Whilst attending the 2005 excavations, I was in conversation with Judie English upon this very subject, when she suddenly asked, “Where did they plant the dead ones?” An entirely reasonable question, and one that has occupied my mind ever since.
It is often said that Roman life expectancy at birth was between 22 to 25 years (Tim G. Parkin, Demography and Roman Society 1992), but that if you got through the dangerous infant and toddler years you could expect to live into your fifties, so the settlement may well have had a dense population of at least 15 successive generations. So, what size would the cemetery be, and where was it located?
In determining the location of the Cemetery one has to first consider the legal, social, and spiritual aspects for such a site.
It has to be remembered that during the first two centuries AD, cremation was the preferred method of burial, the population being pagan, and it was not until well into the second century that inhumation became increasingly popular, commencing during the reign of the Emperor Hadrian (AD 117-138). It is not known whether this change came about because of spiritual factors or for other reasons, but nevertheless, both types of burial continued side by side for a further 200 years when, in the early 3rd century, cremation ceased. After the elevation of Constantine to the purple ( AD 307-337), he permitted, encouraged and personally converted to Christianity, and in AD 311 he issued the Edict of Serdica which essentially converted the entire Roman Empire from a pagan to a Christian one. Following the rise of Christianity, inhumation became the norm because the belief that resurrection was impossible after cremation.
Whether burial be performed by either method, we can immediately deduce where the cemetery is not, and that is within the settlement precincts themselves. The Lex Duodecim Tabularum or more simply the Law of the 12 Tables, the ancient legislation that stood at the foundation of Roman law and which formed the centrepiece of the constitution of the Roman Rebublic (and later the Empire), and the core of mos maiorum, strictly proscribed against such a thing. Table X, law 1, clearly stated hominem mortuum in urbe ne sepelito neve urito, which translated, stated categorically, “No dead man may be cremated nor buried in the city.” (Cicero, De legibus 2, 23) The body of the deceased therefore had to be conveyed, in procession, to a burial place outside the city where it would be cremated.
Jock Macdonald, in “Pagan Religious and Burial Practices in Roman Britain” observed that there were 3 main traditions of religious experience to be found in Britain during the Roman occupation – The Celtic, the Roman, and the Oriental. All religions, especially the Pagan ones, were capable of assimilating beliefs, rites and practices from each other, and these 3 beliefs probably intermingled and modified each other over the course of years in the ordinary way. Of the three traditions, clearly the Roman occupies the pivotal position, both as the official tradition of the conquering legions and as the intermediary between the other two, There was a range of views for example, concerning the existence of an afterlife. Such feelings changed with time, but whatever thoughts there were, one thing remained central to the Roman way of life was respect for the ancestor, and particularly the body of the deceased. The soul, they thought, could find rest only when the body had been duly laid in the grave. Thus arose an elaborate funeral ceremony, funus. The law even decreed as to how this ceremony had to be conducted, what colour certain mourners had to wear, and even instructions down to how many flautists had to be present!! Once at the cemetery site, the body was cremated at a bustum – it is unlikely, considering the size of Alfoldean, that the settlement would have possessed an ustrinum or crematorium. The ashes were then gathered together by the next of kin and placed into an urn made of wood, terracotta, or glass, and then buried – although the ashes of the poor were placed directly into the soil and covered with terracotta tiles or the upper portion of an amphora.
The dead, it was thought, were not entirely cut off from the living, and thus had to be regularly appeased and honoured as though they were still living. Particularly among the Celts – and let us remember that the local native population were just that, Romanised Celts, members of the Regnii tribe - there was a generally accepted view of an afterlife. Many felt that the dead, living in their tombs, could influence the fortunes of the living in vague, undefined ways. Therefore, just to be safe, gifts and offerings were made to the deceased. Naturally then, the cemetery would become an important part of the landscape, and such places could become huge, with mausoleoms, tombs, etc, such as those along the Appian Way, or the so called “street of tombs” outside Pompeii. There were other burial places near the cities, of course, less conspicuous and less expensive, and on the farms, country estates, and minor settlements like Alfoldean, provision was made for persons of humbler station. Whatever size or status the cemetery be, however, the principle always remained the same in that it would be a sacred area where descendants would regularly visit their ancestors pour libations upon the graves and hold celebrations in honour of the deceased.
To find the cemetery therefore, we have to look outside the settlement. The usual practice was to place the cemetery along the main road to make a “statement” and would as such be a prominent part of the landscape. But where can we say can be called outside the settlement?
What we first have to decide is where that demarkation line would have been drawn at Alfoldean. Wessex Archaeology, on the 2005 excavation, presumed that the earthworks of the mansio enclosure was that line, and therefore naturally accepted Miles Russell’s “circularity” just outside the enclosure, to be possibly a mausoleum. However, upon further excavation the feature was reinterpreted as a roundhouse with hearth, - dated to the 3rd century by the discovery of a broken but almost complete New Forest indented beaker. However, in the light of a further discovery, their first thoughts that the enclosure was the demarkation line appeared to be correct, in that the almost intact but crushed 3rd century beaker was found to be accompanied by a large shard of glass, identified as the base of a large square bottle from the Rhineland – possibly Cologne, 2nd century AD – which vessels were known to have been used as cinerary urns to take a cremation.
Now, this is just the point. A bottle dated to the 2nd century is from a time by which the settlement would have been well established. Therefore, in my opinion the demarkation line must have been further afield, as by this time at least 7 generations must have lived and died on the site since the mansio complex was built. The fact that a single cremation has been found within the settlement itself would not have been at all unusual. Although burials had to take place outside the town, there were exceptions in the case of young children (aged less than 40 days) who were often buried near their homes. This may well have been one such burial.
So back to the main thrust of my argument. Where was the cemetery?
For the moment, I rule out a siting towards the East of the settlement. I admit that the width of the trackways revealed by geophysics in the Eastern field, and which conjoin and appear to head in an easterly direction, may well be of sufficient size to sustain such funeral processions, and that the cemetery may be across a bridge over the Arun and lie in the fields beyond. However, I tend towards the view that the terrain would detract from the “statement” effect necessary for the spiritual life of the community, and would be sufficiently far away from Stane Street as not to be noticed by travellers along it.
The same view I would hold for a western siting of the cemetery, - again the desired impact would be greatly diminished the further away from the main road it lay. However, cemeteries usually lay on a road for just such a reason and we may well once have had such a road on an E-W alignment.
A triple ditch linear anomaly identified as a cropmark by Michael Luke in 1981, might conceivably be interpreted as just such a road with roadside ditch, and therefore wide enough for funeral processions. This cropmark showed up as three parallel linear lines, apparently aligned west to east commencing just south-west of the enclosure. In 1982, Michael Luke believed that this was a Roman Road, quoting Mr Hampton, photographer for the Royal Commission on Ancient Monuments, being in agreement. By explanation, Michael Luke observed that the third ditch would have been necessary to obtain material to raise the road above the flood plain (E Walddlove A Roman Road in the Vale of Clwyd 1979, 22-23). If the line of the anomaly were to be extended on the OS map of Roman Britain, it would be found to pass by Chiddingfold Roman Villa and then by the Alice Holt Potteries before joining a known road to Neatham on the Chichester-Silchester road. Another thought, Michael Luke postulated, was that it may perhaps be a local road to Kiln Copse in nearby Roman Woods (TQ 110 300) where a Roman building may have existed. Such a road would probably have started north of the river to avoid the need for a separate bridge (SAC Newsletter 37, Aug 1982. 285).
However, both of these interpretations have since been discounted by Michael Luke. In his 1986 Report, he re-evaluated the anomaly observing that “The width between the south ditch and the middle ditch (ignoring the dark green area) would be adequate for a road, but if the dark green area is genuine (as it appears to be) would only be 2 m. wide which is only wide enough for a path. The situation where 3 ditches are associated with a road…” see reference to Waddlelove above. “…needed an extra ditch to extract more material for an extra large agger where it passed through marshland. At Alfoldean this situation is not comparable since the ditches are in an area which is well above flooding. Assuming this feature to be a road it might be expected to have some kind of metalling between the southern and middle which might show as a light cropmark but there was no sign of this…” He now believes that assuming the 3 ditches are of the same date, they are more likely to represent a boundary of some kind. A triple ditch is unlikely to be needed to keep in animals, but be either defensive or of status value. If it were to serve as a boundary it would seem to be unnecessary since it is quite close to the river, which if it was like today, would have served as a good boundary.
If ,therefore, there were no E-W road, then there would be no facility for the funeral procession etc, and therefore likely to be unsuitable for a cemetery site. This then, leaves either to the north or to the south along Stane Street itself.
Immediately north of the mansio, Stane Street crosses a bridge to traverse the flood-plain and water meadows, and then follows the rising terrain to enter dense woodland now known as Plattershall Copse (locally, Roman Woods). The present A29 ends abruptly at a roundabout on the Horsham-Guildford road (A281) called Roman Gate Roundabout, but the line of the original Stane Street may still be followed through the woods and can be traced as a series of aggars and ditches, the entire stretch of which is considered to be of national importance and has been designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument (S.A.M. WS223).
Let us first examine the possibility that the cemetery lies somewhere in the flood-plain, between the Arun bridge and the rising ground. It is unlikely for two possible reasons. Firstly, as this area has always been liable to regular flooding there is no reason to suppose this did not also regularly occur in Roman times. Indeed, the water table would undoubtedly have been higher than today so the risk of flooding could well have been greater. This regular occurrence would have had an impact on hygiene, as there would be the risk of putrefaction residues contaminating the river, and therefore a danger to the settlement itself which must have relied heavily upon the River Arun for its water supply.
A second consideration, whether inhumation or cremation, would once again be the spiritual factor in that if the ancestors were to be respected as though they were still living, their “houses” would not be built in a location that the living would naturally avoid themselves. No one would want to risk being regularly flooded out, so why should the ancestors be any different? No, if the cemetery were to be situated to the north, it would be on higher ground. The hillside overlooking the floodplain, southwards facing, would be an ideal location – somewhere one would naturally wish to live, and certainally a “statement” to passers-by. However, this would work only if the hillside were open country, which today it is not, being a mixture of open fields and dense mixed deciduous woodland. What the nature of the vegetation would have been in Roman times would be the subject of speculation, but I suspect there would have been rather more woodland than today, and would therefore obcure the visual effect.
This then leaves the south of the settlement. I believe that the limits of the settlement, yet to be proven, lie somewhere between the southernmost end of field A, and the rising ground on the top of which sits Hill House. If this proves to be the case, then the cemetery must be south of this line somewhere, situated overlooking the road.
One clue, probably circumstantial but not to be ignored, is a fieldname Pot Field, associated with the 1843 Tithe map. (The field lies centred on NGR 5115 1320). Could this possibly refer to an urn-field, or just merely refer to a field belonging to a Mr Pott? Intriguing nevertheless and worthy of further investigation.
In determining the location of the Cemetery one has to first consider the legal, social, and spiritual aspects for such a site.
It has to be remembered that during the first two centuries AD, cremation was the preferred method of burial, the population being pagan, and it was not until well into the second century that inhumation became increasingly popular, commencing during the reign of the Emperor Hadrian (AD 117-138). It is not known whether this change came about because of spiritual factors or for other reasons, but nevertheless, both types of burial continued side by side for a further 200 years when, in the early 3rd century, cremation ceased. After the elevation of Constantine to the purple ( AD 307-337), he permitted, encouraged and personally converted to Christianity, and in AD 311 he issued the Edict of Serdica which essentially converted the entire Roman Empire from a pagan to a Christian one. Following the rise of Christianity, inhumation became the norm because the belief that resurrection was impossible after cremation.
Whether burial be performed by either method, we can immediately deduce where the cemetery is not, and that is within the settlement precincts themselves. The Lex Duodecim Tabularum or more simply the Law of the 12 Tables, the ancient legislation that stood at the foundation of Roman law and which formed the centrepiece of the constitution of the Roman Rebublic (and later the Empire), and the core of mos maiorum, strictly proscribed against such a thing. Table X, law 1, clearly stated hominem mortuum in urbe ne sepelito neve urito, which translated, stated categorically, “No dead man may be cremated nor buried in the city.” (Cicero, De legibus 2, 23) The body of the deceased therefore had to be conveyed, in procession, to a burial place outside the city where it would be cremated.
Jock Macdonald, in “Pagan Religious and Burial Practices in Roman Britain” observed that there were 3 main traditions of religious experience to be found in Britain during the Roman occupation – The Celtic, the Roman, and the Oriental. All religions, especially the Pagan ones, were capable of assimilating beliefs, rites and practices from each other, and these 3 beliefs probably intermingled and modified each other over the course of years in the ordinary way. Of the three traditions, clearly the Roman occupies the pivotal position, both as the official tradition of the conquering legions and as the intermediary between the other two, There was a range of views for example, concerning the existence of an afterlife. Such feelings changed with time, but whatever thoughts there were, one thing remained central to the Roman way of life was respect for the ancestor, and particularly the body of the deceased. The soul, they thought, could find rest only when the body had been duly laid in the grave. Thus arose an elaborate funeral ceremony, funus. The law even decreed as to how this ceremony had to be conducted, what colour certain mourners had to wear, and even instructions down to how many flautists had to be present!! Once at the cemetery site, the body was cremated at a bustum – it is unlikely, considering the size of Alfoldean, that the settlement would have possessed an ustrinum or crematorium. The ashes were then gathered together by the next of kin and placed into an urn made of wood, terracotta, or glass, and then buried – although the ashes of the poor were placed directly into the soil and covered with terracotta tiles or the upper portion of an amphora.
The dead, it was thought, were not entirely cut off from the living, and thus had to be regularly appeased and honoured as though they were still living. Particularly among the Celts – and let us remember that the local native population were just that, Romanised Celts, members of the Regnii tribe - there was a generally accepted view of an afterlife. Many felt that the dead, living in their tombs, could influence the fortunes of the living in vague, undefined ways. Therefore, just to be safe, gifts and offerings were made to the deceased. Naturally then, the cemetery would become an important part of the landscape, and such places could become huge, with mausoleoms, tombs, etc, such as those along the Appian Way, or the so called “street of tombs” outside Pompeii. There were other burial places near the cities, of course, less conspicuous and less expensive, and on the farms, country estates, and minor settlements like Alfoldean, provision was made for persons of humbler station. Whatever size or status the cemetery be, however, the principle always remained the same in that it would be a sacred area where descendants would regularly visit their ancestors pour libations upon the graves and hold celebrations in honour of the deceased.
To find the cemetery therefore, we have to look outside the settlement. The usual practice was to place the cemetery along the main road to make a “statement” and would as such be a prominent part of the landscape. But where can we say can be called outside the settlement?
What we first have to decide is where that demarkation line would have been drawn at Alfoldean. Wessex Archaeology, on the 2005 excavation, presumed that the earthworks of the mansio enclosure was that line, and therefore naturally accepted Miles Russell’s “circularity” just outside the enclosure, to be possibly a mausoleum. However, upon further excavation the feature was reinterpreted as a roundhouse with hearth, - dated to the 3rd century by the discovery of a broken but almost complete New Forest indented beaker. However, in the light of a further discovery, their first thoughts that the enclosure was the demarkation line appeared to be correct, in that the almost intact but crushed 3rd century beaker was found to be accompanied by a large shard of glass, identified as the base of a large square bottle from the Rhineland – possibly Cologne, 2nd century AD – which vessels were known to have been used as cinerary urns to take a cremation.
Now, this is just the point. A bottle dated to the 2nd century is from a time by which the settlement would have been well established. Therefore, in my opinion the demarkation line must have been further afield, as by this time at least 7 generations must have lived and died on the site since the mansio complex was built. The fact that a single cremation has been found within the settlement itself would not have been at all unusual. Although burials had to take place outside the town, there were exceptions in the case of young children (aged less than 40 days) who were often buried near their homes. This may well have been one such burial.
So back to the main thrust of my argument. Where was the cemetery?
For the moment, I rule out a siting towards the East of the settlement. I admit that the width of the trackways revealed by geophysics in the Eastern field, and which conjoin and appear to head in an easterly direction, may well be of sufficient size to sustain such funeral processions, and that the cemetery may be across a bridge over the Arun and lie in the fields beyond. However, I tend towards the view that the terrain would detract from the “statement” effect necessary for the spiritual life of the community, and would be sufficiently far away from Stane Street as not to be noticed by travellers along it.
The same view I would hold for a western siting of the cemetery, - again the desired impact would be greatly diminished the further away from the main road it lay. However, cemeteries usually lay on a road for just such a reason and we may well once have had such a road on an E-W alignment.
A triple ditch linear anomaly identified as a cropmark by Michael Luke in 1981, might conceivably be interpreted as just such a road with roadside ditch, and therefore wide enough for funeral processions. This cropmark showed up as three parallel linear lines, apparently aligned west to east commencing just south-west of the enclosure. In 1982, Michael Luke believed that this was a Roman Road, quoting Mr Hampton, photographer for the Royal Commission on Ancient Monuments, being in agreement. By explanation, Michael Luke observed that the third ditch would have been necessary to obtain material to raise the road above the flood plain (E Walddlove A Roman Road in the Vale of Clwyd 1979, 22-23). If the line of the anomaly were to be extended on the OS map of Roman Britain, it would be found to pass by Chiddingfold Roman Villa and then by the Alice Holt Potteries before joining a known road to Neatham on the Chichester-Silchester road. Another thought, Michael Luke postulated, was that it may perhaps be a local road to Kiln Copse in nearby Roman Woods (TQ 110 300) where a Roman building may have existed. Such a road would probably have started north of the river to avoid the need for a separate bridge (SAC Newsletter 37, Aug 1982. 285).
However, both of these interpretations have since been discounted by Michael Luke. In his 1986 Report, he re-evaluated the anomaly observing that “The width between the south ditch and the middle ditch (ignoring the dark green area) would be adequate for a road, but if the dark green area is genuine (as it appears to be) would only be 2 m. wide which is only wide enough for a path. The situation where 3 ditches are associated with a road…” see reference to Waddlelove above. “…needed an extra ditch to extract more material for an extra large agger where it passed through marshland. At Alfoldean this situation is not comparable since the ditches are in an area which is well above flooding. Assuming this feature to be a road it might be expected to have some kind of metalling between the southern and middle which might show as a light cropmark but there was no sign of this…” He now believes that assuming the 3 ditches are of the same date, they are more likely to represent a boundary of some kind. A triple ditch is unlikely to be needed to keep in animals, but be either defensive or of status value. If it were to serve as a boundary it would seem to be unnecessary since it is quite close to the river, which if it was like today, would have served as a good boundary.
If ,therefore, there were no E-W road, then there would be no facility for the funeral procession etc, and therefore likely to be unsuitable for a cemetery site. This then, leaves either to the north or to the south along Stane Street itself.
Immediately north of the mansio, Stane Street crosses a bridge to traverse the flood-plain and water meadows, and then follows the rising terrain to enter dense woodland now known as Plattershall Copse (locally, Roman Woods). The present A29 ends abruptly at a roundabout on the Horsham-Guildford road (A281) called Roman Gate Roundabout, but the line of the original Stane Street may still be followed through the woods and can be traced as a series of aggars and ditches, the entire stretch of which is considered to be of national importance and has been designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument (S.A.M. WS223).
Let us first examine the possibility that the cemetery lies somewhere in the flood-plain, between the Arun bridge and the rising ground. It is unlikely for two possible reasons. Firstly, as this area has always been liable to regular flooding there is no reason to suppose this did not also regularly occur in Roman times. Indeed, the water table would undoubtedly have been higher than today so the risk of flooding could well have been greater. This regular occurrence would have had an impact on hygiene, as there would be the risk of putrefaction residues contaminating the river, and therefore a danger to the settlement itself which must have relied heavily upon the River Arun for its water supply.
A second consideration, whether inhumation or cremation, would once again be the spiritual factor in that if the ancestors were to be respected as though they were still living, their “houses” would not be built in a location that the living would naturally avoid themselves. No one would want to risk being regularly flooded out, so why should the ancestors be any different? No, if the cemetery were to be situated to the north, it would be on higher ground. The hillside overlooking the floodplain, southwards facing, would be an ideal location – somewhere one would naturally wish to live, and certainally a “statement” to passers-by. However, this would work only if the hillside were open country, which today it is not, being a mixture of open fields and dense mixed deciduous woodland. What the nature of the vegetation would have been in Roman times would be the subject of speculation, but I suspect there would have been rather more woodland than today, and would therefore obcure the visual effect.
This then leaves the south of the settlement. I believe that the limits of the settlement, yet to be proven, lie somewhere between the southernmost end of field A, and the rising ground on the top of which sits Hill House. If this proves to be the case, then the cemetery must be south of this line somewhere, situated overlooking the road.
One clue, probably circumstantial but not to be ignored, is a fieldname Pot Field, associated with the 1843 Tithe map. (The field lies centred on NGR 5115 1320). Could this possibly refer to an urn-field, or just merely refer to a field belonging to a Mr Pott? Intriguing nevertheless and worthy of further investigation.
The Jury is still out, but I am working on the case.
