Late Pleistocene deposits and a possible palaeochannel were identified during 2016 geotechnical test pitting at Barton Court Grammar School. Three Late Pleistocene deposits with geological and archaeological potential were excavated at the site.
The first deposit comprised pale grey clay silts, many of which contained abundant chalk clasts and is thought to have potentially formed as a coombe deposit, or as a result of in situ weathering. This deposit is interpreted as having formed during "a very cold but perhaps not entirely dry period" (from the original report, 1). The probable SW-NE aligned channel(s) seen in several test pits are thought to have formed as a result of a partial melt or to have been caused by precipitation. Other features associated with this deposit, including the formation of a crevice, are interpreted as resulting from temperature variation or drying out of the deposit.

The second deposit was a greysih orange brown loamy clay either a loessic brickearth or a later possibly head deposit. The third deposit was attributed to the same phase as the second deposit and comprised a "compact greyish yellow brown slightly clayey gravel with abundant medium subrounded to very rounded flints…[representing] Head gravel, probably derived from the basal pebble layer in Palaeogene (Tertiary) Oldhaven Beds" (from the original report, 1). The latter two deposits were only identified in one test pit to the east of the site.

<1> Canterbury Archaeological Trust, 2017, Barton Court Grammar School, Longport, Canterbury, Kent CT1 1PH, Post-excavation assessment (Unpublished document). SKE57635.