 In 1857 , the antiquarian J. M. Kemble excavated at the site with the help of the Reverend Larking , providing a report of their findings to the Central Committee of the British Archaeological Association . Describing the monument as a stone circle , they asserted that they discovered Anglo @-@ Saxon pottery at the site , and noted that as well as being called the Coldrum Stones , the monument also had the name of the Adscombe Stones , which Kemble believed originated with the Old English word for funeral pile , ad . In August 1863 , the Archaeological Institute , who were then holding their week @-@ long meeting in Rochester , took a tour to visit the site , guided by the antiquary Charles Roach Smith . That year , the monument was described in a copy of Gentleman 's Magazine by Yorkshire antiquary Charles Moore Jessop , who believed it to be a " Celtic " stone circle . 
