The archaeological works consisted of evaluation trenching and test pitting, a watching brief and a metal detector survey on land between Four Elms Hill and the junction of the A228 and Roper’s Lane.
The current work follows on from an archaeological fieldwalking and geophysical survey carried out in 2001 (KCC 2003/316). This revealed mostly late post medieval and modern features.

The evaluation trenching and test pitting revealed a number of features, which were tentatively linked to the medieval period. One trench excavated to test for geophysical anomalies revealed bands of clay, which the report suggests may have been related to medieval ridge and furrow agriculture, but may also have been natural in origin. Another trench revealed a possible medieval feature, badly disturbed by modern drainage. This however, may also have been a natural feature, disturbed by medieval ploughing. A number of post medieval features were recorded containing residual medieval pottery.
The test pits revealed no dated medieval features, although a number of undated features were recorded.

A small assemblage of medieval pottery was recovered during the course of the archaeological works. The pottery was consistent with other assemblages from the area and those from Rochester. The sherds were dated to the 11th-14th century.

The metal detecting survey recorded an assemblage of unstratified metal finds. The majority could not be any more closely dated than Roman to post medieval or medieval to modern and consisted of nails, solidified copper and lead alloy droplets, various dress fittings (including buttons and buckles) and a possible seal. Only one object was dated just to the medieval period, a hollow hemispherical pin head. As with the other metal finds it appeared to have been lost or dropped.

The watching brief identified a large sub-oval pit of 12th-13th century date, interpreted as a possible rubbish pit.

Only the metal pin and the rubbish pit have been recorded separately on the main monument tree.

Other activity identified during the works included Roman metalwork finds (TQ 77 SE 166), a series of late post-medieval and modern land drainage and management systems and a late 19th century building foundation (TQ 77 SE 168).

The perimeter of the archaeological works along the 3.5km dual carriageway project is given in the grid refs section of the main monument form, with a centre point [1].

<1> Foundations Archaeology, 2004, A228, Improvements, Roper's Lane, Hoo, Isle of Grain, Kent. Archaeological Evaluation, Watching Brief and Metal Detecting Survey (Unpublished document). SKE12315.