Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

During a series of extensive rescue excavations, ahead of development in Dover’s town centre undertaken by Kent Archaeological Rescue Unit, the remains of a large scale Roman structure were revealed and have been interpreted as being part of the eastern section of the south range of a mansio. Room 8, which formed a pair with room 7 at the western end of the building, was uncovered during excavations to the west of Cannon Street. This was a full sized room with underlying hypocaust. (location accurate to the nearest 2m based on available information)

Monument Types

• FLOOR (Opus Signinum floor, Roman - 200 AD to 260 AD)
• WALL (walls of room 8, Roman - 200 AD to 260 AD)
• Wall Foundation (foundations of room 8, Roman - 200 AD to 260 AD)

Associated Finds

• COIN (Roman - 323 AD to 324 AD)

Full description

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(summarised from publication)

During a series of extensive rescue excavations, ahead of development in Dover’s town centre undertaken by Kent Archaeological Rescue Unit, the remains of a large scale Roman Structure were revealed and have been interpreted as being part of the eastern section of the south range of a mansio. Room 8, which formed a pair with room 7 at the western end of the building, was uncovered during excavations to the west of Cannon Street. This was a full sized room with underlying hypocaust.

This room had a thick (15cm) opus signinum floor which had heavily worn and in places either completely worn away or cut by deep Medieval pits. These holes revealed the heating system beneath, which was fed by a stoke hole on its south side. The south wall had been largely destroyed by a large Medieval pit in the south east corner of the room, this pit revealed the underlying broad flint foundations which were between 78cm and 90cm wide and 80-97cm in depth. The best surviving wall was on the norther side which survived to a maximum height of 80cm. The eastern wall survived nearly was well and stood to a maximum height of 65cm. Originally the room would have been provided with a single door in the eastern side, linking it to room 9. (1)

<1> Brian Philp, The Discovery and Excavation of the Roman Shore Fort at Dover, Kent (Monograph). SKE32061.

Sources and further reading

Related records