Paul drops me off back where I left the road at Stone Chapel, so I take one final look at it, wondering about what stood here in Roman times, and get on my way. Up and over the hill and into Ospringe, on Watling Street and just over from Faversham.
Maison Dieu is an incredible building: its lower floor appears sunk halfway down the modern street – obviously down to what would have been street level hundreds of years ago. I arrive just in time to have my photo taken by Kent Messenger, and am then greeted by Ann Wilkinson from the Faversham Society – volunteers who run the museum. Ann’s incredibly passionate and knowledgeable about the Roman artefacts, having recently found and written up the provenance of all the pieces.
She tells me all about William Whiting, a local archeologist and driving force in the area, who meticulously found and documented so many of the artefacts here. I really like the dice and game counters, one of which Lloyd Bosworth has already scanned.
I do a little scanning myself – of a beautiful pot depicting hunting dogs chasing a rabbit. Can’t wait to see the scan of this one, which was slightly tricky at times!
Tomorrow it’s the final leg, as I head to Canterbury via Bigbury Hill – where there is an Iron Age fort that may have been a camp for Romans. Tomorrow’s the big event at Canterbury Roman Museum, where this amazing find will be unveiled. I’ll do a couple of poems! To writing.
-Dan