A watching brief carried out during test-pitting and contimination remediation works at St Mildred's Tannery 2001-9 found a brushwood trackway running towards the river. The trackway was interpeted as being of Roman, Anglo-Saxon or Medieval date.. (1)

An environmental assessment and separate palynological assessment of samples from St Mildred's Tannery was conducted following an evaluation in 2001. Palynological analysis was undertaken on a sample dating to the late Roman - 5th century, and several other samples dating to the Anglo-Saxon - medieval periods. Plants identified from the samples included indeterminate roots, and seeds from orache, parsley-piert, hemlock, lamiaceae, horned pondweek, sedges, common reed, and graminae. The analysis also revealed evidence for a series of invertebrate remains (largely bugs, flies, mites, and beetles), including water snail and oyster.
The plant and insect species found during sampling suggested that towards the end of the Roman period, the site had wet and potentially open water conditions, including features such as a reed swamp, interpreted as the cause for the construction of some of the walkways established at the site. The prevalence of woody plants and herbs was fairly low in earlier samples, but species diversity is seen to increase during the Saxon period, suggested by the authors of the report to be a result of an increase of agriculture during this period (2). It is also likely that some of the samples were derived from contexts such as arable fields established towards the end of or after the Roman period. Many of the wetter contexts may have been the result of wetland conditions or regular flooding events at the site. Domestic rubbish accumulation from dumping was also found at the site. Many of the samples cover the Anglo-Saxon and medieval periods, following Roman occupation at the site. (2, 3)

<1> Canterbury Archaeological Trust Ltd, 2013, Section B, St Mildred's Tannery, Stour Street, Canterbury, Archaeological evaluation watching-brief and building record (Unpublished document). SKE52901.

<2> Canterbury Archaeological Trust, 2001, An Assessment of Plant Macrofossils and Invertebrate Remains from St Mildred's Tannery, Canterbury (Unpublished document). SKE55959.

<2> Canterbury Archaeological Trust, 2001, St Mildred’s Tannery, (TAN01-EV), Assessment for Potential for Palynological Analysis (Unpublished document). SKE57602.