxton Anglo-Saxon Cemetery, Archaeological Excavation Interim Report, (Museum of London Archaeology Service, September 1999 – link here).

2)   Kent Archaeological Society paper “Researches and Discoveries in Kent”, 1964, pp. 181-182 and Plate V, by P.J. Tester