Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

Medieval deposits and features have been located at the site of the Dover Sports Centre, Townwall St/Woolcomber St, through various excavations in the area. (location accurate to the nearest 10m based on available information).

Monument Types

• SITE (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)
• WALL (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)
• CELLAR (Medieval - 1400 AD? to 1539 AD?)

Associated Finds

• SHERD (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)
• SHERD (Medieval - 1300 AD? to 1499 AD?)
• COIN (Post Medieval to Modern - 1837 AD? to 1901 AD?)
• SHERD (Post Medieval to Modern - 1837 AD? to 1901 AD?)

Full description

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During the construction of a Swimming pool in 1971 on a triangular plot between Woolcomber Street, Townwall Street and the castle cliffs, a section of trenching 15.2m long was recorded. The swimming pool lies on a north-west to south-east axis, the north-west being the deep end. Six main occupation layers separated by chalk rubble were identified in the section varying in depth between 0.15m and 0.9m. Potsherds revealed that below the modern level the whole depth (nearly 4m) was Medieval. The reason for this considerable effort is not clear. Possibly the land subsided over the centuries and it was necessary from time to time to build it up to prevent flooding. At the western side of the swimming bath site, and at right angles to the section, substantial mortared chalk-block foundations were recorded. (1-2)

Alongside this two small trenches were excavated by the Dover Archaeological Group in 1973 at the foot of the Castle Cliffs, immediately to the north-east of the swimming pool, ahead of the construction of the new sports centre complex. A similar sequence of chalk and occupation deposits was revealed. These were at least 3m in thickness and produced pottery dating from the 13th to 16th centuries. Part of a late medieval stone cellar (?) wall was also revealed. No traces of the medieval town wall were located (3-4)

Finally, a major archaeological watching brief and excavation programme, conducted across an extensive part of the maritime and water-front areas of this important historic town, ahead of major road construction and sewer trenching, between the summer of 1991 and the spring of 1993. There were 21 areas of archaeological investigation: the 21st was the junction of Woolcomber Street with Townwall Street below Castle cliffs, in front of presumed line of medieval town wall. An extended watching brief and salvage recording was carried out during road re-aligning and service trenching, alongside palaeo-environmental sampling. The features uncovered include a good sequence of medieval deposits with some walls exposed and recorded but not sampled in detail. The finds recovered include a small assemblage of pottery. Townwall Street site subsequently dug by C.A.T., 1996 (5)

<1> Council for Kentish Archaeology, 1971, Kent Archaeological Review; Medieval Site at Dover. Vol 26, KAR 26 (1971) pp. 160-161 (Article in serial). SKE31751.

<2> Kent Archaeological Society, 1971, Archaeologia Cantiana: Investigations and excavations during the year. Vol. 86. (Article in serial). SKE31778.

<3> Canterbury Archaeological Trust, 1998, Dover Town Centre Investment Zone: Archaeological Appraisal Stage 2 (Unpublished document). SKE6598.

<4> John Gaunt and Dough Crellin, 1973, Kent Archaeological Review: Dover Archaeological Group (Article in serial). SKE31835.

<5> Canterbury Archaeological Trust, 2001, Dover Sewers/A20 Project 1991–3, Assessment Report and Updated Project Design (Unpublished document). SKE31815.

Sources and further reading

Related records