Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

Fragments of medieval and post medieval walls have been found along Boley Hill, St. Margaret's Street, College Yard, Minor Canon Row and the Precinct in Rochester. These relate to medieval and later structures that stood in the area, including the precinct wall and remains of the "long building" where Minor Canon Row now stands.

Monument Types

• PRECINCT WALL (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)
• WALL (Medieval to Post Medieval - 1200 AD? to 1800 AD?)

Full description

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The cable trenches running along Boley Hill, St. Margaret’s Street, College Yard and the Precinct in Rochester were considered to be too shallow to reveal any archaeological deposits and only modern disturbed deposits were expected. Previous archaeological test pitting in the area had suggested that any archaeological deposits were deeper [1].
The watching brief however, did reveal fragments of what were interpreted as medieval walls, within sections of the shallow cable trenches. Along Minor Canon Row, several short stretches of wall were observed, running both north to south and east to west. On the corner of Minor Canon Row and Prior’s Gate (574228,168460), it is believed the corner of a building extending to the south was seen, while at the eastern end of the Row, two fragments of medieval wall were interpreted as being part of a possible structure, yard or precinct wall (574264,168436). At the junction of the Precinct and College Yard, at the south west corner of the cathedral, two further short stretches of medieval wall were observed (574221,168540).
All the wall fragments were dated to the medieval period on the basis of their bonding mortar and stratigraphic position. The report concludes that the walls recorded along Minor Canon Row represent service buildings for the monastic community, built between the early 13th and 16th centuries and surviving into the 18th century, when the Row was constructed. No floor deposits were observed abutting the walls and it is assumed that they lie at a deeper level and indeed that the buildings may survive to a substantial depth [2].
The two stretches of wall adjacent to the south west corner of the cathedral may have formed part of the Great Gate, or Almoner’s Gate, although they are now more likely thought to be part of a medieval drain running through the gate (see TQ 76 NW 371) [3].
Post medieval structural remains and road surfaces were also observed (TQ 76 NW 370).

A watching brief in 2010/11 at No. 7 Minor Canon Row observed the remains of a wall belonging to the medieval precinct and the medieval "long building" which previously occupied the site of Minor Canon Row. (4)

<1> Canterbury Archaeological Trust, 1997, Boley Hill, Rochester. Archaeological Assessment. Part 1: Watching Brief (Unpublished document). SKE7229.

<2> Canterbury Archaeological Trust, 1998, An Archaeological Watching Brief along the route of Telewest Communication cable trenches, Rochester (Unpublished document). SWX6727.

<3> Canterbury Archaeological Trust, 1999, DRAFT Archaeological Observations undertaken during the Boley Hill, Rochester Repaving Project 1998. Volume 1: Report (Unpublished document). SKE12475.

<4> Alan Ward, 2011, Archaeological watching briefs at No. 7 Minor Canon Row, The Precinct, Rochester, Kent (Unpublished document). SKE17580.

Sources and further reading