More information : R.B. cemetery was found in 1863 adjacent to the railway
line and Ro. Camp at Hardham. Five graves were discovered 'A' TQ
0283 1730, 'B' TQ 0310 1743, 'C' TQ 0298 1740, 'D' TQ 0297 1740,
'E' TQ 0294 1740, one of them, 'C', within the camp. All contained
a wooden box, two with cinerary urns and burnt human bones, one
urn standing on a Ro. brick. Amongst the finds were pottery
fragments, including a piece of samian, a pair of sandals, numerous
vases, bronze fibula.
Closer dating evidence is provided by a coin of Hadrian found in a
vase in another grave within the Camp, and now in Brighton Museum.
The presence of graves inside the camp may perhaps show that it was
disused before the cemetery encroached upon it [See AO/LP/63/26]
[See also TQ 01 NW 10]. (1)
The sitings given for the five burials lie along the edges of old
gravel pits on either side of the Midhurst-Pulborough branch
railway line. These pits were being dug at the time for ballast for
the line which was opened in 1866.
The disposition of these burials would suggest that others were
destroyed during gravel digging and that further burials remain to
be uncovered, to the north and west, beyond the limits of the
pits. (2)
HARDHAM, Sussex38 (fig. 64)
Situation Found when a railway was under construction.
Section About 2 ft. 6 in.square to 6 ft. square.
Depth About 10ft.
Character and Contents Shaft I. The shaft was stained from near
the top to bottom. At the bottom was a lining of oak planks, 2 ft.
8 in. high, which had no bottom but allegedly had a lid. In this
'box' were several fragments of roughly tanned leather and, on a low
platform of flints covered with a layer of black vegetable matter,
a rudely-fashioned cinerary urn containing burnt human bones and
a 'shallow patera'. both of a dark ware and both upright. Close to
these were three horn cores, a few broken bones and a lower jaw
containing teeth, all of Bos longifrons. In addition there were
one of the incisors of a pig and part of the jaw of a horse;
coarse potsherds and a fragment of Samian ware; and two round
stones, one of flint and the other of sandstone together with a
mass of chalky white substance.
Shaft 2 was similar to shaft 1, but measured 4 ft. square. The
wooden 'box' at the bottom contained two vessels on a stone platforn
covered with vegetation. Three horn cores of Bos longifrons were
found, a fragment of leather and an iron nail. In addition a
pottery wine-funnel, a pear-shaped vase, a fragment of bent iron rod
and a bronze pin were found, while the black clay filling mixed
with sand contained numerous pieces of pottery and fragments of
flint, and was highly charged with carbon.
Shaft 3 contained one cinerary urn placed upright on a Roman
brick, two horn cores of Bos longifrons and numerous sherds.
There were platforms of flints at the bottoms of both shaft 4 and
shaft5. The latter was 6 ft. square, and its angles were strengthened
by oak beams.
Shaft 6 was circular, steined, and contained an amphora measuring
5 ft. 6 in. in circumference, placed mouth downward, together with
two Roman coins and a quantity of dark matter. (3)
Brief mention of `6 ritual pits' and description of the contents of
two of them. (4) |