[TQ 72285425] Roman Sepulchral Urns found A.D.1797 [NAT] (1)

A Roman cemetery was found in trenching a narrow slip of woodland skirting the road from the lower cross at Barming to the church. It was on the right-hand side of the road, c.225 yards from the site of the cross and 225 yards east of the church yard. [Site also shown at OS site on small sketch-plan.] The cemetery was 30 yards long by ten wide and surrounded on all four sides by a wall 3 feet high. Three fragments of a late Roman sarcophagus, ornamented with the Christian symbol of a tree, were found close to the north wall of the cemetery on the outside. One fragment has been lost, the remaining two are on the north side of the churchyard. At the depth of the foundation of the wall at the south side, within the enclosure, an urn of rude workmanship, containing ashes and human bones, was found. Nothing else was seen in the enclosure. There was an entrance on the south side near the east end, three and a half feet wide. (2)

Add. ref. to walled cemetery found at the end of the 18thc. The palm-tree ornamentation is a common device occurring on pre-Christian tombs. (3)

No further information was gained on the precise site of this walled cemetery, although the orchard which occupies the site was in the process of being grubbed up. The sarcophagus fragments noted by Beale-Post (Auth. 2) no longer remain in the churchyard and their present whereabouts is not known. Add ref. (b) (4)

Additonal refs (5-7).

The walls of the enclosure are visible as parchmarks in aerial photographs from 2003 (also seen on the 1990 set on google earth-provided by KCC).

<1> OS 6" 1931-47 (OS Card Reference). SKE48329.

<2> Unpub MSS by the Rev Mark Noble (OS Card Reference). SKE50699.

<3> Collectanea Antiqua 1 1848 183 ff idd (Beale-Post) (OS Card Reference). SKE39187.

<4> VCH Kent 3 1932 145 (OS Card Reference). SKE51025.

<5> JBAA 22 1959 24 (R F Jessup) (OS Card Reference). SKE44913.

<6> F1 CFW 31.01.64 (OS Card Reference). SKE42840.

<7> Field report for monument TQ 75 SW 23 - January, 1964 (Bibliographic reference). SKE4012.