Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

Various features of medieval and post medieval date were revealed during the stripping of the section of the Boley Hill between the High Street and Epaul Lane. These included old cobbled road surfaces, and a stretch of wall from a medieval building.

Monument Types

• WALL (Medieval to Post Medieval - 1066 AD? to 1841 AD? (at some time))
• COBBLED ROAD (Post Medieval - 1540 AD? to 1875 AD? (at some time))
• HEARTH (Post Medieval - 1540 AD? to 1900 AD? (at some time))
• WALL (Post Medieval - 1540 AD? to 1841 AD? (at some time))
• PIT (Post Medieval - 1700 AD? to 1900 AD? (at some time))

Full description

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In this first phase of the repaving project two stretches of wall were seen during road stripping. One stretch was dated to the medieval period, forming part of a building which was extended by the addition of the second stretch, built of brick, in the post medieval period. The medieval wall was built of ragstone and flint, aligned with the east front of the King's Head hotel (the connecting section of wall to the Hotel was presumably under the pavement and not exposed). The wall was abutted by post medieval flint cobbling, seen in patches throughout the stripped area. The later brick wall appeared to have been built on a layer of flint cobbles.
The ragstone and flint wall probably appears on a 1717 map of Rochester, the brick extension on a 1772 map. These extensions had been replaced by a yard area in the mid nineteenth century, which was shortened and narrowed by the widening of Boley Hill and Epaul Lane. The present rear of the King's Head Hotel dates from the mid nineteenth century, although it incorporates part of the earlier medieval wall. Within the area confined by the observed wall sections, a possible hearth area was recorded, which probably post dates the destruction of the walls.

A post medieval pit full of eighteenth and nineteenth century broken wine or spirit bottles was also recorded [1].

Further evidence of the relatively recent widening of Epaul Lane was inferred from test pitting work in 1997 [see info on test pit 2] [2].

Additional bibliography and details of the rest of the Repaving Project [3 and 4].

<1> Canterbury Archaeological Trust, 1998, The Boley Hill Repaving Project Boley Hill North. Phase 1 Archaeological Watching Brief (Unpublished document). SKE12421.

<2> Canterbury Archaeological Trust, 1997, Boley Hill, Rochester. Archaeological Assessment. Part 1: Watching Brief (Unpublished document). SKE7229.

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

<4> Canterbury Archaeological Trust, 2001, Boley Hill repaving, Rochester (Article in serial). SKE12479.

Sources and further reading