THE ROMAN WATLING STREET FROM CANTERBURY TO
DOVER
By FRANK JENKINS
THE sketch-map and section refer to a deep trench which was dug in
February, 1949, for the purpose of linking up the domestic drains of
St. Bede's House with the main sewer under the Old Dover Road,
Canterbury. The site is on the SE. side of the road, 215 yards from
LJ ne)(ct:1>1<:,f"ed
Sewer
Trench
· Top So,/ Br,clrth - Road Metall1n9
Section of Road looking towards Riding Gate
the Riding Gate ; and c. 130 yards from the Roman Cemetery at
St. Sepulchre's. The excavations were watched with great interest,
especially as a tunnel was to be driven under the roadway from the
edge of the pavement.
The main feature encountered during this work lay at a depth of
9 ft. below the modern surface (c. 50 ft. O.D.). It was a band of tightly
packed gravel containing traces of ohallc and a few small flints. A
45
THE ROMAN WATLING STREET FROM CANTERBURY TO DOVER
width of 10 ft. 6 in. was exposed from a point below the pavement
towards the centre of the road where it was cut by the main sewer
trench. At this point it was 12 in. thick tailing off to about 2 in. at the
edge. It rested on clean yellow brick earth and was sealed by a similar
deposit, which out in the open trench came to within 12 in. of the
surface. No finds of any period came from these deposits.
These conditions agree with what was found by Pilbrow during the
main drainage excavations carried out under his supervision in 1868.1
At that time ?,e reported the existence of four walls (Nos. 1-4 on map),
SECTION HERt/
FiET
r ,o ao so
The Old Dover Road. Canterbury. Sket
