Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

During extensive rescue excavations undertaken across Dover’s Town centre by Kent Archaeological Rescue Unit, a substantial structure representing a barrack block (B26) was located at the Battle of Britain Homes site in 1971 and is today situated beneath the York Street bypass. The structure was the western of a pair (B25 its partner) of barrack blocks, both of which were on a north-south axis, located parallel and about 1m from each other. A total of 19.5m of this structure was revealed by the roadworks, this includes the north and central section of the building, the southern end was not located. (location accurate to the nearest 2m based on available information)

Monument Types

• BARRACKS (Barrack B26, Roman - 125 AD to 210 AD)

Associated Finds

• TILE (Roman - 125 AD to 210 AD)

Full description

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(Summarised from publication)
During extensive rescue excavations undertaken across Dover’s Town centre by Kent Archaeological Rescue Unit, a substantial structure representing a barrack block (B26) was located at the Battle of Britain Homes site in 1971 and is today situated beneath the York Street bypass. The structure was the western of a pair (B25 its partner) of barrack blocks, both of which were on a north-south axis, located parallel and about 1m from each other. A total of 19.5m of this structure measuring between 5.9m and 6m was revealed by the roadworks, this includes the north and central section of the building, the southern end was not located, and it is possible that this structure may have had an original total length of 34m.

As is evidenced in the majority of the buildings located within this fort, numerous phases of development are apparent within this structure. The first consisted of walls constructed of finely cut chalk blocks set in an orange clay, between 60cm and 64cm wide and surviving to a maximum height of 75cm (five courses). Patches of the original clay floor were located over deep layers of soil used to level the site. The supposed interior arrangements of this period one structure are largely similar to the adjacent period one barrack 25, three rooms were certainly located and a further five conjectured. In the period two redevelopment of this structure, parts of the external walls were clearly replaced with new walls of chalk block, 65cm wide and set on a broad flint foundation. The period three developments were less well represented by the surviving evidence; the whole of the northern end had been demolished by the works at the site. The only surviving remains of this period were limited to a small section of room four which included an interior wall, hearth and part of the clay flooring. (1)

<1> Philp, B. J., 1981, The Excavation of the Roman Forts of the Classis Britannica at Dover 1970-1977 (Monograph). SKE7863.

Sources and further reading

Related records