ABSTRACT
S u c h was the first and accidental discovery o f the Roman site at Lullingstone, a chance find two centuries ago and a note o f it hidden away among the bookshelves. From that time in the mid-
i8th Century, when, during the erection o f a park boundary fence,
these fortuitous discoveries were made, nothing further was done and
knowledge o f the Roman pavement soon faded from memory. Some things, however, decline to remain in perpetual obscurity. A
long and painstaking field survey o f the Darent Valley taken before and after the Second W orld W ar revealed a number o f Roman buildings scattered along the river banks, but no trace o f the lost Lullingstone Park site. Old reference books were consulted, but to little effect. The references, where there were any, were given to vague generalizations and imprecision. The ancient site lay somewhere “ near the northeastem boundary o f the park”— not much use after the lapse o f two hundred years, with its growth o f scrub and woodland.
