[TQ 83146797] R.B. pottery, kiln bricks and ashes found. OS card index entries (1-14) and additional reference (15,16). [`A'-TQ 83146797] R.B. pottery, kiln bricks and ashes found. (1)

[`B'-TQ 83286819] Saw Upchurch ware here for the first time with C. Roach Smith in 1869. (2)

The saltings on the east side of Otterham Creek have yielded a vast store of Upchurch ware for a long time. When I was first introduced to the spot by C.R. Smith a thick layer of sherds could be seen along the mud bank (since removed by excavation of the mud for cement- making) for a considerable distance at low water and the flats (now
hidden by an accumulation of silt), down to the water's edge, were covered with pottery fragments. (3)

At intervals in the Medway Marshes a black stratum of sherds (1-2ft thick; the refuse from potters' kilns) is noticed at the edge of the saltings, c.3ft from the surface. It is especially well exposed on the eastern bank of Otterham Creek where, 2-3ft below this stratum, I found 10 or 12 whole pots lying in a row. At this point, but
nearer the water's edge and at a greater depth, Mr. C.H. Woodruff obtained several good specimens of pottery. (4)

In the bank of Otterham Creek, at a depth of c.3ft is a stratum of pottery wasters a foot thick, which may be traced a long distance. (5) As well as pottery fragments the stratum contains lumps of half-burnt clay and scoriae of the furnace, leaving no doubt it was the site of a kiln. (6)

In August, 1877, I found over 25 Roman vessels in the right bank ['right bank (of a river) that on the right of a person facing down the stream' - O.E.D.] of Otterham Creek. There and at Milfordhope (TQ 86 NE 1) the quantity of kiln bricks and ashes shows where the vessels were burnt, but I have not succeeded in discovering more
definite traces of kilns. (7)

Specimens of Roman urns shown to the Society of Antiquaries in 1842 had been found imbedded in a creek which runs from the Medway to the western boundary of Upchurch (Otterham Creek). Urns can be found in the creek at intervals for at least 100 yards and also on the borders of the branch creeks. They are obtained at low water only. The cliff of the main creek on the Upchurch side plainly shows, by a line of fragments about 3ft below the surface, that these remains extend some distance into the marsh. The number of vases and urns originally buried here must have been very great, for more than a century ago Battley (b) procured them from this very creek. (8)

(Additional reference - as Authories 4 and 7) (9)

Perambulation of the areas indicated by Payne (Auth. 1 and 2)
produced a few isolated sherds, mainly of Upchurch ware. The dense
concentration of sherds, kiln bricks, briquetage, etc., which might
be expected from a kiln site were not encountered but Payne states
that it has been quarried away. (10)

The greatest number of vessels in the collection of Mr. Cumberland
Woodruff came from Otterham Creek - the right bank for about three-
quarters of a mile, halfway between Otterham Quay and the mouth of
the creek yielded a large number of specimens. It was on the right
bank that he saw the clearest traces of kilns. Today no evidence
remains, an examination of each bank producing only three Roman sherds-one similar to true wasters in the Rochester Museum, possibly from this site-dating from the 3rd century. List of wasters in the
British, Rochester and Maidstone Museums which were either found at
Otterham Creek or found on the Upchurch Marshes at a time when
Otterham Creek was the principal source of funds. (11)

TQ 83146797, TQ 83286819 and unlocated foreshore sites in the same
general area. Very thick deposits of pottery, including wasters and
complete vessels, ash, fured clay, kiln debris and `kiln-bricks' were
observed in the mid 19th - early 20th century (see authorities 1-9).
The pottery, mostly grey `Upchurch Ware', probably dating from the
late 1st and 2nd centuries, is now in the Rochester, Maidstone and
British Museums. Probable kiln(s) in the vicinity, now destroyed by
tidal erosion, but `kiln bricks' and `bricks' with vitrified glaze
may also imply salting. (12)

<1> G Payne's 1" map (OS Card Reference). SKE43456.

<2> Pte 6" (Kent Arch Soc 1950) (OS Card Reference). SKE48860.

<3> Pte 6" (G Payne Rochester Mus) (OS Card Reference). SKE48855.

<4> Arch Cant 25 1902 lxi (G Payne) (OS Card Reference). SKE34892.

<5> Collectanea Cantiana 1893 72-3 (G Payne) (OS Card Reference). SKE39219.

<6> JBAA 2 1847 124-5 (CR Smith) (OS Card Reference). SKE44884.

<7> Collectanea Antiqua 6 1868 177 (CR Smith) (OS Card Reference). SKE39199.

<8> PSA 2nd ser 7 1876-8 291-2 (CH Woodruff) (OS Card Reference). SKE48797.

<9> Antiquitates Rutupinae cap 61 (Battley) (OS Card Reference). SKE33280.

<10> Arch 29 1842 223-4 (CR Smith) (OS Card Reference). SKE34382.

<11> VCH Kent 3 1932 132-34 (OS Card Reference). SKE51018.

<12> F1 AC 10.12.58 (OS Card Reference). SKE41784.

<13> Arch Cant 68 1954 73 79-80 84-87 fig 3 (I Noel Hume) (OS Card Reference). SKE35438.

<14> Pottery Kilns of Ro Brit RCHME Supp Ser 5 1984 409 (VG Swan) (OS Card Reference). SKE48555.

<15> Field report for monument TQ 86 NW 6 - December, 1958 (Bibliographic reference). SKE4562.

<16> 1902, Medway Marshes (Roman vessels found) (Article in serial). SWX9347.