Excavations in advance of the construction of the Channel Tunnel Rail Link in 2001 found evidence of a metalled road bounded by two ditches that linked the main Northfleet villa complex to features to its west. The road was dated to some time between AD 50 and AD 150. (1-7)

Approximately 50 m of this early road was uncovered, extending an estimated 8 m or so into the shallow water at the head of the (now dry) Ebbsfleet. The road was constructed within a shallow, linear hollow which had been cut through a sequence of colluvial deposits of probable middle–late Bronze Age date in order to create an even gradient. Only a single phase of metalled surface was identified. The road turned through 90° and continued to the south-west, beyond the limit of excavation. (1)

Location accurate to 2m based on available information.

<1> Oxford Wessex Archaeology Joint Venture, 2010, Settling the Ebbsfleet Valley. CTRL Excavations at Springhead and Northfleet, Kent. The Late Iron Age, Roman, Saxon, and Medieval Landscape, p145 (Monograph). SKE31245.

<3> Oxford Archaeological Unit, 1997, The Ebbsfleet Valley, Northfleet, Kent: ARC EFT 97: Archaeological Evaluation: Volume 1 Report (Unpublished document). SKE12220.

<4> Oxford Archaeological Unit, 1997, The Ebbsfleet Valley, Northfleet Kent, ARC EFT 97: Archaeological Evalaution: Volume 2 Appendices (Unpublished document). SKE12221.

<5> Oxford Archaeological Unit, 1997, The Ebbsfleet Valley, Northfleet, Kent: ARC EFT 97: Archaeological Evaluation: Volume 3 Figures and Plates (Unpublished document). SKE12222.

<6> Oxford Archaeology, 2003, Ebbsfleet Valley Detailed Mitigation Works, Northfleet, Kent: Interim Statement (Unpublished document). SKE12256.

<7> Oxford Archaeological Unit, 2001, Channel Tunnel Rail Link Ebbsfleet Sports Ground, Northfleet, ARC ESG00, Phase 2 Evaluation Archaeological Works Fieldwork Report Final (Unpublished document). SKE12227.

<8> Oxford Wessex Archaeology Joint Venture, 2011, Settling the Ebbsfleet Valley. CTRL Excavations at Springhead and Northfleet, Kent. Volume 2: Late Iron Age to Roman Finds Reports (Monograph). SKE32435.