Archaeological Investigations at St Augustine’s Abbey Canterbury 2004-5

89 ARCHAEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS AT ST AUGUSTINE’S ABBEY, CANTERBURY, 2004-5 richard helm Elements of three medieval building ranges were exposed during archaeological work at St Augustine’s Abbey, Canterbury. The work was carried out between 2004 and 2005 on behalf of the King’s School, Canterbury, prior to the construction of New Grange House, a new student accommodation block completed in 2007, and located within that part of the abbey designated as a Scheduled Ancient Monument and a UNESCO World Heritage Site (Fig. 1). To ensure that the construction had a minimal impact on the below ground heritage the archaeological works sought to establish the extents and depth of any surviving archaeology within the building footprint and surrounding area. Following a geophysical survey (GSB Prospection 2002) and an archaeological evaluation (Pratt 2004) the presence of significant buried remains, both within the proposed building footprint and immediately to the south, was confirmed (Fig. 2). Limited excavation within the development area was therefore deemed appropriate to provide sufficient information to inform the structural design of the building so that it could be constructed above the level of the extant archaeological resource. The excavated area measured 882m2 and was situated immediately west of Harvey House, erected in 1999, the footprint of which was also previously subject to archaeological investigation (Hicks 1997; 1998). To the east, the excavation was bounded by a walled garden, to the south by the school playing fields, and to the north by the grounds of North Holmes Campus, Canterbury Christ Church University. The ground surface had been modified by modern landscaping associated with former use as both a car park and tennis court, with a gentle rise from 15.26m od in the west to 16.52m od in the east. To the north, within the grounds of Canterbury Christ Church University, the ground surface had been terraced, with a drop to 13.33m od. The excavation work comprised machine removal of all modern overburden, including the fills from a large Second World War bomb crater (357) exposed on the southern edge of the excavation area and from the previously excavated evaluation trenches (trench 5 and trench 6). The underlying archaeological surface was exposed at a depth of between 14.22m and 16.20m od. The bomb crater, which was to be utilised as a soak-away for the new build, was excavated to a depth of 13.26m od, but not bottomed. Here, the underlying geology, comprising a Head deposit of clay and silt (BGS 2014), was identified at a depth of 13.72m od. Full excavation of the exposed archaeological deposits was not pursued (Fig. 3); rather the purpose was RICHARD HELM 90 Fig. 1 New Grange House, Canterbury, location plan. ARCHAEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS AT ST AUGUSTINE’S ABBEY, CANTERBURY 2004-5 91 Fig. 2 Detail plan showing abbey buildings and key archaeological features identified during excavation and geophysical survey. RICHARD HELM 92 Fig. 3 The excavated area showing the extent of the three main building ranges as exposed below post-medieval demolition and garden deposits. Looking south-east. Scale 2m. ARCHAEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS AT ST AUGUSTINE’S ABBEY, CANTERBURY 2004-5 93 to ensure that all significant archaeology be preserved in situ below the proposed building footprint. As such, interpreting the character, morphology and date of the exposed archaeology can only be tentative, and should be viewed as provisional until further opportunity for a fuller investigation arises. Early Medieval (c.1050-1250) Cultivated soils, pits and a ditch The earliest archaeology comprised a sequence of loamy soils exposed in the sides of the Second World War bomb crater (840 and 853) and the base of evaluation trench 6 (668, 669, 671, 721 and 725) (Fig. 4). An un-abraded sherd from a cooking pot in Canterbury Sandy Ware (EM1) retrieved from the surface of layer 840 indicated a late eleventh- to early twelfth-century date (Barber 2009). These soils, which were potentially formed through a process of agricultural land use, predated the construction of abbey buildings in this area and are comparable to excavated soils and pits from neighbouring sites located to the north-west, spanning the period from the late ninth to the early twelfth century (Bennett 1986, 88; Hicks 2015). Within evaluation trench 6 these soils were cut by a partially visible ditch (671), 0.6m wide and aligned north-east to south-west, indicating a later subdivision of agricultural land. Fig. 4 Early medieval features. RICHARD HELM 94 Late Medieval (c.1250-1550) Truncating the agricultural soils and boundary ditch, three building ranges were partially exposed extending to the west, east and south of the investigation area. The western most building range was located adjacent to the supposed site of the early twelfth century abbey reredorter, or common latrine (Tatton-Brown 1984, 179-80). The eastern building range extended into an area commonly attributed to a suite of lodgings established by Peter of Dene in 1312 (ibid., 183). The southern building range can be tied with buildings previously identified in the 1903 and 1907 excavations (Hamilton Thompson 1934), and represent the northern limit of a complex of buildings projecting eastwards from the abbey’s infirmary. The western building range The eastern end of a masonry building overlay the cultivated soil horizon and field ditch identified in evaluation trench 6. Though the extents of the building were not fully exposed during excavation, visible elements, including later robber trenches and associated demolition material, revealed a rectangular structure which measured up to 7.9m wide (excluding the external buttresses), by at least 16.7m in length, continuing beyond the excavation area to the west (Fig. 5). Fig. 5 Late medieval features. ARCHAEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS AT ST AUGUSTINE’S ABBEY, CANTERBURY 2004-5 95 The northern (415), southern (663), and eastern (666) walls, were all identified to varying extents, measuring up to 1.09m thick, and formed of roughly coursed chalk blocks with internal faces of dressed flints rendered with a mid-greyish yellow sandy mortar. Two external buttresses (417 and 540), spaced 4.9m apart, abutted the face of the southern wall. The buttresses, measuring 2.1m by 1.4m and 2.3m by 1.6m respectively, were constructed of roughly coursed chalk blocks and flint, with the westernmost buttress (417) faced with an upper course of Caen stone ashlar encountered at 15.56m od, presumably the level of the former ground surface. A third buttress (446), of the same construction, was observed to the north, measuring 2.3m by 1.9m, originally abutting the robbed out northern wall. Internally, the building was subdivided by two parallel, east to west aligned walls (665 and 714), both 0.8m wide, and constructed of roughly coursed chalk blocks with mortar rendered flint faces to the north and south respectively. These walls defined a drainage channel, with an internal width of 0.8m wide, extending along the centre of the building (Fig. 6). Traces of an internal clay floor (286), surviving at a depth of 14.42m od, over a crushed mortar bedding (758, not illustrated), was visible south of the central drainage channel. This was overlain by remnant occupation debris including a small area of cess-like material (726) abutting the southern face of the central Fig. 6 The western building range with central drain, looking north-west. Note the cushion capital visible to the south of the drain (lower left) and the sequence of fills with lenses of chalk infilling the drain (upper centre). Scale 0.5m. RICHARD HELM 96 drain and a cushion capital from a free-standing column, potentially originally derived from an arcade. The cushion capital, in a fine-grained limestone, is typical of late eleventh- to early twelfth-century architecture, and had chamfered angles in a pseudo-broad leaf form including an inscribed line running vertically through the centre for the chamfer or ‘leaf’. The capital was square in plan, with octagonal necking, terminating in roll mouldings. An incised setting-out mark on the base of the capital demonstrated a shaft diameter of 195mm (Preston 2006). A roughly squared lamp or candle holder, carved from a fine-grained limestone, was recovered from the overlying post-dissolution demolition backfill, and was probably contemporary with the active use of the building (Bevan 2009), with comparable lamps or candle holders excavated from Winchester dated to the thirteenth century (Biddle 1990, fig. 308a, 3545, 3546, 3547, 991-993). On the northern side of the central drainage channel, wall (714) had a 0.22m wide offset foundation (716), capped with horizontally laid tiles (715) (Fig. 7). A Fig. 7 Detail of the northern room of the western building range, showing walls 666 (left) and 714 (top), with offset 716 capped by horizontally laid tiles 715, looking south. Scale 0.2m. ARCHAEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS AT ST AUGUSTINE’S ABBEY, CANTERBURY 2004-5 97 crushed mortar consolidation layer (718) abutted the face of this offset foundation at a level of 14.45m od. The central internal drainage channel, which presumably extended westwards along the full length of the building, had a base formed of rough chalk blocks (717), with a slight invert from 14.70m OD at its east end to 14.68m od at its west end. The drainage channel was filled by a sequence of six dark brown silty loams (675, 613, 658, 204, 294 and 292), up to 0.32m thick, separated by thin lenses, up to 0.02m thick, of clean crushed chalk (659, 612, 295 and 293) (Fig. 6). Sample excavation of these deposits identified an assemblage of 180 sherds (663g) of fresh, un-abraded cooking pots in Canterbury Sandy Ware (EM1). These included several flaring rim types of late eleventh- to early twelfth-century date (Barber 2009), which can be paralleled with an assemblage excavated from the Norman Keep of Canterbury Castle (Wilson 1982, 69, no. 45). Other finds included five fragments of residual Roman tile (Harrison 2005), two fragments of hearth lining and an iron crucible fragment and iron slag (Allison 2005; Bevan 2009), as well as a corroded iron object, possibly from a knife or tool-blade, and an iron nail head (Bevan 2009). A small assemblage of mammal (comprising cattle, sheep/goat and pig, in addition to hare and cat), bird (comprising domestic fowl and goose), and marine fish (mainly plaice/flounder, whiting, and herring) bone was recovered from these deposits, along with marine shell (comprising oyster, mussel and edible winkle) (Allison 2010a, 2010b; Jones 2010; Locker 2009). While a few mineralised plant remains were present in the lower strata, insufficient evidence was found to suggest that faecal material was present. Instead, a far greater proportion of charred plant remains were present within the drain, derived from processed spilt or spoilt food waste (Carruthers 2008). Cereal grains made up the bulk of the assemblage, with little associated cereal chaff, indicating that cereal processing waste and animal fodder was not being deposited in the drain to any great extent. The main crop represented was free-threshing wheat (with bread-type wheat probably the principal cereal being deposited as burnt waste in the drain), with hulled barley (probably six-row hulled barley) also common. Oats and rye were both present at low but constant levels, while other crops and gathered foods included horse bean, pea, and locally available fruit seeds, such as blackberry, sloe or cherry and hawthorn, and hazelnut shell fragments (Carruthers 2008). A wall (662), 0.8m wide, extended from the south-east corner of the western building range towards the south (Fig. 5). This wall was partially straddled by a later buttress (661), measuring 2.1m long by 1.7m wide, inserted against wall (663), and 0.35m to the east of buttress (540) (Fig. 8). A further wall (450) was partially exposed on the northern edge of the excavation extending from the northeast corner of the western building range eastwards towards the eastern building range (Fig. 5). The southern face of wall (450) was formed of roughly coursed and dressed flint nodules with a mortar render, and appeared to be integral to the construction of the western building range. A north to south aligned wall (546), measuring 1.36m wide, was also partially revealed, abutting the northern face of the western building range, along with two further short wall segments (575 and 650) abutting the northern face of buttress 446 (Fig. 5). RICHARD HELM 98 The eastern building range The eastern building range was located immediately east of the western building range, separated by an area of open ground (Fig. 5). The building comprised of three main structural elements: the primary building, a later extension attached to its west end, and an enclosed courtyard located to its south (Fig. 9). The eastern building range might be equated with a suite of buildings constructed in 1312 ‘near the front of the infirmary chapel, on the north side’ by Peter of Dene (Davis 1934, 399; Tatton-Brown 1984, 183). It was these same buildings that Peter of Dene later occupied when he sought refuge within the abbey in 1322 (See Appendix for a brief account of his earlier career and his subsequent escape from the abbey in 1330.) Fig. 8 Detail of later buttress 661 (centre) overlying wall 662 (to right) and adjacent to earlier buttress 540 (to left), looking north-east. Scale 1m. ARCHAEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS AT ST AUGUSTINE’S ABBEY, CANTERBURY 2004-5 99 The primary building measured 5.9m (4.7m internally) east to west, by a minimum 3.9m (2.9m internally) north to south, continuing beyond the excavation area to the north. The visible east (496), west (495) and south (478) walls measured between 0.60m and 0.90m wide, and were constructed of rough chalk blocks with large flint nodules and occasional roughly dressed Kentish ragstone (Fig. 10). The remnants of a mortar render (498) were observed on the exterior face of the eastern wall and a plaster render (481 and 497) observed on the interior faces of the south and east walls, respectively. A 1m wide entrance way (633), with a dressed limestone threshold and internal rebated jambs (Fig. 11), provided external access through the west wall (495). Either side of the entrance were located two internal benches (307 and 807). The benches were formed of a chalk and flint core, with a plaster render. A later extension was added to the west side of the primary building forming the eastern building range. The extension measured 16.3m (14.9m internally) east to west, and a minimum 10.2m (9.01m internally) north to south, continuing beyond the excavation area to the north. Both the south (554) and west (499) walls of the extension, between 0.76m and 0.85m in width, were formed of a chalk and flint core, with a dressed flint face, and had traces of an internal plaster render. Between the existing building and the southern wall of the western extension was a 1.4m wide entrance way, marked by a limestone threshold stone (748). A later blocked second external entrance (592) was located through the west (499) Fig. 9 The eastern building range, looking south-east. Scale 2m. RICHARD HELM 100 wall of the extension, positioned slightly offset to the opposite entrance (633) into the primary building. Several partially exposed walls hinted at an internal arrangement of rooms within the extension. These included a possible partition wall (557) to the east, and two parallel walls (641 and 648), exposed in an exploratory section through the overlying demolition rubble, to the south, spaced 2.3m apart, and abutting against the internal plastered face of the southern wall (554). Both partition walls were constructed of limestone and chalk blocks, faced with plaster, and laid directly over an existing clay floor (673). On the south side of the eastern building range, a compacted flint gravel surface (422) formed an external courtyard. This courtyard measured 11.5m (east to west) by 11m (north to south) and was enclosed by three walls forming its western (424), southern (800) and eastern (505) sides. These walls, which measured 0.7m wide, were formed of a chalk and flint core with an external dressed flint facing. Wall 424 continued south of the excavation area and was identified in the geophysical survey (Fig. 2) adjoining part of a building range extending to the north-east of the infirmary misericord (Tatton-Brown 1991, 75). A single abraded body sherd of Canterbury Tyler Hill ware was recovered from the courtyard surface dated to the early thirteenth to mid fourteenth century. Fig. 10 Detail of wall 478 and 496 forming the south-east corner of the eastern building range, looking north. Scale 0.5m. ARCHAEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS AT ST AUGUSTINE’S ABBEY, CANTERBURY 2004-5 101 A layer of mortar (479) laid along the northern edge of the courtyard metalling and abutting against the external face of the eastern building potentially formed a bedding for a walkway, approximately 1m wide, running alongside the southern edge of the eastern building range. This bedding might also be associated with the construction of a wall (500), which extended across the courtyard from the south-eastern corner of the eastern building to the eastern courtyard boundary wall in a north-west to south-east alignment, closing off the courtyard’s northeastern corner. This wall only survived as a chalk and flint footing, but presumably would have included a gateway adjacent to the south-eastern corner of the eastern building providing access through the wall onto the mortar path. Two drains were identified within the area of the eastern building range. Drainage channel (611) traversed the external courtyard, aligned approximately south-south-west to north-north-east, presumably built prior to the laying of the courtyard metalling but robbed-out during the post-medieval period. The drain passed though the foundations of the southern boundary wall (800) via an arched culvert constructed in chalk blocks. A second drain (811), aligned north to south and capped by ragstone slabs, was identified in the base of evaluation trench 5, extending below the eastern building range (Pratt 2004). Two further potential culverts (914 and 916, not illustrated) were partially visible in section only, located Fig. 11 Detail of entrance way 633 between primary building and extension of eastern building range, looking south-east. Scale 0.5m. RICHARD HELM 102 below the footings of the southern wall (554) of the western extension, and below the western boundary wall (424) of the external courtyard, respectively. Between the western and eastern building ranges, and offset to the north of the western external doorway was a well (762). The well was constructed of coursed Caen stone, limestone, ragstone, chalk and flint, constructed within a roughly circular cut with a maximum external diameter of 1.38m. The well shaft was square, with internal dimensions 0.52m by 0.52m, and was capped by a well head constructed in ragstone slabs. A fragment of late medieval window jamb with rebate and plain chamfer moulding was recovered from the backfill of the well. The southern building range Parts of a southern building range were identified parallel to, and approximately 8.5m south of the western building range (Fig. 5). This building was defined by two parallel, east to west aligned walls (364 and 746), spaced between 3.2m and 3.4m apart, forming a corridor-like structure along its northern side, and the remnants of a north to south aligned wall (706), representing a return at its eastern end. The walls were constructed of roughly dressed chalk and flint. The building had a visible external length of 17m and external width of 6.2m, continuing beyond the excavated area to the south and west. Parts of this building are seen to align with walls located during geophysical survey south of the excavated area (GSB Prospection 2002) and with the plan of the previously excavated infirmary range (Hamilton Thompson 1934). This would indicate that the southern building formed part of a structure extending east from the northern side of the infirmary hall. No evidence for the internal structure of this building was identified. Post Medieval Following the dissolution of St Augustine’s Abbey in 1538 parts of the existing abbey buildings were demolished, though this process does not appear to have been started immediately (Sparks 1997, 143-150). Work initially focused on the conversion of the former abbot’s lodgings into a royal palace, in preparation for the arrival of Henry VIII’s new queen, Anne of Cleves, in December 1539 (ibid., 143), and the process of demolition of those buildings not utilised in the palace did not begin on a large scale until 1541 when the king ordered the demolition of the abbey church to supply stone for fortification works in Calais (ibid., 144). Depictions of the former abbey indicate that by the 1640s the building ranges exposed within the excavation area were no longer extant. Only the northern end of the west wall of the adjacent dormitory appeared to survive, visible in a birdseye view of the former abbey drawn by Thomas Johnson in c.1655 and in a pen and wash drawing by W. Schellinks in about 1661 (ibid., 147, figs 84 and 85). A drawing by William Stukeley in 1722 of the abbey ruins from the east showed that this had been demolished by the eighteenth century, leaving only the buttresses and the northern gable wall still surviving, along with fragments of what might be parts of the former reredorter walls (Fig. 12; Stukeley 1724, 117; Tatton-Brown, 1997, 126). ARCHAEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS AT ST AUGUSTINE’S ABBEY, CANTERBURY 2004-5 103 Within the excavation area deposits associated with the demolition and levelling of all three building ranges were recorded (Fig. 13). These comprised loamy soils intermixed with waste building rubble, including masonry fragments and ceramic building materials. Pottery recovered from these deposits was of little help in establishing a date for the demolition works, the assemblage composed entirely of residual sherds in early medieval and late medieval fabrics, though a tentative Fig. 12 St Augustine’s Abbey in 1722, from the east. Drawn by William Stukeley (1774, plate opp. p. 117). Fig. 13 Post-medieval and modern features. RICHARD HELM 104 date of the first half of the seventeenth century was indicated by clay pipe stem fragments collected from debris within the eastern building range (Barber 2009). Similarly, little information could be gleaned from these deposits regarding the processes of demolition itself, though documentary records indicate that the work was carried out in a methodical manner, with building materials salvaged for later re-use or sale (Colvin 1982, 61; Sparks 1997, 144). Across the three building ranges only twenty-nine architectural stone fragments were recovered from the demolition debris demonstrating that the bulk of materials had been removed from the site. These included fragments from windows (mullions, jamb, tracery), doors (jambs), shafts (capitals, colonnettes), and various fittings. Several bore mason’s marks and graffiti, and a number had tooling details (Preston 2006). The bulk of this material was medieval in date, with three dated to the late eleventh to twelfth century, and the remainder to the thirteenth to late fourteenth century. A larger assemblage of medieval tiles (count: 1,828; weight: 111.5kg) was recovered, presumably representing damaged tiles discarded as unsuitable for re-use (Pellett 2006, 1). The majority were roof tiles (count: 1754; weight: 109.81kg), the fabric of which suggested they were sourced from the local Tyler Hill tileries on the north-west side of Canterbury, though documentary sources also indicate that the abbey had its own involvement in this industry (Cotton 1939, 66–107), and a small number of ridge tiles (count: 12; weight: 1245g). The assemblage also contained floor tiles (count: 62; weight 445g), of which decorated examples could all be sourced to the Tyler Hill industry. Four designs were present (Pellett 2006). These included popular fleur-de-lis (Fig. 14, 1) and six-petalled daisy designs (Fig. 14, 2). A less common sixteen tile panel design with corner dragons, pelleted sextofoils and octofoils within a circle, between a double arc, and reclining dragons with knotted tails breathing fire was also recorded (Fig. 14, 3). In addition, two examples of a previously unrecorded design, were noted, comprising a geometric four pattern/ continuous design with lozenges contained within a double band; the two arcs combining in a corner; and the beginning of a cone shape within the arcs, which possibly forms a central lozenge containing foliage (Fig. 14, 4). A large proportion of tile was concentrated south of the demolished western building range, intermixed within a loamy soil (358 and 384), and laid over the demolition debris. This deposit, which abutted against two still upstanding buttress remnants on the south side of the western building range, might represent a purposefully laid bedding deposit, perhaps associated with landscaping for a garden lawn. From 1563 the royal palace, including the surrounding grounds of the former abbey precinct, had been leased as a private estate, and in 1612, this lease had been bought by Sir Edward Wotton, who invested considerably in developing the house and grounds, and between 1615 and 1623 employed the garden designer John Tradescant (the elder) to establish formal gardens (Sparks 1997, 149). Plausibly, both the bedding deposit, and several shallow, loam-filled features which cut into the demolition rubble (pits 354 and 545), perhaps representing planting pits, might be attributed to this garden, as could a series of loamy soil deposits concentrated to the south-east, overlying the former courtyard, which must have been imported onto the site presumably as part of this landscaping. A c.1640 map of Canterbury provides a stylised representation of knot gardens ARCHAEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS AT ST AUGUSTINE’S ABBEY, CANTERBURY 2004-5 105 Fig. 14 Decorated medieval floor tiles recovered from post-dissolution demolition waste. and orchards within the former abbey grounds, but the complexity of Tradescant’s design is probably better illustrated in a description by the diarist Lieutenant Hammond dated 1635, who described the whole of the original walled site as being planted with orchards of delicate fruits, walks – one with lime trees – groves, mounts, ‘Labirinth like wildernesses’, flower gardens and fountains, ‘Pretty contriv’d wooddy Mazes’ and a large fountain pool near the house dominated by Charon with his boat and dog, towards which stone snakes, scorpions and fish directed jets of water, with a stone water nymph on each side (Sparks 1997, 149). Three wall segments (361, 395 and 409), are also likely to be integral to the gardens. Constructed of irregularly coursed flint, interspersed with fragments of ashlar, re-used from the demolition materials, the walls formed a rectangular, east to west aligned space overlying the footprint of the former western building RICHARD HELM 106 range. The northernmost wall (395), which extended west of the excavation area and had been previously exposed during evaluation below Harvey House (Hicks 1997; 1998), can be identified with a boundary illustrated on a map of 1752 by W. and H. Doidge, and which continued in use during the later nineteenth century as represented on a First Edition Ordnance Survey map of 1874. The south (361) and east (409) walls were not illustrated. To the north of wall 395, the ground had been dug away, forming a terrace-like feature (570). This feature had been previously recorded to the west below Harvey House, extending to a depth of 1.8m (Hicks 1998, 10). Pottery from these garden related features was mainly residual and of late medieval date, containing a notable quantity (count: 48 sherds, weight: 708g) of cooking pots, bowls, jugs and pitchers in hard-fired Late Tyler Hill ware (LM1), dated to 1375-1525. A smaller assemblage of pottery was dated to the later fifteenth through to the middle of the sixteenth century, dominated by hard-fired earthenware including Canterbury Fine Earthenware (LM2) and Canterbury Transitional Sandy ware (LM1.2) and Wealden Buff ware (LM4). However, a notable absence of pottery from the mid-sixteenth century to mid eighteenth century was noted, perhaps reflecting the area’s use as a garden following the Dissolution (Barber 2009). From 1658, the estate was passed to the Hales family, and in 1791 part of the former abbey grounds fronting Longport was sold off for the foundation of the Kent and Canterbury Hospital, which opened in 1793, and the County Gaol, which opened in 1808 (Sparks 1997, 152). Following the death of Sir Edward Hales in 1802, the Hales family obtained an Act of Parliament to allow the sale of the remainder of the estate, and between 1804 and 1805 the land was subdivided into thirty-two plots and sold by auction (Sparks 1997, 153). In 1848 St Augustine’s College was founded, and between 1847 and 1946 had acquired most of these plots, including the site of the former Kent and Canterbury Hospital, though demolition of this building did not take place until 1971. The present site, which occupied a plot known as Abbey Field, was secured by St Augustine’s College in 1900 (Sparks 1984, 331–332). A campaign of excavation was conducted, if somewhat sporadically pending funding, in tandem with the acquisition of plots, and between 1900 and 1907 the areas to the west and south of the present site, including the dormitory and infirmary ranges, were excavated. During this period, a series of deposits of flint, mortar and fragments of medieval masonry were dumped on the north side of wall 395, infilling the former terrace, and it is plausible that this material represented discarded spoil from these excavations (Hicks 1997; Sparks 1984, 338). Elsewhere across the site, four small pits (404, 477, 595 and 606) were tentatively attributed to this general late post-medieval period, presumably associated with post-garden horticultural activities. Finds included a fragment of a white earthenware plate with a blue willow transfer pattern (LPM14) dateable to the late nineteenth and early twentieth century from pit 595 (Barber 2009). Pit 404 contained the articulated remains of four juvenile pigs (Jones 2010). The latest, and by far the largest feature, comprised a large circular crater (357) exposed on the southern edge of the excavated area, approximately 12.5m in diameter, and over 3.06m in depth. The crater contained a mixed sequence of ARCHAEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS AT ST AUGUSTINE’S ABBEY, CANTERBURY 2004-5 107 fills from which a range of residual materials, including Roman through to late post-medieval pottery, tile and brick, was recovered. More contemporary finds included a modern shotgun cartridge cap, a rubber bottle stopper, the aluminium lid from a tin of ‘Skoses’ tooth powder and a bone toothbrush head, as well as two lead toy figurines, one a goat, the other a horse, and an early plastic or bakelite mouthpiece for a toy whistle. A few plain mugs, cups and plates of military type issue, including the partial base of a mug with ‘RAF’ transfer-printed on its base, confirmed a mid-twentieth century date for the infilling of this feature, while the known distribution of bomb impacts dropped over Canterbury during the Second World War strongly suggests that the crater was a product of the Baedeker air raids of late May and June 1942 (Crampton 1989; Smith and Seary 2012, 180). conclusion The archaeological works were initiated to protect the buried heritage against loss from construction of the new student accommodation at New Grange House, but have also provided a welcome opportunity to investigate a previously unexplored portion of St Augustine’s Abbey. Though limited in extent, recording the exposed surfaces of the surviving archaeology has enabled valuable new data on the abbey and its buildings to be recovered. Identification of the three building ranges located north of the main claustral complex provides a significant new addition to the abbey plan, and the results from excavation are further complemented by the adjacent geophysical survey undertaken as part of the same works, which demonstrate the continuation of a further important range of buildings to the south and east. acknowledgements The project was funded by The King’s School, Canterbury. Particular thanks are extended to Gavin Merryweather, then the Estates Bursar at The King’s School, for support throughout the duration of excavation and post-excavation works. The project benefited greatly from the specialist advice of Professor Martin Biddle; Andrew Wittich of Clague Architects; Mike Hart of Fothergill Consulting Engineers; Richard Cross, then the Canterbury City Council Archaeological Officer; and Peter Kendall, Dominique de Moulin and Judith Roebuck of English Heritage, The archaeological fieldwork was carried out by Ian Anderson, Iain Charles, Ian Dixon, Ben Found, Abbey Guinness, Richard Helm, James Holman, Crispin Jarman, Simon Pratt, Dale Robertson, Don Rudd, Jess Twyman and Jude Westmacott. Finds were processed and catalogued by Louise Harrison and Jacqui Lawrence. This article draws on a range of specialist reports undertaken as part of the postexcavation analysis: Enid Allison (environmental, bird bone, marine molluscs), Susan Jones (animal bone), Lynne Bevan and Rob Ixer (small finds), Luke Barber (post-Roman pottery), Wendy Carruthers (plant remains), Louise Harrison (Roman ceramic building materials), Alison Locker (fish bones) and Irene Pellett (medieval ceramic building materials), and Jamie Preston (architectural stone). Copies of these reports are available as part of the project archive, presently held at the offices of the Canterbury Archaeological Trust. RICHARD HELM 108 All figures have been drawn for publication by Peter Atkinson, except for Fig. 14 which was drawn by Irene Pellett. Peter Clark, Jane Elder, Alison Hicks, Terry Lawson and Tim Tatton-Brown all provided useful comments on an earlier draft of this report. Dr Margaret Sparks kindly contributed to the Appendix on Peter of Dene’s career. APPENDIx The story of Peter of Dene was recorded by William Thorne, a monk of St Augustine’s Abbey, writing at the end of the fourteenth century and is recounted in Davis, A.H. (trans.), 1934, William Thorne’s chronicle of St Augustine’s Abbey, Oxford, pp. 463- 481. Peter was a Doctor of both civil and ecclesiastical law who became extremely wealthy in his legal profession, attracting thereby the considerable enmity of ‘divers powerful men and great nobles’. (He went to York with Archbishop Greenfield and is seen as a donor figure in a stained glass window he gave to the Minster c.1307. He was a canon 1312-22.) His position became so precarious that he thought it advisable to seek sanctuary in St Augustine’s Abbey as a professed monk in 1322. He was welcomed having long provided valuable legal advice to the abbey. Such was the scale of the wealth which he brought with him that he was allowed to lead a semiindependent life, with his own household retinue and belongings. After some years it appears that he felt it safe to return to his previous secular existence and he made a dramatic escape from the abbey in 1330 when the abbot refused him permission to leave: ‘through his cellar to a door which leads into the cellarer’s garden, the lock of which he had previously broken, and thus they got across to the wall opposite the church of St Martin’, which he scaled by means of ladders provided by the rector of St Martin’s and his supporters’. He was found hiding in Bishopsbourne. After his recapture there followed a long and involved series of events – imprisonment in the abbey, recantation followed by an appeal to the pope, enquiry by the Prior of Christ Church, etc., all recorded in detail in Thorne’s chronicle. bibliography Allison, E., 2005, ‘Environmental data’, in R. Helm, 25-29. Allison, E., 2010a, ‘Bird remains from an archaeological excavation at New Grange House, The King’s School, Canterbury’, unpubl. report, CAT. 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