Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

Group of small pits inter-cuting pre- & early Roman pits. The earliest feature contained "Belgic" coarse wares 35-20 BC

Monument Types

• QUARRY (Iron Age - 800 BC to 42 AD)
• PIT (Late Iron Age to Roman - 100 BC to 409 AD)

Associated Finds

• POT (Iron Age - 800 BC to 42 AD)
• COIN (Late Iron Age - 100 BC to 42 AD)

Full description

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Excavation of basement prior to lowering. The building overlays the line of a major Roman street. The brick floor of the basement was some 2m below the surface of Castel Street. On removal of the floor a very hard compacted suface of natural brickearth was found stained with iron panning. This indicated that it had at one timne beenoverlaid by thick, laminated, impervious layers of rammed gravel fro the street.

Of interest were a group of five small pits cutting pre- and early Roman pits, located against the Castle Street frontage wall. The lastest of these contained rammed gravel and mortar laid perhaps to consolidate "soft ground" during construction of the first street. The earliest of the features was a large clay quarry containg in its banded clay and grey loam fills a large quantity of "Belgic" coarse wares and a sruck bronze coin, perhaps dating to 35-20 BC. (1)

<1> Canterbury Archaeological Trust, 1990, Canterbury's Archaeology 1988-1989, No 70 Castle St excavation by Damian Hone and Paul Bennett (Monograph). SKE6722.

Sources and further reading