Interim Reports on Recent Work carried out by the Canterbury Archaeological Trust

INTERIM REPORTS ON WORK UNDERTAKEN BY THE CANTERBURY ARCHAEOLOGICAL TRUST

canterbury city sites

1. Whitefriars (TR 151 576)

Between July and December 2003, the final excavation was undertaken during the development of the Whitefriars area. The site lay adjacent to St George’s Street and surrounded three sides of the former Riceman’s department store.

The earliest deposits encountered have been tentatively identified as the remains of an agricultural soil. In the west, these were worked until the late first or second century ad, at which time they were covered by a ne-sw aligned road. In the east, it remained in use for some time after that. Burial activity, represented by two baby inhumations and two cremations, was also evident in the east. Subsequently, a row of timber buildings was constructed along the same side of the road. These extended all the way to a new side street, located in the northern part of the site. The building located at the junction of the road and street appears to have been used for a semi-industrial purpose. A gravel surface and an unusual, partially sunken, structure lay behind the buildings.

A series of rubbish pits dominated the area beyond the side street. These were later covered by cobbled surfaces and mortared floors. A very small area of a third insula was also investigated. This was located on the other side of the road in the extreme western corner of the site. The evidence here testified to the presence of a masonry building.

Late Roman activity was discovered in a number of places across the site, particular interest being focused on a structure that was built across the western half of the road. Road surfaces that built up against this structure dated to the last decades of the fourth century or later. Post-Roman dark soils were encountered in a number of places.

Early Anglo-Saxon occupation was represented by two sunken-floored structures, while rubbish pits and a well were excavated from the middle and late Saxon periods. Occupation of the area appears to have remained minimal until the early fourteenth century, when the site became part of the area enclosed by the Austin Friars.

In the north, further evidence for the layout of the friary church was uncovered, including parts of the southern aisle of the nave, the ‘walking space’, and the south-western corner of the chancel. A number of burials were recovered. In the centre, was the cloister, represented by a number of surviving wall lines and three large pits, interpreted as the remains of robbed-out tombs. The best-preserved room, however, was located to the south of the south-eastern corner of the cloister. Here, the remains of three windows, two fireplaces (one excavated previously), and a number of internal partitions were exposed. To the east of this lay an e-w aligned room, also set down into the ground, that was probably used for storage. A small rectangular area, paved in stone slabs, located at its eastern end, probably lay below the latrine (reredorter) associated with a first-floor dormitory. The stone slabs had been laid to channel effluent away to the east, where a finely constructed subterranean vaulted cess-tank was positioned. This structure was rectangular in plan and had been cut approximately 4.5m into the ground. The lower parts of the structure were filled with a large collection of whole or partially-broken ceramic vessels, and residues derived from its final uses. The northern and eastern sides of the cess-tank were surrounded by a sequence of large pits. Evidence for the destruction of friary buildings at the Dissolution and later was also recovered.

2. Debenhams, Guildhall Street (TR 1493 5786 centred)

In May and October 2002 whilst monitoring groundwork for the installation of lifts and new fire escapes, two finds of Roman and sub-Roman significance were made; a mortar surface with associated post-holes was recorded at Nos 3-9 Guildhall Street, and a damaged but still substantial masonry footing (at least 1m thick) was discovered in one of the piling positions for a lift at 11-14 Guildhall Street. The nature of the work meant that a detailed examination of the Roman structures could not be carried out.

Late medieval soils and intercutting pits, a wall footing and an associated cobbled surface (possibly late medieval), together with a number of interesting post-medieval features were also encountered at Nos 3-9 Guildhall Street. Human remains, in the form of a skull and several post-cranial fragments, were found at the base of a post-medieval pit. The remains appeared to be disarticulated and probably not in their original context, possibly having been disturbed by eighteenth-century workmen. One of the teeth provided a radiocarbon date calibrated to 1460-1650. Light industrial metalworking on the site was represented by a large circular pit backfilled with a considerable amount of iron slag, as well as a possible derelict casting pit. A rammed chalk surface sealed the pit, indicating a change of use for the plot in about the mid nineteenth century. Later still the area was converted to an abattoir and a brick floor and concrete gutters were found intact directly beneath the shop floor.

During the creation of a fire escape stair, a substantial medieval flint wall was exposed fronting Mercery Lane. The wall, surviving to a height of 0.75m, potentially represents the footings for the ground floor stone façade of the south-eastern range of the Cheker of Hope inn, built by Christ Church Priory between 1392 and 1395. Immediately below it was an earlier dressed Caen stone and chalk wall, abutted by a mortar floor. Pottery recovered from a pit cutting soils above the floor spanned the mid thirteenth to mid fourteenth century, suggesting that the earlier wall, mortar floor and later soil horizon and rubbish pit all pre-dated the construction of the Cheker of Hope. A compacted clay floor sealing the rubbish pit appeared to be contemporary with the upper flint wall. An internal dwarf wall was built upon its surface, abutting the flint wall. The final modification seems to have been the cutting of two opposing cellars. With the exception of residual pottery of mid thirteenth-century date, the pottery from the later features spanned the late fourteenth, fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries, providing dated confirmation for the association of this structure with the Cheker of Hope.

3. Greyfriars (TR 1469 5784)

In late April 2003 a watching brief maintained during a garden restoration project in the grounds of the Eastbridge Hospital recorded medieval and early post-medieval structures. A thick stone wall attached to the northern side of the chancel of the Franciscan friary church probably formed part of the eastern side of a Lady Chapel. Following the Dissolution, the church was converted into a substantial mansion and the stone footings for a large fireplace built against the outside of the chapel wall were exposed. A floor levelling deposit inside the building contained several fragments of medieval floor tile and probably also dated to the post-Dissolution period.

4. No. 44 St Peter’s Street/Tower Way (TR 1465 5799)

Evaluation in September 2002 revealed segments of flint and chalk dwarf walling representing the eastern limits of a late medieval building. A sequence of internal chalk and clay floors was also recorded together with external garden soils. Later monitoring of groundworks during construction on the site demonstrated that this wall abutted at right angles with a second flint and chalk wall which defined the southern extent of both the building and its attached garden. Associated finds dated the building to the mid seventeenth to eighteenth century which accords well with cartographic evidence, of c. 1640, for a large building in this approximate area.

5. St Mildred’s Tannery and Mason’s Yard, Stour Street (TR 145 577 centred & TR 1452 5758)

From 1999 to 2002 two parallel programmes of archaeological work were conducted in and adjoining the southern part of the island of Binnewith, which is formed by two branches of the Stour as it passes through Canterbury.¹ The larger project was at St Mildred’s Tannery. The smaller was at a disused mason’s yard. At the tannery, desk-based assessment was followed by the excavation of a score of trial trenches, probing for the city wall and watching briefs on two campaigns of geotechnical augering and test-pitting. The site comprised three sectors, the largest (A) lying west of the intramural branch of the Stour, another (B) between the Stour and Stour Street and the smallest (C), to the east of Stour Street. All this work was conducted whilst the tannery was still in operation.

The former mason’s yard (sector D) lay immediately south of sector B, between the Stour and Church Street, St Mildred’s. A watching brief on geotechnical augering and test-pitting here was followed by the cutting of three trial trenches and a watching brief on construction works. The detailed recording and analysis of the arisings (material brought to the surface) from the piles sunk on this site may be the first successful adoption of such a strategy.

6. Hospital Lane (TR 1457 5761)

In the winter of 2001-2002 and again in the autumn of 2002 further excavation was undertaken on the site of the former GKN Scaffolding yard.² The lowest deposits exposed during the first episode of work comprised a large expanse of dumped Roman building material dated by associated pottery and coin evidence to the late third or early fourth century ad. These would seem to indicate the nearby presence of a substantial Roman building; a Roman wall was recorded in earlier work³ and a hypocaust was recorded beneath Hospital Lane during the laying of sewer pipes in 1868.⁴ A substantial depth of ‘dark earth’ was present across the entire site, sealing the dumped Roman material. Pit-like features cutting this deposit were of Anglo-Saxon and early medieval date. A short length of flint and mortar wall aligned parallel with Hospital Lane dated to the fourteenth century and represented the rear wall of a property extending beneath the lane. At least two phases of internal clay floors belonging to the building were recorded, each with associated hearths. Other internal structures were indicated by post-holes. The lowest clay floor sealed several stake-holes indicative of an earlier timber structure. At the rear of the building a heavily robbed flint and mortar cess tank survived, the upper fills of which dated to the sixteenth century. The medieval building was overlain by brick walls and floors of a Victorian tenement which survived until at least the Second World War.

The final episode of work revealed traces of a floor, probably of Roman date, which was cut by several pits before being sealed by the thick deposit containing large quantities of Roman building debris recorded in the earlier work. A later twelfth- or early thirteenth-century clay floor and associated hearth was recorded in the sides of a pit and a silty clay layer laid above this was interpreted as a later floor or levelling layer. Post-holes and pits containing occupation debris dating between the fourteenth and fifteenth century, cut this layer, themselves sealed by soils containing domestic refuse of fifteenth- and early sixteenth-century date. In the north-west corner of the site foundations and floor surfaces relating to a small flint and chalk structure of later fifteenth- or early sixteenth-century date, were revealed. Demolition of a modern wall revealed the early foundations of the southern gable wall of Maynard and Cotton’s Spital, established in 1317 and rebuilt in 1617. At least two phases of rough flint foundations, corner stones and three courses of flint survived.

7. No. 8 St Mary’s Street (TR 1476 5749)

Evaluation in July 2002 prior to residential development identified the remains of a previously unknown Roman building and street. Earlier levels including a n-s aligned ditch, dated to the late first century bc and mid first century ad was only partially exposed, but confirmed signific-ant late Iron Age or ‘Belgic’ activity previously recorded in the St John’s Lane area.⁵ The Roman building was represented by a clay floor, a tile-lined drainage gully and post-holes. Pottery dated occupation of this building between the late first and early third century ad. The street lay south-west of the building and defined the southern insula between Castle Street and Marlowe Avenue. Post-holes along the street’s northern edge may have represented a contemporary property, but could equally have related to later occupation utilizing the street surface as a floor. Both the street and post-holes were sealed by soils containing residual pottery dating between the late first and early third century ad.

8. Land adjacent to Nos 10-16 Wincheap (TR 1449 5736)

Though excavation in September 2002 was restricted to foundation depth for the proposed new building on the site, a small assemblage of abraded pottery and flint flakes tentatively dated to the Late Bronze Age, was recovered from a pre-Roman land surface and two minor pits. Elsewhere on the site the earliest deposit recorded was a shallow sequence of loams, clay floors, occupation deposits and coarse flint metallings, possibly associated with a building represented by a beam-slot. These, with further clay floors and occupation deposits, dated by pottery to the mid first and early second century, were all indicative of timber buildings. The sample-excavated ephemeral deposits are of considerable significance, being the first potential evidence for the presence of extra-mural Roman buildings in the area beyond Worthgate. There was no evidence for Anglo-Saxon or early medieval occupation on the site, though documentary sources suggest that at least two properties were present in the vicinity in the twelfth century, whilst sixteenth- and seventeenth-century maps show houses on the street frontage separated by alleyways leading to gardens. Two heavily truncated and discontinuous flint and chalk walls may have represented buildings or boundary walls, with an extensive spread of flint metalling perhaps representing an alleyway between them. The brick footings of a large property known as The Cedars, demolished in 1963 prior to the construction of the ring road, were the most recent remains to be excavated on the site.

9. Vernon Grange, No. 35 Old Dover Road (TR 1512 5738)

A single evaluation trench excavated in August 2002 exposed a clay floor immediately overlying natural brickearth and cut by a pit containing Roman pottery dating between the late second and early fourth century. Two further shallow features, possibly the remains of post-holes could not be dated due to an absence of finds. The construction of a malting house on the site in the nineteenth century had truncated the ground surface to the level of the clay floor. Two of the ashlar footings for the malt house were recorded as well as chalk, mortar and brick rubble derived from its demolition some time after 1874.

10. No. 6 Love Lane (TR 1533 5765)

A watching brief maintained during February and March 2003 during the lowering of a basement recorded a number of archaeological features. An extensive spread of compacted gravel overlay the natural brickearth, itself overlain at its eastern end by a layer of redeposited brickearth. Both deposits contained broken fragments of Roman tile and animal bone and were cut by a number of intercutting rubbish or cess-pits and two post-holes. Most of the pits were filled with a sequence of silty clay and cess layers, interleaved with deposits of ash and carbon containing animal bone, iron slag and oyster shell and half of them produced pottery dating from around ad 850-1125. A near complete (though broken) vessel dating to around 850-925 was recovered from one of the post-holes.

11. St Paul’s Church, Church Street, St Paul’s (TR 1530 5771)

During April 2002 three small evaluation trenches were excavated. In Trench 1, close to the east end of the church, the remains of a n-s aligned wall was recorded, whilst in Trench 2 a wall running e-w was found associated with a peg-tile hearth sealed by a sequence of floors and occupation deposits. Gravel metalling found in both trenches may represent a yard or a pathway associated with the structures represented by the two walls. Both Braun and Hogenburg’s map of c.1572 and the c.1640 coloured map of Canterbury show buildings at the eastern end of Church Street, St Paul’s, close to the church. A sequence of clay floors and occupation deposits recorded in Trench 3, south of the church and further away from the Church Street frontage, might possibly belong to later medieval structures perhaps located close to a predecessor of St Paul’s Terrace, now a cul de sac, off Ivy Lane.

sites outside canterbury

12. Shelford Farm, Broad Oak (TR 1610 6050)

Between April and July 2002 excavation took place on an area some 4,000 square metres in extent which was due to be quarried for clay. The vast majority of the features investigated, consisting of a subrectangular or near-circular hut accompanied by a number of other structures and features such as hearths and fire pits, related to later Bronze Age or Early Iron Age occupation, c. 900-600 bc. The hut, which appeared to be the focus of activity on the site, was about 8m in diameter and was represented by at least fifteen near-circular post-pits, with a porch or entrance on the south-east side. Although truncation from later ploughing had obliterated most of the shallower features, traces of stake-holes representing the wattle uprights of the walls, were visible between two of the post-holes on the northern side of the structure. A number of other post-holes and shallow features were present within the hut which might represent internal ‘furniture’ and storage areas. A second possible dwelling, though perhaps more likely a livestock pen, might be represented by a rectangular arrangement of post-holes enclosing an area 6.8m long by c. 4m wide. At least two rectangular four-post structures were located away from the main focus of the settlement with two possible two-post ‘drying racks’ located close by.

Most of the features investigated produced considerable quantities of flint-tempered pottery with three small pits containing partially complete pottery vessels which might represent small ovens, basins or storage connected with food preparation. Charred grain was recovered from many of the features. A possible furnace was filled with crushed, calcined flint and was perhaps used for the production of flint temper for pottery. A near oval arrangement of stake-holes surrounding a shallow pit might also represent industrial activity. The settlement may have been contained within boundary ditches on the north and south-eastern sides. The northern extent of this possible boundary was cut by a post-hole belonging to a near-square nine-post feature, perhaps a granary, associated with a later phase of occupation.

A group of cremation burials, consisting of small quantities of bone deposited in simple pits, was located on the eastern side of the site away from the main focus of occupation.

A single pit of probable Roman date was located toward the eastern side of the excavation which, together with a quantity of residual Roman pottery and the proximity of substantial Roman activity to the south⁶ was taken to indicate the likely presence of further Roman remains in the immediate area. Medieval activity was limited to a short length of ditch probably associated with an early farmstead at Shelford.⁷

During the excavation, a separate exercise involving the sinking of eight test pits investigated the underlying gravels for artefacts or environmental indicators of Palaeolithic origin, with negative results.

13. Ickham Court Farm, Ickham (TR 2210 5820)

Following evaluation of this village centre site in September 2002, excavation was conducted in two areas (A and B) in October and November. The earliest feature located in Area A was a Late Saxon or early medieval linear ditch, which was traced for a distance of 47m and found to extend beyond the northern and southern limits of the site. A parallel ditch to the east was possibly contemporary. Most of the other features recorded in Area A, including a number of brick-piered foundations, related to post-medieval buildings on the site. In Area B the earliest features identified were three post-holes, one containing pottery of later ninth- or tenth-century date. A sunken-featured building (SFB1), contained a large oven, a small hearth and a diffuse scatter of post-holes in its base. The oven was a complex structure with the base and a lower portion of the dome wall surviving. Fifty-nine stake-holes were preserved in the fired base of the dome and fragments of daub bearing impressions of wattle framework were found amongst the collapsed superstructure. Pottery of mid eleventh- to early thirteenth-century date was also found amongst the debris. The separate hearth was dated by archaeomagnetic testing to ad 1115-1160. Pottery from the fills of SFB 1 and its relationship with later ditches, suggest that the building was out of use by the early thirteenth century. A second sunken-featured building was identified in the eastern extension of Area B, but recent disturbance meant that it was impossible to place the feature within the stratigraphic sequence.

SFB 1 was undoubtedly the most significant find of the excavation. Charred grain and seeds were recovered from its floor and amongst the oven debris. Hammerscale was also present and might indicate a forge nearby. A survey of the extensive medieval and post-medieval documentary sources for the manor of Ickham formed part of the work, together with a cartographic study.⁸

14. Island Road, Hersden (TR 2132 6230)

In September 2002 work resumed at the Iron Age and Roman roadside settlement.⁹ Three phases of excavation took place, concluding in July 2003. The first was in the area of the western spine road and a n-s access road where Iron Age field boundary ditches, the ephemeral traces of a few round-house structures and a circular enclosure, some 40m in diameter were recorded. The enclosure contained the remains of a possible house, a six-poster granary structure and a storage pit. In the Roman period the pattern of boundary ditches changed and a number of four-posted granary structures were recorded, concentrated at the eastern end of the spine road. A metalled road or track ran e-w immediately south of this area of activity. A well with a well-preserved plank lining with climbing rungs was found in the same vicinity. A number of early Roman cremations were excavated in the area closest to Island Road, most interred in ceramic vessels and accompanied by ancillary vessels. Two badly preserved inhumations were also recorded, oriented n-s with no grave goods. A bowl-shaped feature filled with redeposited cremated human remains, was recorded 100m south of the cremations.

In March 2003 work began in the area of the eastern spine road where, though Roman remains were less evident, Iron Age remains were found to survive along almost its entire length. These mostly consisted of n-s ditches marking land boundaries with a very wide ditch at the eastern extent of the site possibly marking the limit of the settlement. At the far west an Iron Age structure had been cut away by a Roman pit, and ephemeral traces survived for two further round-houses. Another area contained evidence for metalworking in the form of three furnaces, smaller hearths and deposits of ash and slag. There were also the remains of metalled working surfaces, clay floors and posted structures. The area seemed to have been in use for some considerable time (perhaps 550-350 bc). The area was later cut by Roman cremations, again usually accompanied by pottery vessels, though a very fine two-handled bronze urn was discovered in the same vicinity.

From May to July 2003 the largest area yet examined at Hersden (the western area) was stripped, mapped and then excavated. Prehistoric ditches were present, but many Roman features overlay them. Two linear ditches may form an avenue leading to the entrance of the large circular enclosure, but the date of these features has yet to be determined. The n-s Roman road suggested in the evaluation¹⁰ was not apparent, though patches of metallings were encountered in several locations, but an e-w route was recorded. Inhumations were recorded at four locations, all seemingly interred along the edge of the road (though not in ditches) and in a prone position. At the western edge of the site more cremations were excavated with some evidence for a boundary ditch around the burial area.

15. Town Yard, Dover Western Docks (TR 317 402 centred)

In May 2002 evaluation trenching was undertaken to establish whether significant archaeological remains survived in an area formerly occupied by the sidings of the South-Eastern Railway station. Five long machine-cut trenches were opened and though significant damage by railway associated structures was found, particularly in Trenches 1 and 4, the excavations were successful in demonstrating that areas of early post-medieval buildings and deposits survived on certain parts of the site. Several small, but useful, groups of mostly eighteenth-century pottery and clay tobacco pipes were recovered.

16. Dover Eastern Docks supply water main (TR 3320 4343, site 1)

Four previously unknown archaeological sites were located during the course of a watching brief maintained during the laying of a new water main across some 1.5km of chalkland east of Dover between autumn 2002 and spring 2003. Site 1, a short distance to the south-east of the Guston (Duke of York’s) roundabout, was of particular interest. A scatter of four shallow pits, dug into the natural clay-with-flints, was recorded in an area partly delimited on the south side by a shallow ditch which appeared to be contemporary. All of the features contained sherds of prehistoric flint-tempered pottery and one of the pits contained significant quantities of charred grain. A carbon sample from this pit gave a result of 920-800 Cal bc (2 Sigma; Beta 179754), implying a Late Bronze Age date for the filling of the pit, consistent with the stylistic dating of the pottery. Field boundary ditches at Sites 2 and 3 were probably medieval in date and Site 4 appeared to be a small prehistoric flint quarry. A continuous scatter of prehistoric struck flints was noted in the ploughsoil along the route. The earliest finds were three Acheulian hand-axes and other Lower Palaeolithic flints recovered close to Site 1. The great majority of the recovered prehistoric flint artefacts appear to be of Late Neolithic or Early Bronze Age date, suggesting the presence of contemporary prehistoric settlements across this area.

17. Honeywood Parkway, Whitfield, Dover (TR 3098 4439)

Twenty machine-cut evaluation trenches were examined in November 2002 and four minor archaeological features (including a pit containing a quantity of burnt flint) and a small collection of prehistoric struck flints were recorded. A watching brief was subsequently maintained during groundworks in February 2003 prior to development of the site. Material collected from the stripped surface appeared to be of common Neolithic-Bronze Age type, but a few heavily patinated pieces were more probably Palaeolithic. These included two bifacially worked hand-axes characteristic of the period. No notable concentrations of material were observed and only one new archaeological feature was recorded, this being a shallow pit filled with calcined flints very similar to one recorded in the evaluation. Radiocarbon dating suggested a Late Neolithic or Early Bronze Age date for the filling of the pit.

18. Bay Hill, St Margaret’s at Cliffe (TR 3692 4448, centred)

An evaluation was carried out in January 2003 in connection with proposals to construct a new dwelling on an archaeologically sensitive site. A substantial round barrow, presumably of Bronze Age date, had occupied part of the site until the 1920s when the area was levelled for a tennis court. At that time a crouched burial, probably associated with the barrow and six extended inhumation burials of Anglo-Saxon date, were recovered.¹¹ Four evaluation trenches were opened; three Anglo-Saxon burials and an earlier ditch probably relating to the round barrow, were revealed. The graves were all aligned roughly e-w. No grave goods were discovered.

19. Lower Road, Faversham (TQ 0015 6130)

Evaluation in May 2002 in advance of housing development, revealed evidence of extensive quarrying activity associated with twentieth-century brickearth extraction, but a small undisturbed area revealed archaeological features dating to the medieval period. A ditch and at least one area of localised burning yielded pottery with a narrow date range (ad 1200-1225/50), some sooted from use as cooking pots. A watching brief and small scale excavation undertaken during construction works in August recorded further medieval features including the remains of a possible sunken-featured building, two hollows, several pits and further in situ burning. Pottery from these features dated to the late twelfth century, which, taken with the dates obtained during the evaluation, suggests a relatively brief period of domestic occupation.

20. Castle Road, Sittingbourne (TQ 9212 6492)

Excavation on the eastern side of Milton Creek late in 2000 revealed ditches belonging to two Late Iron Age/Early Roman enclosures. Features associated with these ditches seemed in the main to be associated with grain processing; there was no unequivocal evidence for domestic occupation. The space between the two enclosures formed a 5m wide corridor, running roughly e-w at a right angle to the creek. This might be suggestive of animal husbandry, providing access to the water meadows and grazing at the creek edge. This pattern of mixed farming did not appear to change in the Roman period despite evidence for considerable Roman activity in the vicinity. Pottery suggested the site was of low status, perhaps part of a larger farm or estate complex, and that it was abandoned in the mid third century ad.

21. A249 Sheppey (TQ 913 694-TQ 923 714)

Between September and October 2002 evaluation was undertaken prior to improvement works to the A249 connected to the provision of a new bridge over the Swale to Sheppey. Several locations were investigated between the site of the new crossing to near Neats Court. Electro-static cone penetration testing (CPT) and boreholing was undertaken in the marshy southern and central sectors and trial trenching was conducted in the higher northern sector. An unsuccessful magnetic susceptibility survey was undertaken in the central part of the area between two medieval saltern mounds. The borehole samples and CPT data provided significant information on the environment of the Swale basin over the last 7,000 years. Though there were no direct indicators of human activity, such as cereal cultivation, variations in the pollen record may reflect human-induced changes. A marine sediment near the base of a major palaeochannel (to the north of the current Swale) was dated to about 5300 bc. As relative sea-level rose, this weed-rich, muddy brackish creek silted up and the surrounding lowlands would have been inundated: a saltmarsh may have formed over the early channel, perhaps flanked by a later palaeochannel to the north. The trenching discovered an extensive prehistoric occupation site (village or large farmstead?) near Cowstead Corner (TQ 928 712). Most of the pottery probably dated to the pre-‘Belgic’ Late Iron Age, although some Late Bronze/Early Iron Age material was present. The latter included a smashed vessel, possibly a cremation urn but perhaps representing on-site pottery production. Evidence for salt-working in the Late Iron Age was also discovered. A large quantity of Roman material in the upper fill of one of the ditches suggested domestic settlement of that date in the close vicinity.

22. Queen’s Farm, Shorne (TQ 6936 7335)

During January and February 2003 excavation revealed the presence of a multi-period site with evidence for activity ranging from the Neolithic through to the present day. Neolithic activity was represented by flintwork, including a leaf-shaped arrowhead, with other struck flints of Neolithic or Bronze Age date recovered from the fills of later features. The earliest excavated feature was a large ditched enclosure with causewayed entrances, dating to the Iron Age (c.600-350 bc). Contemporary gullies, pits and post-holes were recorded east of the enclosure. No structures were identified, but the pottery from one of the pits suggested some domestic occupation. A possible enclosure boundary ditch was the only excavated feature of Roman provenance, despite nearby Roman settlement, though other poorly-defined ditches may have formed part of the same field system. Most of the excavated features appeared to relate to a small medieval farmstead which flourished between c.1275-1550. Although badly damaged by agricultural activity and more recent quarrying, the presence and distribution of chalk structures, occupation deposits, beam slots, eaves-drip gullies, post-holes and potential hearths and remnants of tile floors, suggested three, or possibly four, structures. There was intermittent use of the site in the post-medieval period; a medieval well was refurbished in brick and large pits and other features appear to relate to clay and gravel extraction.

23. No. 488 Station Road, Aylesford (TQ 730 588)

In November 2002 an evaluation was undertaken on the southern bank of the River Medway prior to residential development. A geotechnical survey undertaken within the site boundaries had failed to find any evidence for alluvium overlying the natural River Brickearth and it had been assumed that this had been removed during previous construction work on the site. However, whilst the absence of alluvium was confirmed by the current work, buried soil horizons containing pottery dated to the ‘Belgic’ Iron Age and Roman periods were identified immediately above the River Brickearth. Medieval structures were recorded immediately above these soil horizons, that close to the riverside probably representing part of a warehouse perhaps of mid thirteenth- or early fourteenth-century date. These were significant finds, being the first evidence that medieval riverside activity on the southern side of the river had extended to the east as well as the west of the crossing point.

24. Melaine, Fairfield Road, New Romney (TR 9899 2508)

A watching brief maintained during the construction of a house extension in February 2003 recorded two circular rubbish or cess pits sealed by a deposit of mixed grey sands containing a considerable quantity of pottery dating between ad 1250 and 1325. This deposit was in turn sealed by a compacted gravel surface, either a trackway or hard standing, to the rear of a building which possibly fronted Fairfield Road. A fine grey topsoil which sealed the gravel surface, might represent abandonment of the site to arable farming during the later fourteenth century.

endnotes

¹ S. Pratt and S. Sweetinburgh, ‘St Mildred’s Tannery and Mason’s Yard’, Canterbury’s Archaeology 2002-2003, 10-13, which is a full summary of the extensive programme of work.

² Archaeologia Cantiana, cxxiii (2003), 294; T. Allen, ‘Hospital Lane’, Canterbury’s Archaeology 2000-2001, 9-10.

³ Allen, ‘Hospital Lane’.

⁴ J. Pilbrow, ‘Discoveries made at Canterbury in 1868’, Archaeologia, xliii (1871), 154-64.

⁵ G. Andrews, ‘The Archaeology of Canterbury: an Assessment’, HBMC, 1985; P. Blockley, ‘Excavations at St John’s Lane, Canterbury’, Archaeologia Cantiana, civ (1987), 293-5; M. Houliston, ‘An Archaeological evaluation at No. 2 St John’s Lane, Canterbury’, unpublished client report (1992/22).

⁶ Archaeologia Cantiana, cxxiv (2004), 369.

⁷ R. Cross, ‘Shelford – proposed landfill extension: archaeological desk study’, CAT, 1996.

⁸ S. Sweetinburgh, ‘The documentary sources’, in ‘The archaeological evaluation at the former site of Ickham Court Farm, Ickham, Kent’, unpublished CAT client report, 2003.

⁹ Archaeologia Cantiana, cxxii (2002), 346-7.

¹⁰ Ibid., 347.

¹¹ F.G. Parsons, ‘A round barrow at St Margaret’s Bay, Kent’, Man 29 (1929), 53-4.