The discovery of human remains was made on 5th March 1980 by Mr. John Williams whilst he was deepening an existing paddling pool in his back garden. I obtained permission from Mr. Williams and the Police to survey the burial site and to remove the remains, details of which are listed below: GRAVE 1 Skeleton (male ?) was found at a depth of .850m on a layer of clayey gravel overlying chalk. The skeleton lay on its right side with its legs pushed into a crouched position. The grave orientated almost north/south with the skull lying to the south. There were no associated finds. GRAVE 2 Skeleton (elderly male ?) found at a depth of .880m on the same layer as Grave 1. The skeleton lay on its back with the legs pushed upward and over to the left. This grave was situated about one metre to the south/west of Grave 1 and similarly orientated. No associated finds. GRAVE 3 Skeleton incomplete (female ?) found at a similar depth to those in Grave 1 & 2, but lying further to the west. This grave lay outside the defined excavation area and therefore it was decided to leave the remaining portion undisturbed. [Full description of the excavation] (1) The human remains recently uncovered at No. 17 Trevithick Drive may have been a chance discovery burt perhaps not an unrelated one. It would appear that a number of similar discoveries have been recorded over the past eighty years from this same area of Temple Hill. All these discoveries were made within a radius of 200 yards from No. 17 Trevithick Drive and at between 50' OD and 100' OD. The whole of these burials have been dated on very slim conjectural evidence and their age is therefore open to several interpretations. Are they, for instance, all part of one cemetery or alternatively a series of overlapping burials of varying dates: only time and a controlled excavation will tell. [Full report] (2) Owing to the absence of grave goods or other forms of dateable material it was not possible to put any accurate date on these burials. Accordingly, the 1980 discoveries were placed with earlier finds from Temple Hill as being between Roman and Medieval date. Fortunately the further discovery made on 24th April this year in Mr. William's garden has helped to solve the mystery. The further skeleton in Grave No. 4 did have accompanying grave goods - a pottery vessel placed above the right shoulder, the skeleton lay roughly north/south with the head to the north in a grave cut in the clayey gravel. Two days later anther new grave was found, No.5, and like grave No.4 this too had a pot placed close to the skeleton. The pot was found upside down below the skull, although it was probably displaced during earlier work carried out during preparation for the paddling pool constructed in 1980. The pottery vessels have been dated to the last quarter of the 1st century AD. (3)

<1> Dartford And District Arch Group Newsletter 23 1980 (OS Card Reference). SKE39638.

<2> Dartford and District Arch Group newsletter 24 1980 (OS Card Reference). SKE39639.

<3> Dartford and District Arch. Group Newsletter 33, 1983. 1. (OS Card Reference). SKE39640.