This report concerns a 12thc capital found at Old Robus, a Grade II listed former farmhouse on the Canterbury road on the north side of Lyminge in the Elham Valley, East Kent. The buildings have been much-modified over the centuries, but the oldest part is a timber-framed Tudor building which probably dates to c.1550. In August 2021 owner Jeremy Knight discovered a carved block while removing a small tree in a garden border. He reported it to Rob Baldwin, project manager for 'Pathways to the Past', in response to a call to identify historic stones in the village as part of a wider project exploring the Anglo-Saxon heritage of Lyminge and its 7thc. church foundation. From here it was brought to the attention of the Corpus. CRSBI is most grateful to Rob Baldwin for drawing this item to our attention, and to Jeremy and Susan Knight for kindly allowing inspection and photography of the discovery at their home, and for consenting to it to be listed here. The stone is now being stored under cover pending discussions about its longer-term future. Although many other roughly-squared stones are present in the garden and were inspected, this was the only one which had diagonal bolstering or sculptural detail.

The capital has now been given to the Kent Archaeological Society and is in their collection at the Maidstone Community Support Centre, 39-48 Marsham St., Maidstone ME14 1HH.

No early history known at this site.

The farmhouse has a complex history and, given that there are traces of mortar on both sides of the sculptural detail, the block must presumably have been re-used in a wall at some stage in the post-medieval period. It is possible that it could have been revealed during the demolition and rebuilding of the separate section of the house to the rear around 1895, but no further details of this work are known, and is not certain whether this was built in the Tudor period. Before the 19th century the house lay on the northern edge of the village.

The capital is very similar to the collection of pieces found in a wall at Great Woodlands farm nearby in the 19th century, particularly in its use of beaded decoration and trefoil profiles, and so the same date of c. 1150 is suggested (see CRSBI report for Woodlands). Rev. Jenkins reported seeing other pieces of carved Romanesque masonry in unspecified locations in North Lyminge in the Victorian era, and so this surely has to be a contender for one of the lost pieces which he saw.

Given that the farmhouse was probably built around 1550, it may well have made use of stone available at the Dissolution. This block has very similar carving to that still visible at Horton Priory. The priory was founded in 1142 and dissolved in 1536 and the site is just over 4 miles away. This seems more likely than a source from a supposed 'camera' of the Archbishop which Jenkins believed was the source for the material he found nearby (see Woodlands report). Alternatively it could have found its way here at a much later date, perhaps even in the 19th century. The present-day whereabouts of the blocks from Woodlands is not known; this one, although similar, does not precisely match any of those illustrated. It is a fine-quality piece which suggests lavish patronage. Its form suggests an original placement in a small (eg. blank) arcade, perhaps in an aisle or entrance eg. to a Chapter House, or even from a cloister arcade.

CRSBI is most grateful to Rob Baldwin for drawing this item to our attention, and to Jeremy and Susan Knight for kindly allowing inspection and photography of the discovery at their home at Old Robus, and for consenting to it to be listed here. We are also grateful to Andrew Ward, Curator of the Kent Archaeological Society who has kindly kept us informed of the status of the capital, and of the society's plans for it. A photogrammetric survey of the capital has been carried out by the Kent Archaeological society, and this can be seen here.