ANCIENT ROMAN VILLA

Southland Times, Issue 22216, 8 January 1934, Page 10

ANCIENT ROMAN VILLA

BOY’S FIND IN KENT.

ARCHAEOLOGIST AT FIFTEEN.

Archaeologist at fifteen! That’s Paul Ashbee, who has gained himself fresh laurels by discovering a Roman villa upon a farm at Thurnham, Kent. Excavation work has begun on his find. Ever since he reached a two-figure age Paul has been “mad” on archaeology. People in Bearsted, where Paul lives, became used to seeing him exploring ground in the district and digging energetically away. They smiled a little at his “youthful folly.” But Paul has earned their respect and admiration now.

Paul happened to notice some rabbit burrows as he was walking across the farm, and pieces of red earthenware thrown out by the rabbits. His enthusiasm was aroused. “Roman tiles,” he said. “That’s right, they are,” said Mr Norman Cook, curator at Maidstone Museum, to whom Paul conveyed his finds.

Wild with excitement, Paul went to Mr Charles Brown, who rents the land, and asked permission to dig. Mi' Brown could not refuse the excited boy’s request. So, armed with borrowed implements, he returned to the scene. For days a solitary figure was to be seen digging at top speed. The boy went home each evening utterly tired out and complaining of pains in the back. But he continued to dig, and his persistence was rewarded. Paul unearthed pottery, quantities of decorated wall plaster, fragments of glass—later identified as being about the A.D. 100 to 120 period—and coins. One of these was a Constantius coin of the third century, but others were unidentifiable. Then Paul hit something hard. It was a pebbled pavement. He took all his evidence to the museum, where every one was nearly excited as the lad himself. , , “A Roman villa!” exclaimed Paul and Mr Cook together. They rushed over to Thurnham, and there they could be seen getting on with the excavation work. The Kent Archaeological Society members are going to become “nav-

vies,” and all the manual labour will be done by amateurs. Walls and mor-tar-lined drains have been unearthed. A Sunday Express representative had a talk' with Mrs Ashbee, Paul’s mother. “Paul has never thought of anything else,” she said. He is crazy about archaeology. When he was fourteen he went down to St. Augustine s Museum, Canterbury, and helped there to get exhibits ready to be sent to the British Museum.