During investigations at the north eastern corner of the Roman villa complex at Minster in 2002, the pebble foundations of a small rectangular building were seen (designated building 5) and some associated E-W boundary walling. These appeared to pre-date the chalk footings of the main villa boundary walls. The position of Building 5 seems to have had some influence on the siting of the subsequent boundary walls because it formed the north-east comer of the villa enclosure. From the surviving remains, a structure with internal dimensions of about 4.00m (N-s) by at least 2.20m (E-W) was indicated. Its eastern foundation survived complete but only short sections of the north and south wall foundations remained. There was no trace of any west foundation which, if it ever existed, may have been destroyed after the structure had been incorporated into the main villa enclosure. West of Building 5, but falling on the same line as its south wall, another long section of pebble foundation was located. The course of this footing fell just inside the north boundary wall of the main villa enclosure but lay on a slightly different axis, making it clear that the two walls represented could not have been contemporary. The pebble foundation was traced for minimum distance of about 32m. It was again constructed of small black pebbles, set in orange-brown sandy loam with chalk specks. The construction, together with their relative positioning, suggests that these pebble foundations are contemporary. Whether they relate to structures connected with the earliest phases of occupation at the main villa or are associated with an earlier structural complex remains uncertain. However, if the main walled enclosure is contemporary with the earliest
phases of the villa house, these pebble foundations must pre-date the villa complex. (information summarised from report) (1)

<1> K. Parfitt, E Boast and G Moody, 2009, The Roman villa at Minster in Thanet. Part 6 the villa enclosure buildings 2 and 5 (Article in serial). SKE51653.