Cuxton School...

Cuxton School, 2021...

Quite when the first local schools in Cuxton started up is unclear, but they were almost certainly in the form of “Dame’s Schools”. These schools were taught by a “school dame,” a local woman who would educate children for a small fee. At Dame’s schools, children were taught the basics of reading, writing and arithmetic. Girls were often instructed in crafts such as knitting and sewing.

"The Dame School", by F.C. Cotman (1850-1920)...

From a drawing held at the Rochester Guildhall Museum, it appears that one such school was located at the Old Post Office Row, which used to be sited opposite the Parsonage. The drawing, (showing the Old Post Office Row to a remarkably -perhaps suspiciously- faithful degree) was possibly made by one of the school’s pupils...

Drawing of a "Dames School, Cuxton, Kent", date unknown (from Rochester Guildhall collection)...

Photograph of the Old Post Office Row, c.1900...

Another Dame’s School may have been at White Hart Farm: Medway Archives have an old daguerreotype-style photographic print of the building which bears the annotation “Dame’s School”.

In 1803, the Rector of Cuxton Church, Reverend Charles Moore, is recorded as having set up: 

“… a little school in the parish (where there was none before) and paying myself for the constant weekly schooling of eight or more poor children, giving them shoes and stockings in the winter to encourage them to be regular…”

The Church accounts at the time record a sum expended: “paid to Featherstones of Rochester for schooling – worsted and shoes - £7-12-6d.”

In 1826, William Hollingdale was recorded as being Cuxton’s parish Clerk and schoolmaster, suggesting that a school was by then in operation. This may have been sited at the parsonage (a location today occupied by Cuxton’s scout hall) which was at the time otherwise shunned by Cuxton’s rectors as too much of a damp and unpleasant place to permanently live.

It was the enterprise of another Cuxton rector, Canon Robert William Shaw, which led to the building of Cuxton’s first dedicated school. When Robert Shaw first came to Cuxton, the population of the village was around 370, but it was clear that local industries, particularly the cement industry, were poised to expand.

The original Cuxton school, 1919...

Foreseeing a need for permanent schooling to serve a growing number of children, Canon Shaw’s school was built on land just to the south-east of the church, close to the main road, and included accommodation for a schoolmistress. On its opening in 1849, the school could accommodate up to 70 pupils, who then came from both Cuxton and nearby Halling.

Cuxton's old school, with the nearby church in the background, c. 1920...

The Education Act of 1870 saw the building of additional capacity for infants in 1876 at a cost of £185, which was met by Lord Darnley, Canon Shaw and his friends and also some of the local yeoman (Messrs Wood, Pye and Weekes).

Cuxton School, c. 1930

The Act established a system of 'school boards' to build and manage schools in areas where they were needed. The boards were locally elected bodies which drew their funding from the local rates. Unlike “voluntary schools”, religious teaching in the board schools was to be 'non-denominational'.

In 1880 a further Education Act finally made school attendance compulsory between the ages of five and ten in order to try and stop child labour, though by the early 1890s attendance within this age group nationally was still only around 82 per cent.

Many children worked outside school hours - in 1901 the figure was put nationally at 300,000 - and truancy was a problem as many parents could not afford to give up income earned by their children, particularly at Cuxton when hop-picking and harvesting seasons came round. Some also simply could not afford to send their children to school as school fees were payable until a change in the law in 1891, although the church involvement at Cuxton made education available to many who could not otherwise have afforded it.

Further legislation in 1893 extended the age of compulsory attendance to 11, and in 1899 to 12.

Up to the death of Canon Robert Shaw in 1873, the school had been in the care of an uncertificated master. His successors, Canon Charles Colson and John Toone, subsequently oversaw the appointment of a series of qualified teaching professionals, including Mr. Thomas Strickson, who was headmaster of Cuxton School from 1900 until 1930.

Pupils of Cuxton School, 1877, with the Headmistress, Miss Elizabeth Percival and assistant Alice Percival..

By 1902 the population of Cuxton had also nearly doubled and the national Board of Education gave notice that a larger school would be required. 

The old Cuxton Chapel, c.2000 (prior to its relocation to the Museum of Kent Life at Sandling). It was used as a "overflow" school
building in 1903 until the completion of the "new" village school in 1905...
(source : Cuxton History fb page)

There was no room for further expansion at Canon Shaw’s school, and indeed, the children had been compelled to use the little green above the western side of the graveyard (now overgrown) as the play area.

Pupils of Cuxton school, c. 1900, with teacher Emma Osbourne...

A new National School was therefore built down in the village. The new school officially opened on Friday 6th. March 1906 and is still in use today (no cheap and nasty “aerated” concrete in that building!).

Pupils of Cuxton School, c. 1905, outside the old school with Headmaster Thomas Strickson...

The new national School under Headmaster Strickson appeared to have been run to very Victorian standards of discipline. Use of the cane was a common punishment and the curriculum was very much based on the “Three Rs”. 

A view of Bush Road from Six Acres, c. 1910, with the new school at centre.

Cuxton's new "National School", c.1907...

Things began to change upon his retirement in 1930, with his successor, Mr. R.H, White, being of a more liberal disposition despite his ex-Army background. 

Cuxton juniors, school photo, 1938...

Use of the cane as punishment became far less frequent and the curriculum changed to include more modern subjects (such as algebra) and to encourage organised sports and even gardening...

Cuxton School gardening class, 1931...(source : Cuxton History fb page)

The old school remained in use for a while as a Sunday school and church rooms, and the ground floor living accommodation was used by the school caretakers. Like many other of Cuxton’s old buildings, however, Canon Shaw’s school was finally demolished in 1964.

Demolition of the old Cuxton school, 1964...

These days, the much-extended Cuxton infants and primary school caters for nearly 400 pupils, many from outside of Cuxton itself.

Cuxton School, 1972...

References:

1) Cuxton - a Kentish Village by Derek Church, 1976 (ISBN 0 903253 12 7, published by Arthur J Cassell)

2) Cuxton - Its Past and People (written and published by Colin S Martin, 2005).

Holly Hill...

A morning stroll up to Holly Hill on an unusually warm day in late September...

View eastwards from Holly Hill...

View south from Birling Hill, across Birling and Ryarsh...

View southeast from Birling Hill...

Southern panorama from Birling Hill...

View east from Holly Hill... 

I took the path back down towards Ladd's Farm on the return journey...

View southwest from above Ladd's Farm...

View south from above Ladd's Farm...

Panorama from above Ladd's Farm...

Phacelia and Sunflowers, Pilgrims Way...

 

A Comet Through The Smog...

Just before sunrise this morning, I made my way up to Church Hill to see if I could spot Comet Nishimura. However, the recent heatwave and associated atmospheric conditions had combined to form an absolutely horrendous cloud of air pollution that hung over the Medway valley in the form of a brown haze that you could actually taste.

The smog pretty much put paid to any chance of seeing or photographing the comet, although the sight of the crescent moon and crescent Venus rising over the Medway bridge made the early morning start worthwhile.

A red haze of pollution hangs over the Medway Valley...

Although difficult to see, I think the tiny comet and its tail is just about visible above the trees and to the left of Venus in the picture above, but it really is pretty much wiped out by the haze. 

World Health Organisation (WHO) guidelines state that with regards to airborne micro-particulates (called PM 2.5s), 24-hour average exposures should not exceed 15 µg/m3 more than 3 - 4 days per year.

Data from the nearest working national atmospheric pollution monitoring station at Stoke (the one on Chatham Hill being mysteriously out of action this past week) show that PM 2.5s have been consistently well above the above WHO safe limits for the past week. For much of today, PM 2.5s were over four times that level!

Data from Stoke AMS, 4th to 11th September...

Polluted sunrise as seen from Church Hill. The M2 viaducts can hardly be seen...

Air pollution does at least make for some "atmospheric" sunrises... 

St. Michaels through the polluted Bakers Field sunrise air on Church Hill...

"Wanderings To Cantian Churches..."

St Michaels and All Angels, 2022...

Picking through some old newspapers online in Cuxton library, I came across an article in the Maidstone Journal, Rochester and Chatham Journal and Kentish Advertiser, from October 26th 1852. It relates to a journey made by two of its correspondents from London to Cuxton, to view St Michaels and All Angels church.

It provides a snapshot of Cuxton and Cuxton Church, about 15 years before the latter underwent a major renovation under the direction of the energetic Revered Robert William Shaw, who was Rector of St. Michaels from 1831 to 1874. The church nave itself was extended and many of the church artefacts moved or removed, all for better or worse.  

Watercolour of the south side of St. Michaels c.1850, prior to the 1867 extension of the nave and the 1936 addition of the vestry.

North side of St. Michaels, c.1801. The lowering of the porch and the cutting to it was made in the 1867 renovation. There used to be
steps down into the aisle.

I thought the article (or at least, most of it) is worth recounting here. I have provided explanatory or additional notes where I think they may be of use. 

“Wanderings To Cantian⁽¹⁾ Churches” 

BY A SCUIT, (Anglice,) A VAGABOND – (“Picts and Scots”.) 

CUXTON: 

“Wandering through the woods of the Priory of Lesnes (2) the other day, after vainly attempting to discover the long lost effigy alluded to by Dr. Stukeley (3) many a year ago, we resolved to visit Cuxton, where was situated one of the few manors erst the property of the poor abbot and chapter of Lesnes.”

Incontinently we hied to the British Museum to look into Hasted’s History of the County of Kent, after Cuxton, to ascertain the name of the manor (4). Without any difficulty we found Hasted, and Ireland’s piracy of Hasted, but not so easily in it the history of the parish of “Cuxton”; twice we searched the index under “Cu”, then we tried “Ku”, and two or three other variations of the appellation. As a matter of course, in the end, we gained the reward of merit deserved by our industry and on turning to the page we found a choice of names, not one of which over much resembles that in use at the present day.

Cookstone, Coclestane, Cucolanstan, Cuclestena, beside half a dozen more aliases in its orthography, very interesting, doubtless, to the curious in such matters. Some wild hankerers after wildering etymologies will seek in some ornithological specimen the root of “Cuckoo-stone” whilst others will appropriate the Domesday name of “Cuckhold-stone” to some miserable victim of conjugal infidelity; so far as we however are personally concerned we prefer asserting that the etymology of Cuxton and its innumerable aliases is of adulterated Celtic origin with a Saxonic filial...
(5)
…Having ascertained the above, and looked into Dugdals (6) and other big books we shut them up and putting on our hat very majestically, stalked out of the reading room, leaving the attendants to put the heavy volumes back into their proper places, for, they are paid to do it.

A penny omnibus soon took us to Holborn Bridge, and then a cab conveyed us to the North Kent Line, where we obtained a ticket for Strood. As everybody knows the dirty-den, by courtesy styled a station at Strood, we will say no more about it, than, that if possible, it is now dirtier than ever. Thence to Cuxton is a very pretty walk. (7)

At the entrance to the village there is a post office (8), a nice old house; a little farther off is a public house (9), close, of course, to the church; at the east end of the burying ground where our rude forefathers of the hamlet sleep, is a modern school-room (10). The key was in the possession of the post-master who, marvellous to say for any one connected with the Post Office establishment, is a very civil and obliging individual! From the clergyman too, we were offered every accommodation in our hurried glance at the sacred fane (11); the situation of which on the edge of a lofty hill, is very pleasant, sloping down to the meandering Medway.

Cuxton church consists of a nave, chancel, south mortuary chapel, at the south-western angle of which is the staircase to the rood loft (12), a two-storied embattled tower, and north porch. The east window is a three-light, with early English window, blocked up. The mortuary chapel was very probably built with the materials previously comprised in some Roman structure, for both tufa and squared stones from the Andernach quarries (13) are worked up. The east window of this chapel is a square-headed Tudor two-light. This chapel is now used as a baptistery, and it contains a Norman font (14). On the west side the stone steps to the rood loft are evident.

There are several monumental slabs to the Marshams, who formerly resided in this parish (15). Lord Romney still possesses property here. On the south side is a piscina (16) under the arch. Severing the chancel from this chapel is a tomb, with round the edge “Hic iacet Ihohannes Botyler, rector hvivs ecclesie qvi obiit vitimo die junil, anno D.M. 1568” (17) in hatched and oblated capitals. Upon the tomb is a brass (18), with the following inscription: 

[PRAY] FOR THE SOULE OF JOHN BUTTYLL, PARSON [OF THIS]
CHURCHE AND CHAPLAYNE TO THE HIGH AND NOBYLL
[PRI]NCE EDWARDE WHICH Mr JOHN DECEASED THE [  ]
OF [  ] ANNO DOMINI MV [UPON] WHOSE SOULE JESU PARDON

The effigy above it has been torn away, but in its place is a fine and particularly curious palimpsest brass, or rather, (which we believe to be an unique instance) a portion of two brasses (19) joined together, upon one is ..atic Steere, twice repeated. These two different mortuary materials, were adapted by the heirs of the wealthy, all of whose inscriptions are now left, we give herewith. 

PRAY FOR THE SOULE OF JOHN [TURNER] WOLPACKER OF LONDON
SOME[TIME OF] [ST.] KATHERINE OF CHRISTCHURCH WHO DIED [  ]
AUGUST ANNO DOMINI MDXLV ON WHOSE SOULE JESU HAVE MERCY

There is also a corbel now carrying a marble slab to “Thomas Swindon, Rector”. The chancel contains some inscriptions on slabs which we trust the clergyman will one day translate for us (20). An aumbry (21) on north side, square aumbry on south wall. Some encaustic tiles (22) decorate the floor under the rails. On the south side of the chancel, adjoining the rood screen (23) is a large pew, upon which is some nicely carved linen pauncing (24). A bench also has two poppy heads.

The windows on the south side of the nave are two light square headed, and a blocked up doorway to which is a stoup. The old roof still remains. At the west end there is a gallery. The porch stands on the north side. The statue which erst filled up the niche has long since gone; some strangely painted tins, probably of heraldic meaning, now do the decorating business in its stead; upon one is a swan, and on the other is a cock’s head. To each door is a stoup (25).

Notes:

(1)        “Cantian”: an archaic expression meaning “of Kent”

(2)        The “priory of Lesnes”, otherwise called Lesnes Abbey, a Grade II-listed ruined abbey in Abbey Wood, with a long and fascinating history of its own.

(3)        The Rev. William Stukeley, a renowned antiquarian, who undertook a study of the ruins of Lesnes Abbey in April 1753. His original paper can be found here.

(4)        The manor of “Beresse”, or Upper Bush as we call it today.

(5)        In the interests of focussing on the Cuxton church aspects of the article, I have omitted the account of the ancient ecclesiastical wranglings related to the ownership of the ancient manor of Beresse that ensued at this point, and which can be found in Hasted’s history (link to the online version here).

(6)        Sir William Dugdale, another noted antiquarian. A list of his extensive works can be found here.

(7)        The North Kent railway line through Cuxton was not built until 1853 with Cuxton station being opened in 1856, hence the “very pretty walk”.

(8)        The Old Post Office Row, details here.

(9)        The White Hart, of course. They may well have been talking about the original building, which burned down around the time of our correspondent’s jaunt and was rebuilt in 1860. We don’t have any images of the original pub as far as I know, but perhaps it may have looked like the Walnut Tree at Halling…

The Walnut Tree off-licence in 1930, but pretty much unchanged for 300 years at the time...

(10)      This was the original Cuxton school, which was built just to the south-east of the church in 1849 at the instigation of the “clergyman” noted here, the Reverend Robert William Shaw.

Robert William Shaw's school, next to the church (c. 1920). It was demolished in 1964..

(11)      “Fane”: an archaic expression meaning “shrine” or “church”.

(12)    The small stone staircase in the corner of the chancel is still there, although it is now blocked off as the gallery it leads to now opens on to thin air.  It seems that at the time of this account, the rood screen was still present. There is some debate over what function the lofts may have served. See (23).

(13)    It is thought that some of the stone used in the construction of Roman Villas in Kent may have been imported from the ancient Andernach quarries of Germany. Recovered Roman materials were undoubtedly used in the construction of the Norman part of the church, but the tufa limestone (evidenced in the quoin stones – cornerstones - that mark the original Norman exterior end of the chancel before it was extended in the 13th century), flints and Kentish ragstone seen today could all be sourced locally (and probably were).

A column of tufa quoin stones (to the right of the end window) mark the corner of the original Norman chancel. 

(14)   The Norman font was replaced by the current Victorian one as part of Rev. Robert Shaw’s church “restoration” of 1865. 

The account suggests that the font used to be located opposite the "mortuary chapel" (Lady Chapel) rather than at the south end of the eastern aisle adjacent to the tower as it is today. Fonts are traditionally placed near the main door of a church and this suggests that the nave door was perhaps once the main door. This may have been the case as the majority of worshippers probably came from Whornes Place until Victorian times and the subsequent expansion of the village.  

The base of the existing font is the original Norman one, but the original font itself was at one time dumped outside in the graveyard by Canon Colson’s memorial. I believe it is now in the church storeroom.

(15)      In his 1976 book, “Cuxton – a Kentish Village”, author Derek Church refers to the black marble ledger stones of the Marshams, noting their fine inscriptions (they are also mentioned in the Registrum Roffense). They are not visible in the chancel now as they have been carpeted over! Certainly some other ledger stones have been covered by the thoughtless location of the (Victorian – again!) church organ (as has the Harley memorial), but the organ was not installed until 1881, long after the visit of our two correspondents.

(16)      “Piscina”: a small basin, trough or sink set in the wall of a church used for the use and subsequent disposal of Holy Water or other consecrated liquids, and which drains (via a sacrarium) directly to ground, thus ensuring it is respectfully returned to earth rather than mixed with common drainage.

(17)      Translates from the Latin as: 

 + Here lies John Buttyll, Rector of this Church, who died on the last day of June 1568 A.D. + 

John Buttyll was at one time chaplain to John Fisher, Archbishop of Rochester (who was shamefully treated and subsequently executed by Henry VIII), and then subsequently to Edward VI. Buttyll is Cuxton’s longest-serving Rector to date, holding that office from 1522 until his death in 1568.

John Thorpe’s Registrum Roffense of 1769 tells us that the inscription on his altar tomb was around the “verge of the upper stone”. The tomb was moved from its position between the chancel and the Lady Chapel during the Rev. Shaw's Victorian “restoration” of St. Michaels during 1865-1868, and placed outside under the south-eastern chancel window. 

The altar tomb of John Buttyll, Rector of Cuxton, 1522-1568..

It was not given any protection from the elements and has now become so badly weather-worn that no trace of any inscriptions are visible.

The newspaper article is interesting for what it omits, as well as what it describes. For example, no mention is made of the Lady Harley memorial (latterly moved from the chancel to the Lady Chapel) nor of the tomb of Caleb Parfect (which was in the nave and was also removed as part of the Victorian “restoration”). 

The tomb of Caleb Parfect, Rector of Cuxton 1719-1770...

This tomb was subsequently placed in its current position outside in the southern graveyard opposite the south door of the nave (and has suffered the same subsequent weathering as that of the tomb of John Buttyll).

These two striking monuments would have certainly have been seen by our two intrepid Victorian correspondents, but why they were not considered worthy of mention in their subsequent account is a puzzle.

(18)      This brass and the one described later were both on display on the wall of the south aisle until 1995, when they were (wisely) taken down and sent to Rochester Guildhall Museum for safe-keeping (along with a framed description of the two palimpsests written by the Rev. Charles Rae in 1955). They are not on public display but the helpful folk at the museum found them, got them out of storage for me and let me photograph them a few months back…

Brass palimpsest from the tomb of John Buttyll (actual size ex frame = 40 x 9 cm)...

The date of Buttyll’s death was not filled in, suggesting that the brass was prepared beforehand. Both these palimpsests were damaged even at the time of the visit described above, but the full text of each is given in the 2011 Kent Archaeological Society review of the memorials at St. Michaels (and which I used to fill in the blanks in the original account above):

The Rev, Rae's description of the two brasses that used to accompany them... 

(19)      The John Turner palimpsest...

Actual size of the brass itself (without frame) is 28 x 12.5 cm...

(20)      The marble plaque in memory to Thomas Swindon was put up by a grieving father who had lost three young sons. It is now hidden by the organ. The Latin inscription is quoted in full in John Thorpe’s Registrum Roffense of 1769 and translated, reads:

"SACRED TO THE MEMORY OF THOMAS

SON OF TOBIAS SWINDEN M.A./AND RECTOR OF THIS CHURCH

A CHILD OF BEAUTIFUL FORM/NATURE AND CHARACTER

DIED AUGUST 30th A.D.1700

AGED 7 YEARS

AND IS HERE BURIED WITH HIS/LITTLE BROTHERS/CLEMENT AND JOHN

WHO FROM HIS BIRTH SHED FORTH/SO MANY RAYS OF LIGHT OF A

NATURE SO BEAUTIFUL THAT/AT LENGTH HE WAS PROMOTED

TO THE HIGHEST LIGHT/HASTENING DEATH SNATCHED HIM

IN HIS YOUTHFUL DAYS AND/COVETING HIS VIRTUES BELIEVED

HIM TO BE A MAN"

Wall monument to the memory of Tobias Swindon...

This poignant memorial says much about the infant mortality rate at the time.

(21)      “Aumbry”: an ecclesiastical word for “cupboard”…

(22)      Encaustic tiles are a type of coloured tile where the pattern forms an integral part of the “baked in” fabric of the tile and so cannot be worn off.  Such patterned tiles cannot be seen under the chancel rails now.

The altar, set for harvest festival in 1958. Note what were perhaps the "encaustic"
tiles on the floor, which is now boarded and carpeted over...

(23)      A rood screen is typically a carved wooden screen that separates the chancel from the nave. At St. Michaels, the rood screen was moved and put across the tower arch. The associated loft was lost.

(24)      Me neither…

(25)      A stoup is a vessel for Holy Water, usually placed by the entrance to a church, often in a small alcove next to a door. It used to be the custom to cleanse your fingers in Holy Water before “crossing yourself”. There is still such an alcove by the north door, now used as a home for the first aid box...

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