Features relating to medieval and early post-medieval buildings were excavated at 20 King Street, Canterbury during an evaluation in March 2016. The features included floors, walls, a robber trench, an occupation deposit and demolition deposits. Only features relating to the medieval and late medieval/early post-medieval periods have been recorded, as the features dating from the early post-medieval onwards demonstrated less archaeological significance.
The earliest features at the site were a clay floor, and two walls, an occupation deposit, and a deposit associated with the demolition of the property. The clay floor appears to have been an internal feature, associated with one of the walls. The two wall features were adjacent to one another, the first measuring 0.25m wide and aligned NE-SW, and constructed of chalk and flint. The other wall is described as having a similar construction to the first.
The occupation deposit was situated overlying the floor and abutting the wall; it comprised a 0.11 thick deposit containing a single sherd of 14th-15th century pottery. The first demolition deposit was located overlying the occupation deposit and the wall; this included abundant large and medium fragments of peg-tile, white plaster and chalk fragments. Some pottery sherds dating to the later 15th-16th century, and an iron object were also retrieved from this deposit.
The next phase comprised the construction of several structures dated to the late medieval/early post-medieval period. Features associated included a dwarf wall (indicating that the building was a timber-framed structure), an associated construction trench, chalk floors, and a robber trench (created after the structure fell out of use/was demolished). The wall is suggested to be of early post-medieval date due to the dating evidence of the 15th-16th century pottery in the layer which the wall cuts. However, its build is suggested to be late medieval in appearance. The wall was aligned along the same axis as the first wall and was constructed of chalk blocks, mortar, and unmortared flints, with one course of the original structure surviving. The linear feature of the robber trench contained a fill of mortar and chalk. Probable early post-medieval floor surfaces were represented by two deposits of beaten chalk, thought to relate to another structure at the site. Due to the lack of dating evidence around these layers it is difficult to accurately date them.
Medieval structures are known in the vicinity of the site from around 1180 AD, and early post-medieval maps of the area show buildings in and around the proposed area of development, suggesting that the features excavated during this evaluation relate to these structures. (1)

<1> 2016, No. 20 Kings Street, Canterbury, Kent, CT2 8AX: Evaluation report (Unpublished document). SKE55640.