Two Bronze Age ditches and two probable Bronze Age ditches or gullies were excavated during an evaluation at Howe Barracks, Canterbury in 2016 and an excavation in 2017. The ditches or gullies measured 0.26-2.05m wide and 0.42-0.72m in depth. A pit measuring 0.92m in width, 0.44m in length, and 0.16m in depth, was also excavated which may originate from the earlier 'Beaker' phase of activity at the site (TR 15 NE 2083), however, this feature contained Bronze Age pottery and struck flint within its fill so may have been dug during the later phase of activity at the site.
Finds recovered from the site include a small quantity of struck flint, alongside a small quantity of Bronze Age pottery. (1)

During the 2017 excavation, 6 further Bronze Age ditches were excavated with visible lengths of between 4.6-24.8m (many extended beyond the limits of the excavation), widths of 0.2-1.7m, and depths of 0.05-0.39m. Finds recovered from the fills of these features include burnt daub, burnt flint, 46 sherds of prehistoric pottery dated to the Bronze Age period of occupation at the site (however, over half of these possessed Beaker-style decoration, suggesting that they originated from an earlier phase of occupation at the site (TR 15 NE 2083)), 28 flint flakes, 12 flint blades and an arrowhead.

During the 2016 and 2017 excavations, 288 pieces of worked flint, weighing 6678g and Forty-six pieces of burnt unmodified flint weighing 910g were excavated at the site. Many of these were associated with features created during the early Bronze Age occupation phase of activity at the site. The assemblage is thought to be late Neolithic-early Bronze Age in date. Some artefacts originated from deposits and features associated with the later Bronze Age, however, this material may be derived from the early Bronze Age phase of activity (TR 15 NE 2083). The precise quantities of tool types - e.g., cores, scrapers, etc- which were recovered from the site are recorded in record (TR 15 NE 2083).

Environmental sampling of one of the ditches identified evidence for iron pan fragments and charcoal. (2)

<1> CgMs, 2017, ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVALUATION, Development Phase 1 and subsequent Phases Howe Barracks Littlebourne Road Canterbury Kent (Unpublished document). SKE57660.

<2> CgMs, 2017, POST EXCAVATION ASSESSMENT FOR ARCHAEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS, Howe Barracks Littlebourne Road Canterbury Kent (Unpublished document). SKE57659.